Who needs sleep, anyway: as with Beinhart's last book, The Librarian, this one kept me glued to the page througout half the night with it's sarcastic humor and disturbing observations: The Big Lie, a propaganda technique cherished by Hitler, is alive and well and has come to new heights of perfection with the Bush administration. Beinhart makes no empty claims when he shows that clear, unequivocal and published documentation for the government's policies (and failures) exist - court rulings, official investigations, confirmed media reports, economic statistics, frank testimony from the power players about their intentions and motives - and yet, the obvious conclusions are lost in the fog, turned upside down, or remain unknow to the general population.
"Fog Facts" stands in the tradition of Noam Chomsky's poignant analyses "Necessary Illusions" and "Manufacturing Consent" as it shows by example how large scale indoctrination and the selling of obviously wrong, irrational and detrimental policies can succeed in a democratic society with a nominally free media system.
As a slow reader I appreciate how Beinhart focusses on a well selected sample of cases without getting lost in minutiae, how he keeps the writing crisp and entertaining, and the book short (187p). An index and footnotes throughout make it a valuable reference tool, and the associated website offers further material and invites readers to share their own fog facts.
So what's a citizen to do against the evils described? The book itself is an analysis, not a manual. As such it provides case studies of the major issues of recent years and provides excellent ammunition to bring reason into the discussion. But while not given explicitely, answers to the "what to do?" questions are easy to infer: Start with skepticism towards power, read watchdog sites that monitor the players and the political PR industry, and make your voice heard when politicians and the media start obscuring the issues.
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- Foreign ExchangeHardcoverFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Monday, Jan 6Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
