Assal Rad – Don't Say Palestine – Comment.

It should be known to many now that legacy media is not a reliable source for accurate reporting.  More so, mainstream outlets are acting as a tool for powerful institutions and governments, pushing their particular agendas. Though in the west, many brag about the "freedom of the press" as a major component of democratic values, it has become an apparatus of censorship to mold public opinion for the powerful. In Rad's important book, Don't say Palestine - How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide, drills down on the media's reporting on the Gaza genocide, citing numerous examples that add up to nothing less than journalistic malpractice. 

This becomes more than evident when we read and see media and politicians clearly practicing hypocrisy and double standards. We certainly witnessed this during the Biden administration, where Putin's Ukraine war is categorized as a war crime, and Israeli crimes in Gaza are ignored or couched in euphemistic language. Putin illegally annexes Ukraine while Israel "shifts its borders." The western press condemns Putin's war in Ukraine, yet they're complicit in not holding Israel accountable in any form. 

Mainstream media is acting in defense of power. Rad states her thesis: "My central critique is focused on legacy media and the structures of power that create guidelines on what can be said." The New York Times is particularly guilty linguistically excusing or downplaying Israeli war crimes. 

A fair example was the murder of the aid workers on March 29, 2025. Israel at first denied the entire incident. Later it was found that the IDF buried the bodies including the emergency vehicles. The original Times headline read: 

Israel says its Account of Rescue Workers killed in Gaza was Partly a Mistake.

Rad corrects the headline: 

Israel Lied about Rescue Workers Killed in Gaza. 

What mainstream media has done is shielded Israeli crimes from the headlines, avoiding any language that might make Israel appear guilty. 

One of the most appalling crimes committed by Israeli forces is the killing of 274 journalists and media workers since October 2023. The number of Palestinian journalists stands around 269. An Associated Press headline read:

A Rough Year for Journalists in 2025, with a little hope for things to turn around.

Rad corrects the headline:

Israel Leading Killer of Journalists in 2025.

In the dozens of examples that Rad provides, apart from those that are simply misleading, ISRAEL is never mentioned once. This is intentional to remove Israel from the crime. This is a form of whitewashing and censorship that is unprecedented. 

Rad writes:

"...the media that laundered these offenses, framed the genocide in the language of accusation, and refused to name the criminal and the crime created the space for doubt and, consequently, sanctioned genocidal denial. When the storytellers obfuscate the facts to rationalize these crimes, they become culpable in them. When they tell a false story, that is not a free press. It is genocide propaganda."  (P.200) (Emphasis, my own.) 

This is an important book for it exposes the news organizations and "journalists" that use a strategic linguistic formula, to deny the realities of the most watched genocide in modern history. There should be a reckoning for these news outlets in their complicity in the intended ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, however, as we saw after the Iraq war, these pundits and politicians that pushed the war and blatantly lied, went on to greater status within their organizations.  

There will be no accountability. 

This is an excellent text on journalistic failure, the defense of power, and how the tools of power operate.  

Media lies and Propaganda on War - Opinion.

Living in a country other than the propaganda drenched US, meaning the constant lies from their politicians and their mainstream media, this would include the UK's BBC, our own 'state media', the ABC, (Australian Broadcasting Company) is bad but mainly follows the pro Zionist, pro Ukraine nonsense that the rest of the international establishment media is constantly spreading across the world. The Australian media when reporting on Iran, mainly show 3–4-minute sound bites from US president Trump. Personally, I find these news clips cringeworthy and painful at best, because as over 50% of American's believe, Trump lies as he breathes. The lies at the top of the list are about the war in Iran. 

Since the launch of Operation Epic Fury, (many call Operation Epstein Fury) on the US/Israel attack on Iran, February 28, 2026, the deception, war crimes and blatant lies coming forth from the Trump Administration has been relentless. 

What is now being revealed is the extensive destruction of American bases across the region. What is even more incredible is currently the Trump Administration is attempting to spin a tale that it was Iran who started the war and not the US and Israel. The most disturbing aspect to these untruths, is that many people will believe anything that the American president, his cronies and legacy media will tell them. 

There is no doubt that mainstream news outlets are an integral part of the military industrial complex. It is also evident that these outlets have misinformed the public on the genocide in Gaza. In an important book written by Assal Rad, Don't say Palestine, How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide. Rad supplies a plethora of examples revealing the downplay of crimes against humanity in the headlines. This is intentional, and on face value, diabolical. (see @AssalRad on X for example). 

In Australia, the federal government has supported the genocide in Gaza and approves of the attack on Iran. As mentioned above, the ABC, (Australia's Pravda) pushes American propaganda daily. As I'd like to think of myself as an informed citizen of this country, the subtle and not so subtle lies about Iran and Gaza, is stomach churning at best. In fact, when it comes to Australian foreign policy, our governments have always backed the wrong horse. There is no doubt that much of the Australian Federal government is infiltrated by Zionist Israel. I still can't get my head wrapped around the notion that Australia supports a genocidal regime. The government may do so, but the population of the country does not. 

Because a portion of the population has access to the internet, and therefore access to independent media, we can bypass propaganda and lies promoted by the Military Industrial Complex via legacy media. Social media is also a way to be informed about the reality of politics, war and genocide.  

Events are moving so fast around the planet that it's difficult to keep up and separate the wheat from the chaff. 

But it is necessary. 

Leo Tolstoy - The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Comment.

 

Long after completing his two masterpieces, War and Peace and Anna Karinina, achieving world fame, an older man, Tolstoy penned this short story, examining death, and what constitutes a 'good' life'. What is a life well lived?  Whether this text answers this question is really up to the reader. From a cultural and societal perspective, Ilyich's has met all expectation, though in death he confronts life's meaning.

Our protagonist is a respected citizen of Moscow from a good family. He is educated in law to become a respectable judge. We see him move up in status and later marry a woman who he deems appropriate though never expresses any real feelings for her or in general. She fits well in his view what constitutes a good wife, though more precisely, what others believe is a successful marriage. We come to discover that she is not a very deep person and looks at her husband with some bitterness and disrespect. Their bourgeoisie status, however, is cemented when he is promoted and moves into a big house, where he conducts extensive restorations at considerable expense. It is here that he has a slight fall, injuring himself that sets his painful demise in motion. 

Ilyich's health diminishes at a slow rate and by the end the pain is unbearable. At first the doctors really don't have a clue as to what is wrong with the man, and we as readers never understand his illness. Ivan's disgust for his doctors grows. Ivan's disgust with his family grows, especially his wife. They seem to be more concerned about how his illness affects them socially and personally. He slowly becomes acutely aware of this fact. The only person in his immediate circle that cares for the man is his humble servant. The servant displays an unusual kindness for Ivan, attentive without patronizing or showing pity. Ivan comes to the end of his life feeling that nothing was worth it, no love or meaning at all. He dies an excruciating death.  

Living one's life only on the surface, achieving only the expectations of society in a wholly materialistic manner is death to the spirit. Through Ilich's life, bourgeoise goals of action and material status was his only concern. The man's only interaction with his fellow human being was a weekly card game, and this activity was not to form deeper friendships, but only to win the game. 

In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, we come to understand that living only a materialistic existence without at least an exploration into the philosophical, the spiritual, life in the end has no meaning. Ilyich lived a materialistic life and died a horrible meaningless death. 

A lesson for us all.