Paul Jay's new blog post on Canada.com

May 19, 2010

Hello TRNN viewers,

Paul Jay, Senior Editor of The Real News Network has a new blog on Canada.com, one of Canada's busiest news websites. Please click through to read the blog and help drive up the views.

Below is an excerpt from Paul's first blog post;

On reality and bitter truths

I'm often asked what I mean by "real news" or "reality". I receive a decidedly skeptical "Do you think you have the 'real' truth?"

I don't think there's an absolute truth. But I do think there's an objective world and there are facts. I know we will always have a partial understanding of things. But we can strive to base our opinions on evidence, or we can just say things that seem to be in our interest. Or just make stuff up to sound worldly and worthy of being booked on a talk show.

That's the problem with most news these days. Journalists know that people with power publicly say things that are in their interests, and often not what they really think or want; that there is an economic and political elite and when they say "for the good of the nation", they mean themselves. That we live in a class society is a fact everyone knows but few journalists acknowledge in their work.....

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Josh Stieber on The Real News Network. He's a former US soldier who was a member of the company that was involved in the WikiLeaks video.

He told me that in basic training they marched to the following song:

"I went down to the market where all the women shop

I pulled out my machete and I begin to chop

I went down to the park where all the children play

I pulled out my machine gun and I began to spray."

He told me that if soldiers didn't accept the need for shooting civilians and psychologically prepare themselves for it, they would be punished. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan are not accidental "collateral damage"; they are part of the deliberate strategy of modern warfare.

When I say 'reality asserts itself', it also means understanding the global anger against US military policy and increasingly, Canada's role in it.

You can watch the WikiLeaks video and Josh Stieber interview here.

Continue reading the article, and read or post comments:

'On reality and bitter truths'

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The Real News Team