In this book, Matt Taibbi provides an insider's guide to the ways in which today's mainstream media distorts the news. He argues that the news has become a twisted wing of the entertainment business, where media companies master the art of monetizing anger, paranoia, and distrust. Taibbi, drawing from his extensive experience covering elections, offers a rich taxonomic survey of American political journalism's dirty tricks and how the media has evolved into a form of entertainment that fosters division and conflict[1][2][5].
The book examines the roles of central bankers Benjamin Strong Jr., Montagu Norman, Émile Moreau, and Hjalmar Schacht in the lead-up to the Great Depression. It highlights their adherence to the gold standard and the consequences of their decisions, which significantly contributed to the economic catastrophe. The narrative also draws parallels between past and present economic challenges and emphasizes the importance of flexible monetary policies, as advocated by John Maynard Keynes.
In this archive discussion from 2020, David Kilcullen, former soldier, diplomat, and senior counterinsurgency adviser for the US during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, explains the nature of past Western interventions and the guerrilla warfare resistance that has followed. He joined Carl Miller, Research Director at the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the think tank Demos, to discuss his book: The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West.
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