A pietous belief of the 20th century was that media in itself was a power for good. As with many declarations about technology this sleight-of-hand encourages us to be passive consumers of media as an instrument of truth. It encourages us to be dependent on the media for our political understanding, rather than nurturing the autonomy of critical thought and indeed critical emotion vis-a-vis media and therefore, poiltics.

In the days since Israel escalated its aggressive war on Palestine, we have seen the result of this idea on speed. Media can and has been used to shape the way people think, and so, manufacture consent for injustice and cruelty. The readiness of so many mainstream news outlets around the (particularly Western) world to relay Israeli propagandahas been remarkable. Mainstream television news participated in uncritically repeating information about beheaded babies, only to later report that “actually Israel can’t confirm it is so”. Well media, what about you? What can you confirm? An utterance feeds the virus of prejudice and spreads far by the time oopsies are declared on television. That pattern has repeated itself over and over, which says everything about its intentions. It’s an old playbook. The phrase “weapons of mass destruction” was the actual weapon of mass destruction in the end, as we too dangerously forget.