Connect:This is my final column for The Irish Times. I've been axed. Still, I've written for this paper for more than 12 years and perhaps that's long enough. Anyway, as it's my last contribution of more than 500, I'll be self-indulgent and make it a valedictory piece.
In recent years topics addressed here have included Bush's and Blair's disastrous attack on Iraq; the corporatising of Irish education (especially in the universities) and the legacy of Ireland's industrial schools. There were many other subjects, of course, but these three will serve to elaborate on a common theme: power and bullying in the 20th and 21st century world.
The invasion of Iraq was facilitated by the collapse, through fear, of the US media. The contempt shown for people who marched against the invasion in February 2003 - a month before the vile "Shock and Awe" pyrotechnics - was gross. Bush and Blair have since been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the mourning millions who have been bereaved.
As regards the corporatising of Irish education, college heads have been remarkably eager to facilitate the privatising agenda of the politicians. Indeed, the professional politicians must snigger at how easily they convinced so many academics to play along with the transformation of Irish colleges from genuinely educational institutions to ones primarily offering training for the economy.
On the matter of industrial schools, many more people must have known about the abuses than has hitherto been acknowledged. Certainly, it wasn't easy in Catholic Tiger Ireland to complain against clerics. In fact, it was often risky. But it's clear now that a mass delusion (arguably similar to the fearful mass delusion which gripped Americans over Iraq) gripped Irish people at the time.
With Iraq, Irish third-level colleges and industrial schools, fear - real fear augmented by manufactured fear - predominated. The fear manufactured over Iraq concerned non-existent chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons. Fear over Irish third-level education stressed the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's absurd university ranking criteria as definitive measurements of academic worth. Fear of eternal damnation and of taking on the Catholic Church guaranteed silence over mother and baby homes, industrial and reform schools and Magdalen laundries.
But the fear was almost all manufactured. There were no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. It was a lie. The Shanghai nonsense, skewed to favour US colleges, was also a lie. Likewise, many of the poorer institutions of Catholic Ireland were outrageous lies. Still, reliance on "official spokespeople" for the US government, the Department of Education and the Irish clergy continues.
This is a growing problem for mainstream media. Fewer people than ever believe what they read or hear. Why should they? "Seeing" still convinces but even that is flawed. The execution scenes of Saddam Hussein, for instance, were much more grisly and contemptible on that mobile phone than on the quieter "official" video. In that sense, even sight is being destabilised and doubted.
Still, in this election year, the role of the media in determining the next government of this state will, as ever, be pivotal. Mediated information, such as that available in newspapers, on television and on radio, still forms and frames the mass mind. It dictates the who, what, where, when and even "why" (media seek maximum profit with minimum outlay) of political focus and conversation. So voters remain influenced by the mass media, but they are increasingly less so.
They've grown cynical from being told lies. How can you believe a spokesperson for the Bush or Blair governments on Iraq, for instance? How can you listen to the syrupy ads that all third-level colleges feel they have to produce now? How can you believe a Catholic bishop talking about child sex abuse? You might wish to give people the benefit of any doubts you have. But the institutional voice of the mass media is less authoritative, less reassuring, less believable than ever. It's been horrifically abused. An individual voice is likely to be more honest. But which individual voice can you believe? It's confusing. Lies and deliberate obfuscation by PR have that effect.
The Reformation succeeded in the 16th century because of a then new technology - the printing press. Up until then, the clergy mediated between the people and God. Until the late 20th century, the institutional voice of the mass media mediated news for almost everybody. Now new technologies - the Saddam phone pictures, for instance - are undercutting such mediation.
The Media Reformation is underway. Watch out for an appalling splurge of political propaganda in the run-up to the general election. Everything will be attempted to persuade you to vote for X, Y or Z. In one sense, it could be amusing, but when you realise the vacuousness behind power, it might make you sad. Always beware the false notes of contemporary power.
Anyway, as this is my final column, anybody who wishes to e-mail me this week to the address below, would you please cc to eholt@iol.ie. Thank you for your time. Slán.