Abuse Your Illusions : The Disinformation Guide To Media Mirages And Establishment Lies

Rating:
Summary: Often informative, but more uneven than previous books
Review: I love the Disinformation series, but this most recent effort isn't nearly as intriguing as their previous anthologies. Both "Everything You Know Is Wrong" and "You Are Being Lied To" had more page-turning value than this edition. Still, there is interesting ground to be covered here, and in a familiar vein.

Received opinion is demolished in some cases (the Wayne Williams serial murders, Watergate), while glaring light is shed on sound but unpopular arguments unfamiliar to the mainstream reader (i.e., the Drug War - a Disinfo favorite topic). Elsewhere, an expose' of racial profiling provides ample grist for the proverbial liberal mill, and the editor's compiliation of 9/11 non-topics provide disquieting food for thought.

The beauty of the Disinfo series of books is that they challenge the acceptance of mainstream media dogma as fact, without regard for political ideology. If there is a liberal element to the writing, it is largely because the authors are often disenfranchised journalists and social commentators working from the fringe. Some reviewers insinuate that this creates a safe haven for crackpots, but that consensus is far too exclusionary and only logical if you share the mainstream media arrogance that only THEY are above the fray. Clearly, they are not. In "Abuse Your Illusions", as in previous Disinfo offerings, even the "crackpots" make relevant arguments at some level. A few pundits have misconstrued the inclusion of contradictory articles as a lack of focus on the part of the editor, but in fact it's - surprise! - fair and balanced coverage. In these times, such non-partisan discourse should truly be encouraged. And $upported, if you know what I mean...

So, although an uneven bag this time around, anyone wondering "Dude, where's my country?" is encouraged to read this book. Rest assured, there are still some courageous, principled souls looking out for us. And even a few journalists.

Rating:
Summary: Should Be Titled "Abuse Your Intellect"
Review: If a collection of essays can be judged by a single essay within the collection, then this book must be awful. I only read one of the essays, but it was enough to make me put the book down forever.

Rating:
Summary: Third Disinfo collection is a mixed bag
Review: They're back... Disinformation Press continues its crusade against cooperate media bias and establishment deceit in Abuse Your Illusions, its third collection of exposés. Like its predecessors, the fairly-interesting You Are Being Lied To and the absolute-must read Everything You Know Is Wrong, Abuse Your Illusions gathers a plethora of experts, insiders, academics and journalists unafraid to ask the tough questions on everything from the war on terror to the Virgin of Medjugorje.

At its best, Abuse Your Illusions offers some of the best investigative reporting available. Intelligence Online's Wayne Madsen explores the 2001 death of leading microbiologist, Don Wiley, finding what is almost certainly cover-up. Religion journalist, Richard Abanes, exposes a disgusting strain of racism in the history of Mormonism. The Sunshine Project, a think-tank opposing the development of chemical weapons, uncovers the Pentagon's treaty-breaking research into germ warfare. And investigative reporter, Diane Petryk-Bloom examines the self-serving abuses of power of child protection agencies and the terrible harm it is causing families. It would be worthwhile for every parent in America to read Petryk-Bloom's alarming piece.

But Abuse Your Illusions' crown jewel is a tally of new revelations, unanswered questions and stories that do not add up concerning the September 11th attacks, compiled by Russ Kick, the editor of this volume and its forerunners. From the missing videos of the Pentagon collision to the White House's efforts to block a Congressional investigation into the attacks to the unlikely emergence of a hijacker's luggage and its even more unlikely contents, Kick's facts will make the reader seriously question the official version of the tragedy. It is articles like this that make Disinformation's collections so valuable.

Unfortunately not all articles are as hard-hitting and on-target as the aforementioned. In fact, out of all of the Disinfo volumes, Abuse Your Illusions makes the most missteps.

Many of the pieces are obvious, trivial or not-fully-substantiated. Dissident historian, Howard Zinn's grisly accounts of innocent causalities in the US military campaign in Afghanistan are certainly affecting, but would only be shocking to someone to whom warfare is a completely alien concept. Investigative reporter, Jim Hougan's defense of the theory that investigation into a Democratic call-girl ring begat Watergate states nothing more than such a theory is possible. And alternative journalist, Paul Krassner's article theorizing that Sirhan Sirhan and Charles Manson were brain-washed by scientologists screams crack pot.

Another mistake is the inclusion of articles that seem, ironically enough, biased. Articles concerning media controversies, written by people involved, seem like axe-grinding sessions. Shouldn't the most accurate and unbiased views on CNN's Operation Tailwind story, the leaking of the Pentagon Papers and James Bacque's research pointing to Allies mistreatment of German POWs in World War II be written by people other than those who have much at stake in them?

There are many instances in Abuse Your Illusions in which Disinformation proves itself a relevant and enlightening institute. But one should look to the previous two volumes to see the group at its best before reading this utterly uneven collection.