The media set their narrative not just with what they tell you, but with what they don’t. Likewise, Fake News is not just making things up: it’s deliberately omitting key information in order to create a false impression.
Of course, any given media outlet can’t report every single story going on in the world. That’s only natural. But, there are too often cases where the media clearly blacklist a story that would threaten the powerful interests they willingly serve. Hunter Biden’s laptop is the paradigm case.
Then there are the massive anti-government protests in the Netherlands that are being almost completely ignored by the legacy media. Yet the media obsessively reported on BLM riots (even while they lied through their teeth about them). We can guess why.
We can also guess why they’re almost completely ignoring the massive protests in Brazil, right now.
Tens of thousands of people in nearly every major city in Brazil took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the election of hardline socialist and ex-convict Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to the presidency, expressing support for conservative President Jair Bolsonaro and demanding a federal intervention to block Lula.
The protests were heavily populated and reports on the ground describe them all as having an atmosphere of “euphoria,” “partying,” celebration, and whimsy. Several protests featured mass prayers for the country. Police have not documented a single instance of violence, according to Brazilian media, at the protests Tuesday that occurred in plazas and other legal areas.
Don’t worry, the legacy media will make them up, if they need to. Just ask the Wellington Freedom Protesters. No doubt the legacy media are already rolling out the “white supremacist” lies, too.
So, why are they protesting? Is this just more “far-right” “election denialism”?
Not exactly. As it happens, they have an extremely good reason to protest the election. Not least that the winner (by a razor-thin margin) probably ran illegally.
Lula defeated Bolsonaro in Sunday’s presidential election by about 2 million votes, or less than two percent. Lula was allowed on the ballot despite being convicted on multiple appeals of having taken bribes during his last two terms as president, which lasted from 2003 to 2011. Lula should have served over 20 years in prison as a result of his criminal conviction, but the nation’s top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), intervened and overturned the conviction alleging that the first court to process the case did not have jurisdiction to do so. Overturning the conviction allowed Lula to run for public office again; the ex-president remains extremely popular in the nation’s northeast over costly social programs that essentially pay the nation’s poor for routine tasks such as vaccinating their children.
So, whether he is guilty or not is still an open question. The original conviction was overturned merely on a procedural technicality. Indeed, the STF never actually rejected the evidence that led to the original question.
The tens of thousands of protesters supporting Bolsonaro argue that, since the STF never impugned the evidence that got Lula convicted or present any exonerating evidence, Lula still appears guilty of bribery while being president, which should invalidate him to take the office again. Many also condemn the STF offshoot Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), the top electoral body led by STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes, for censoring information regarding Lula’s corruption case. At least one major broadcaster accused the TSE of banning any mention or discussion of the Lula conviction on its airwaves.
Did Lula’s son have a laptop showing him doing drugs and banging allegedly underage hookers, while making dodgy deals with foreign companies?
While all protesters oppose Lula, the methods to prevent him from taking the presidency that they support vary. Some are asking for the implementation of a “federal intervention,” a constitutional provision that they say would allow the suspension of the inauguration due to extraordinary circumstances. Others convened outside of various barracks and armed forces headquarters demanding a military coup to prevent Lula from taking office.
“The requirements for federal intervention are in Article 34 of the Constitution,” a commentator for the Brazilian news network Jovem Pan, Jorge Serrao, explained.
Whatever their demands, the protests are so massive that it takes a truly stupendous effort by the legacy media to ignore them. In Sao Paulo, over 30 thousand people took to the streets. Similarly, massive protests have rocked Rio de Janeiro and the capital, Brasilia. Truckers have blocked roads around the country.
The news site UOL reported that the rain appeared to do little to deter protesters, many of whom had traveled to the capital and camped outside the military headquarters overnight to ensure a spot there. UOL noted that “hundreds of families, many with children,” were participating en masse in the event.
UOL noted that the crowd spent much of the protest singing Gospels songs and praying. At one point, a man on a megaphone proclaimed, “the election had fraud, but that is not the fault of our northeastern brothers,” a reference to Lula’s dominating performance in the region, his stronghold, on election night [… video] showed protesters kneeling and praying for freedom from communism.
Breitbart
Obviously dangerous extremists, then.
Best not report them, lest people here start getting ideas.
