The Press and Other Forms of Propaganda

When I picked out today's Quote du jour:

One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda.

from Douglas MacArthur, I don't recall if I noticed just how biting the last part of that quote was: "the press and other forms of propaganda".

Earlier in the week, in a conversation with a commenter, I brought up the instance of Dan Rather's infamous presidential interviews of 1988, of George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.

First, Fake but Accurate Rather interviewed Gov. Mike Dukakis. Dan tossed him a softball with an extremely open ended question, "Tell us about the Massachusetts Miracle", which was essentially an invitation for Dukakis to give a stump speech. (Poor Mike, in the dustbin of history, doesn't even rate a spot in my current computer's Spell Check.)

The next evening when Rather interviewed Bush, it started with an ambush about Iran/Contra, along the lines of "When did you stop beating your wife?"

This particular ploy backfired when Rather's gotcha moment got George H. W.'s Irish up and Bush stood up to Rather's bullying tactics and scored points among the American people, whose views about journalists were bad, but could not then have predicted their 21st. Century lows.

Looking at the news as "propaganda", let's take a look at some of the other techniques they have used over the years. (This will by no means be exhaustive, just some of those things I have personally witnessed.)

One technique favored by our friends at CBS, was to let no good news stand alone. I recall one December, I believe it was 1997. The unemployment news was good:

The unemployment rate in the United States in 1997 was the lowest in 24 years

In December of '97, the unemployment rate was 4.9%, and that was a time before all the contortions modern presidents (*cough* Obama *cough*) go through to hide unemployment. "a record 64.1 percent of the population held jobs at the end of the year"..."U.S. businesses created 370,000 jobs" that December. Obama would kill for numbers like that!

So how was this good news handled during a Republican administration? Dan Rather would look into the camera and read the statistics in a rather (pun intended) flat monotone. And then, Dan would perk up. He had a story to tell, complete with videotape. After giving the American public the best possible news about unemployment, Dan would say something like, but things aren't so rosy for Joe Slobotnik of Bethlehem, PA. Joe's been out of work for two months and it doesn't look like there are going to be any presents under the tree for Joe's family this Christmas. (Cut to video of Joe's waif like sad eyed munchkins)

Follow the good news, "jobless rate at 24 year low", with a tear jerking, emotional piece to leave people emotionally spent, with the impression that wow, things ust not be all that great!

A similar technique was used in promoting or opposing any particular piece of legislation favored by dishonest, Left leaning MSM journalists (but I repeat myself!). As I recall, any news regarding legislation before Congress had both sides presented. The conservative or Republican position was represented by a statement, read by the news anchor, in his most professional, dispassionate fashion. The Democrat/ liberal side of the news was invariably presented by more than one proponent/opponent, who was shown on tape, giving their most impassioned arguments.

Technically, you got both sides, but practically, the most persuasive arguments were from those selected to have their arguments presented in the first person. And they were invariably liberals.

Last but not least, is a technique I first noticed in the print media. I'd see a story about some politician, and I would marvel at how they managed to find such an unflattering photo. At first, I dismissed it as "news photos, shot on the fly" rather than posed, but there were just so many of them...people caught with their eyes closed, mouths open, funny expressions on their faces, but what's the saying? Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times, it's enemy action. It was happening far too often to be coincidence or happenstance. There was a guiding hand behind the selection of the pictures used.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have adopted this rule of thumb for my own Photoshops. I may need to use a photo of someone, but I am by no means obligated to use the most flattering picture I can find. Liberals, you have sown to the wind, you shall reap the whirlwind.

I have taken journalism classes from the crusading editor and publisher of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Bruce Brugmann, and, although I have not seen it used there, I wouldn't be surprised if Alinsky's Rules for Radicals was required reading for advanced studies.

Shepard Fairey, Propagandist, Strikes Again

Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the infamous Obama "Hope" poster from an infringed AP photograph, is trying his hand at outright propaganda. If you want to see his feeble effort at propaganda(and check to see whose work he might have borrowed for it), you can do so here.

My parody of it is below:

Political Indoctrination in Public Schools

Over at the Scott Carp Dream blog, I saw this picture, which appears to have been taken in a school classroom. Public school, I would imagine, since the message has a decidedly propagandistic bent, at least at the end.

Rosa sat... so that Martin could walk.
Martin walked...so Obama could run.
Obama ran…so our children could fly.

Once you've finished gagging or taking your insulin, ask yourself: When was the last time a public school teacher told you that anyone had become a politician or had taken a political office so that your children "could fly"? Maybe a coupon entitling them to a free TSA pat down, but, given the economic blunders of the last five years, our children will be lucky if they can find a bus going where they need to go, much less fly!

So, not being the propagandist as our "purveyors of pap in lieu of learning" in our public schools, and recognizing that the battle for civil rights began long before Ms. Parks took her courageous stand, I thought I'd take a shot at it myself:

Abe stood...so that Rosa could sit.
Rosa sat... so that Martin could walk.
Martin walked...so Obama could run.
Obama ran…so your new masters* can get cheap Chinese chains.

*What??? That's not any worse than Tail Gunner Joe Biden's remarks about chains, is it? In fact, it is less racist than Joe's because I believe that our new masters will not discriminate on account of race. All races will face the same misery equally.


Update: When you think of Obama enabling your children "to fly", just remember that one of his first acts as president was to eliminate funding for a voucher system that enabled poor black children in Washington D.C. to escape the decaying public school system and attend private schools, much like Obama's own daughters, only far less pricey, and actually receive a proper education. This was, of course, payback to Obama's friends and political supporters in the teachers' unions.

Wonder how high those kids tossed back into crummy public schools are flying today?

Let's Crank up the Propaganda for Big Bird (or Mock it!)

Pocatar, or Avahontas

CFV 426 - Avatar/Pocahontas Mashup FINAL VERSION from Randy Szuch on Vimeo.

The comparison has been made before, but this is a very clever send up of Avatar, using video from Disney's Pocahontas and audio from Avatar.

H/T NewsReal Blog

Barking Moonbat Cynthia McKinney Claims 5000 Executed in Wake of Katrina

"On the basis on one guy telling his mom and his mom telling me, I believe 5000 prisoners were shot through the head and their bodies dumped in the swamp. Furthermore, I believe that Obama is an alien sent from another planet, or Kenya, to save the world from Scientologists,and Oprah is his twin sister, separated at birth to hide them from their father, Darth Vader!"

What a maroon! That would be one honking big body dump! What an embarrassment (or should be!) to the party that has not renounced her or the constituents that continued to vote her into office! Is there any conspiracy so odious or bizarre that it will not find a following with the MoveOn dot wingnuts of the Democratic Party?

Cynthia McKinney: Proud Democrat!*

Correction: A long time Democrat, C. McKinney is now a member of the Green Party.
(Yeah! Like there's a big difference!) Heh.

Hat tip Sweetness and Light
Cross Posted at Say Anything

The Moonbat Legacy CO2 Extravaganza!

Bush Derangement Syndrome is well documented, but there's one group of Moonbats that takes that dementia to an all time high!



The "Bush Legacy Tour" has a bus (don't ask me what kind of MPG it gets!) driving all around the country telling people how bad Bush is/was. You've got to be kidding me! Haven't these guys heard of Al Gore's Internet? Letters to the Editor? Conversations at the water cooler and over the back fence?

These folks could have rented billboards with the same message and their carbon footprint would have extended to the trucks and crews installing them and not much further. These jokers are bragging about how many miles they're putting on this bus and begging for contributions so they can drive it more!

It just proves that their irrational hatred for Bush far exceeds any love they have for the environment, or any desire they have to be consistent with any other principles they may hold dear.

And as for the "Endless Iraq war", every day of good news that passes, pushes these loons further into the dustbin of history!

Cross posted at Say Anything

Palestinian Propaganda Film Proves False- NYT Mum

Throughout the years, the NYT has repeated what it was fed by the Palestinian propaganda machine: Israelis kill innocent children in cold blood. A highly publicized example of this, was the 12-year-old boy Muhammad al-Dura, supposedly videotaped being shot by Israelis as he crouched behind his helpless father.

"Like every child here, they are haunted by the image of Muhammad al-Dura," he continued, referring to the 12-year-old boy shot dead as he crouched behind his father -- film that is repeatedly shown on Palestinian and Arab television stations. "I have never had a gun in my life. But my children -- who are doing pee-pee in their beds -- want me to buy one, because obviously Muhammad al-Dura's father couldn't protect him well enough with his bare hands."

-Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. NYT Dec 10,2000

In 2002, the NYT noted that "... Muhammad al-Dura, the 12-year-old boy from Gaza whose father could not shield him from a hail of Israeli gunfire" had become a "household name".

A "household name". Funny what a good propaganda campaign will do for you! But, a French journalist named Philippe Karsenty noticed that something seemed wrong about the video. The absence of blood and blood spatter among other things. He started badgering France TV 2 to provide the footage before and after the so-called shooting, so it could be proved or disproved that the video was genuine. Karsenty was so persistent in pursuing this story and denouncing France TV 2 for not seeking the truth, that they sued him for libel!

And now, Philippe Karsenty has won that suit. The libel case has been thrown out. There is definitive evidence that the video uses to inflame the emotions of anti-Semites around the world was a fake. A fraud. Propaganda in it's purest form, even though it was ultimately poorly staged.

But you would think that somewhere in All the News that's Fit to Print, there'd be a least a passing mention in the NYT, wouldn't you? I mean, they did publish a story about the controversy back in 2005, but even then, the tone of the piece still accepted the premise of cold-blooded Israeli killers as fact.

Now that Karsenty has been vindicated, wouldn't you think that the NYT who had been duped along with many other media outfits would have the slightest interest in wanting the record to be set straight? *Sigh*

Hat tip Stop the ACLU
Cross posted at Say Anything