Propaganda

Pernicious and Pervasive

©Bryan Zepp Jamieson
11/17/07
http://www.mytown.ca/zepp

 

Back around 1995, I got to see an animated short about abortion. This was in the days before Flash® and DSL and all that, which means someone went to a lot of time and trouble to reach a pretty limited audience. I got to see it on a VCR.

The woman is lying on the table, her lower half fig leafed by thuggish-looking guys in scrubs. Apparently in 1995 six surgeons were required to perform an abortion on one woman. But then, foetuses were a lot tougher back then, too, as this movie demonstrates.

Unseen, the foetus begins to scream. “Why are you doing this to me! Stop! Oh, please, stop, it hurts! It hurts! Mommy! Mommy!”

Then a despairing wail. “Mommy! Don’t kill me! Don’t you LOVE me, mommy?”

And then, finally, in a preternaturally calm voice: “Jesus loves me, Mommy. Why didn’t you?”

By then, I’m falling out of my chair laughing. The sheer absurdity of the piece has overwhelmed me.

I doubt this was the response the makers of the short had in mind.

I’m sure there were a few people blinded by tears, vowing to kill the next abortion doctor and/or liberal they saw. If one in a thousand people responded that way to the short, then the film maker was happy. If only half a dozen people converted, that was a half dozen more than they started the day with.

That’s the pernicious thing about propaganda. Even when a vast majority of the viewers recognize it as such, some people will be persuaded. And the propagandists will have taken another small chip out of a society that they disagree with, be it abortion or free marketing or dominionism or whatever otherwise unpopular view they espouse. The oil companies spend millions in propaganda trying to denigrate fears of global warming, knowing up front that they’ll only gain a dozen or so converts a day.

A good example of how it works came the other day, when a friend passed along a piece in email entitled “Red for the Soldiers.” It’s reprinted at the bottom of this essay.

My friend isn’t easily conned. She’s a social activist, known in the lawyer trade as “a tough cookie,” willing and able to fight for what she believes. She is normally alert to people trying to pull a scam on her. But she (somewhat sheepishly) admitted a little later that she read the piece, not as a political piece, but as a human piece, and so she didn’t have her editorial filters in place.

Quite aside for the completely over-the-top tugging of the heartstrings, what gives the piece away as pure propaganda is the fact that it finishes up with a completely gratuitous swipe at “the liberal media.” THEY are hiding the TRUTH from decent people, that Americans secretly support the glorious war of liberation in Iraq!

In these days of Rupert Murdoch, Viacom, Disney, Westinghouse, and Reverend Sun Myung Moon, only a moron believes America has a mainstream “liberal media” to begin with, let alone that they are capable of hiding conservative values from the American people (who, magically, remain deeply conservative anyway, making it a mystery as to why the writers of such pieces are so worried about liberals in the first place).

This piece was far more believable than the “Mommy! Why are you killing me?” one, or even the sad laments by Bill O’Reilly that big, sinister forces are afoot in America to kill Christmas. But it’s easy, when you are exposed to such on a constant basis, to fall for some of them, and to at least get an impression that lots of people must believe them, or why would you see them so often.

Persistence and repetition are key to propaganda. The propagandists believe – with a certain amount of cause – that if they only repeat a lie frequently enough, it will become truth. Certainly, it stands a chance of being perceived as truth. Right wingers managed to convince the nation, for example, that Jimmy Carter caused stagflation, and even people who were around for Nixon’s wage and price controls and Ford’s idiotic “WIN” buttons have come to believe that. It’s a bit like believing that Cleveland had a great basketball team before LeBron James signed on. More recently, a lot of people think that Clinton’s administration was the most corrupt in history, despite the actual record which shows it was one of the cleanest, possibly THE cleanest, in American history.

Lies have the power to alter truth.

But truth has the power to destroy lies.

I’m glad to see Democrats taking stands against the sleaziest, most despicable, and most cowardly liars the GOP could come up with – the Swift Boaters. John Kerry, the first victim of this disgraceful group, has taken T. Boone Pickens, the loon billionaire who financed the Swift Boaters, up on his offer of a million dollars for showing that any of the smears Pickens’ paid liars made against Kerry are false. Kerry wrote to Pickens, “While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after
allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false. I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt.” Pickens, with the character and honesty characteristic of his group, promptly tried to move the goal posts, saying he would accept nothing less than release of all of Kerry’s medical records. Quite a step from “demonstrate that anything we claimed was untrue.”

And today, Barack Obama warned that lizard of the right wing “press,” Robert D. Novak, to not attempt to swift boat him. Novak has been running around claiming that he has evidence that the Hillary Clinton campaign is sitting on “scandalous” information about Obama. Characteristically, Novak just sneers that there IS a scandal without actually saying what it might be.

This is what the American right has fallen to.

You’ll be in for a tidal wave of misinformation, disinformation, and outright smear, and most of it will be coming from the trash right. Some will try to manipulate your senses of decency and patriotism. Some will have a little truth to them. All will be designed to use you to their ends – and as we’ve seen over the past seven years, your interest do not lie near theirs.

Keep your guard up.

The trash right have already begun a flood of innuendo and propaganda
 

Red for the Soldiers

Will you give this to my Daddy?

As a Company, Southwest Airlines is going to support "Red Fridays."

Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and
witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen.

Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they began heading to their gate, everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering.

When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red-blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and
their families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.

Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said "hi."

The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her.

The young soldier, who didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him
the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter's name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how
much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.

When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you." He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying "your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon."

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event.

As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young
soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.

We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's good to be an American.

RED FRIDAYS ----- Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing Red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the "silent majority". We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers.

We are not organized, boisterous or over-bearing.. We get no liberal media coverage on TV, to reflect our message or our opinions. Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops.

Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday -and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message
that.. Every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.

If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the USA is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the
once "silent" majority is on their side more than ever; certainly more than the media lets on.

The first thing a soldier says when asked "What can we do to make things better for you?" is...We need your support and your prayers.


Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example; and wear something red every Friday.

IF YOU AGREE -- THEN SEND THIS ON.

IF YOU COULD CARE LESS THEN HIT THE DELETE BUTTON --- IT IS YOUR CHOICE.