Efficiency in Propaganda
It is difficult to beat the professionalism of propaganda
in the U.S. and in the GOP, in particular.
In the art of propaganda, it would be crude if you relied
simply on the telling of outright falsehoods. The subtle
professional relies as much on creating *impressions*,
by indirect means, by focus, juxtapositions, associations,
suggestions, inference.
GOP propaganda is admirable for the efficiency of its
content. For example, consider a small newspaper article
which reported that there was a small error detected in the
vote-counting in Ohio. When it was corrected, Bush won
by a slightly larger margin. Not by much of a difference,
just slightly, according to the article.
This is very efficient, because in just a couple sentences,
it is very likely that there are no less than four false
impressions that are made:
* that when we have errors, it is by accident,
not by malfeasance
* that when we have errors, we catch them quickly.
Not that when we have errors, we never in our lifetimes
will be the wiser.
* that when we have errors, they are small, not large-scale
* that when we have errors, they are *against* the political
party that has the worst history for hardball, dirty tricks,
not *in favor* of the party that has the worst history for
hardball, dirty tricks
Another example of propaganda-by-power-of-suggestion is
the hypocritical double-standard in reporting of suspected
election fraud in the Ukraine, where a pro-Western candidate
lost, versus reporting of possible fraud/abuse in two successive
U.S. elections.
In the Ukraine, the primary focus of the news reporting was
on the making of the accusations by the losers, not on the denial
and rebuff of the accusations by the winners- just the reverse
of the reporting on the alleged GOP fraud in the U.S.
When reporting on the Ukraine, the photos that accompanied
the news articles showed pictures of the losing, pro-West
candidate, of the crowds supporting him, of Lech Walessa
shaking hands with him in Poland. No such pictures
of the winning candidate, or his supporters. Without even
needing to misreport any actual facts, this technique creates
an impression that the pro-West candidate has more support,
is more important, and more legitimate.
In both cases, the media presentation made clear to reader
what conclusion should be drawn about the validity
(or lack thereof) of the elections, immediately after
the election was complete, and well before any serious,
in-depth investigation had been conducted.
The American public should wake up to the fact they
are being manipulated by propaganda, serving the ends
of power-politics, practically every day.
Our CIA is notorious for having engaged in rigging of
elections in smaller, Third-World countries. This is an
admitted historical fact, not a "conspiracy theory".
It ought to produce a shiver, when a head of the
CIA was formerly the GOP campaign manager, as
was the case under Ronald Reagan, and William Casey.
Similarly, it is dangerous to democracy when the new head of the
CIA is a former Republican Congressman, who is busily
stuffing the organization with fellow partisans.
Instead of the dismissing and insulting concerns
about the legitimacy of the last election, the media
should acknowledge that there are specific, concrete
measures to better ensure the honesty of future elections-
paper receipts mandated for all voters who want them,
open source computer programs, independent virus-scanning
software that can detect modifications of the programs,
etc.
The blatantly partisan CEOs of some of the key
suppliers of vote-counting computers should resign.
Their credibility is already compromised, for such things
as holding $1000-a-plate fundraisers for the GOP.
We need either entirely new suppliers, or at least bipartisan
teams to monitor every step of the manufacturing,
distribution, installation, and operation.
The GOP supporters can laugh about these concerns,
and not really care if there is fraud, but they should take
a note from the Ukraine. When the people of a country
cannot be satisfied of the honesty of elections, it can eventually
lead the country into violent civil strife.
Resistance to obvious, simple suggestions for improving
security should be regarded by the public as signs of
probable malfeasance and dishonesty.
Another good thing in the art of propaganda- always,
always have a scapegoat.
If you stage a coup, and assassinate a President,
tthen have a Lee Harvey Oswald to take the blame, and
then have another 2-bit mobster assassinate the
scapegoat so he can't bleat too much information.
If you rig some vote-counting computers, then
misplace the blame by quoting some rigged polls
that show "moral values" as the reason for the vote
turn-out. It is a two-fer for advancing your agenda.
Remember that, too- it is even easier to rig polls
than to rig elections.
###
end
========================
Those who vote determine nothing. Those who "count" the votes
determine everything.
====================
The US propaganda system is truly spectacular. The billionaires who
control it, the major politicians and the nation are doing a great job
of deceiving the unsuspecting masses. It's a great pity that so many
good, gullible and hard working Americans have been tricked into
believing that they are the luckiest people alive, here in the
"greatest nation" in the world. Of course that's exacty what most
would like to believe - so it's not a hard sell.
=======================
News sources not corrupted/controlled by insanely greedy American
billionaires:
http://informationclearinghouse.info/
http://DemocracyNow.org
http://alternet.org/
http://www.commondreams.org
http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
=============
http://veteransforpeace.org/
==============
"...mankind [will advance] into a civilization and a state of
consciousness in which right human relations and worldwide
cooperation for the good of all will be the universal keynote."
Djwhal Khul
==================
"Man must change or die. There is no other course."
The World Teacher
http://www.share-international.org
====================
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