Propaganda

Propaganda affects everyone.  You can't avoid it.  It is everywhere.  Newspapers, magazines, books, posters, TV commercials, graffiti, movies, and of course blogs.  All are used to propagate propaganda.  As politics gets more heated the more the political parties use propaganda as a means to sway public opinion. 

Propaganda can be sinister or benign.  Propaganda is intended to suspend reason and supplant it with emotion.  It targets the masses, the less educated and poor, who are more likely to respond to propaganda.  The elite in the society are fewer in number and less likely to respond to appeals to their emotions.  Being generally better educated they are more inclined to analyze anything presented to them.

My source for writing this blog is material published by the former Institute for Propaganda Analysis; an organization which engaged in educating the public against propaganda being spread by the Nazis in the mid 1930s.

Propaganda can be broken down into seven ploys; Name Calling, Glittering Generalities, Transfer, Testimonial, Plain Folks, Card Stacking, and Bandwagon. 

Name Calling.  A word or label that has a negative connotation to it.  It causes a person to reject or condemn an idea without examining the evidence associated with it.  Commie, socialist, liberal, conservative, Muslim, terrorist, all are omnibus words, words which have different meanings to different people. GW Bush poked fun at the French prior to the Iraq war in order to get the public to reject their information indicating the Saddam Hussein did not have WMD.

Glittering Generalities.  This is the opposite to Name Calling.  It is a virtue word having a positive connotation, which makes us accept and approve of a thing without stopping examine its meaning.  Liberty, freedom, the flag, capitalism, individualism, right to work, Rosie the Riveter, Uncle Sam, god, all can have positive connotations.

Transfer.  A ploy which carries over the authority, sanction, and prestige of something we favor, respect, revere, to something the propagandist would have us accept.  The Ten Commandments, Jesus, God, founding fathers, church leaders, policemen, firemen--all have attributes which can be used to transfer to other things or persons.  We frequently see celebrities in commercials promoting products or insurance.  Because we like or admire them we are likely to listen to them and buy the product.  This ploy can work in reverse.  Guilt by association.  A person by chance is standing next to someone or thing, who the public has negative feeling about, can influence public opinion about that person.

Testimonial.  This is a ploy in which someone is saying that something is good or bad.  You often see strangers on TV saying that such and such a product did something they liked.  Eliminated bad breath, did away with their upset stomach, made them lose 30 pounds, that is testimonial at work trying to influence you.  Say to yourself, why should I take that persons word for it, I don't know them from Adam.  I'll make up my own mind. 

Plain Folks.  This ploy attempts to convince those listening that what he/she is presenting comes from the common folk.  That the presenters are "just plain folks" like them.  A Texas drawl for instance, might convince some that that person didn't go to Harvard, or sailed around in a yacht. 

Card Stacking.  This ploy consists of selecting out particular facts or falsehoods or distractions in order to present the worst or best case for an idea. The propagandist selects only those facts and ideas which will support his cause and ignore or downplay facts or ideas which tend not to support his/her cause.  Statistics is a prime tool for propaganda use.

Band Wagon.  Everybody is doing it and so should I.  The propagandist tries to convince an audience that it is right to join an activity because many others are doing it.  No one likes to feel left out or on the wrong side. 

Propaganda works.  It works because we choose not to think rationally and to blindly let our feelings do our decision making for us. Billions of dollars are being spent every year finding out what makes us tick, what candidate we like, what words cause a positive feeling or a negative one, then we hear those words over and over again in commercials and political speeches.

There is a way to fight back, by becoming less susceptible to persuasion  Analyze before you act.  Ask yourself, what does that word really mean, what does it mean to me?  Study over the seven ploys and identify them in speeches and commercials you see and hear everyday.  Make up a scrapbook with dicey items illustrating the above ploys.  Get others to analyze with you.  Make a game out of it by seeing how many glittering generalities you can pick out of speech.  How many times did Boener use the words "the American People" or freedom. 

Is Obama As Bad As They Say He Is?

Born in Kenya, a Muslim, a socialist, circumventing the Constitution, a candidate for impeachment, originator of ObamaCare, and I can't remember all of the accusations at the moment.  None of what they say are as serious or valid, for that matter, as they would have you believe. 

Obama can stand some criticism that is true.  He could have acted more aggressively in trying to obtain the mandate part of ObamaCare and he could have been confrontational to those who have made accusations about his breaking the law and being a Muslim, and such. 

One thing is clear the Republicans have done everything they could to delegitimize this President's legacy in their pursuit for power.  They have used their Think Tanks to the max in an effort to generate faux facts in their creative histories of Reagan's, George HW Bush, and even GW Bush's stint in the White House.  Their tactics has been to create fiction about their own legacies while doing their best to create a negative fiction of the Democrats legacy. 

The media has done a good job of showing the Republicans talking heads one after the other on shows saying the same words, in lock-step, bashing Obama's decisions or policies.  What propagandists are the Republicans!  Using such tactics as The Big Lie, demonizing, labeling, card-stacking, testimonials, band wagon, glittering generalities--all well used in their campaign to destroy Obama's presidency.

He prevented a terrible depression, promoted U.S. good will in the world, has brought the U.S. closer to equal health care for everyone, had Osama Bin Laden brought to justice, and so far has prevented other bombings in the U.S..  He has kept politics civil despite all the malicious rhetoric. 

The Republicans have shown themselves to be ignorant, small minded, lacking in graciousness, liars, unpatriotic, cowards, devious, and without honor. 

What's this World Coming To?

It has been a while since I blogged here.  I had thought that most ideas that I had been writing about was being covered by those in the media or those representing us in government; such as  propaganda, government infringement on civil rights, corporate greed, comprehensive immigration and the like.

Some of the forecasts that I had made--such as government infringement on the privacy of U.S. citizens was dead on.  Only I had been pointing the finger at the FBI instead of the NSA.  Someone with the power had to be doing it and being a domestic matter it seemed likely that the FBI would be doing it.  I believe that it is likely they have a secret eavesdropping section that is doing large scale bugging of citizens that they suspect of doing criminal activities.  They also might be getting information gleaned by the NSA in their domestic operations.  If I wanted to do away with criminal gangs and criminal organizations that is what I would do, with the permission (or not) from judges set up to give such permission of course. 

I was right about one thing and that is we are engaged in a Third World War.  Oil and religion are the main causes of it.  Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, are all involved in some way of producing, refining, and transporting oil.  Others, such as Somalia, Yemen, are drawn into the conflict because of military actions and religious ferment in adjacent countries. Their proximity to oil can be in itself be a factor. 

Oil is the major cause of the war--that and religion.  Religion is just the tool used to gain political power.  Oil is the means. 

Religion has always been an easy way for the few to gain power over large numbers of people.  It is also a convenient means to justify atrocities.  "God says, kill all those who would oppose him",

Those who espouse to being close to god, and  are able to convince others that they are close to god, become the voice of their god, and who is going to deny god? 

Oil is the means by which the few can dominate the masses. Religious leaders take control over the oil, which then provides the means to buy the guns and ammunition needed to slaughter those who do not follow their religious leaders.

Politics is grotesquely warped by the industrial nation's need for oil.  Nations that we would have little reason normally to associate closely with are now our bosom buddies.  All on account of their reserves of oil.  Foreign leaders, who we would normally shun, are wined and dined and are given our protection.  Our foreign and domestic politics have become so entwined that it is nearly impossible to adhere to our guiding principles and ideals as set down in our Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

Ideology has replaced reason to such an extent that our government cannot govern.  The majority of the people are not being served, represented.  Devices such as gerrymandering are being used to subvert our democracy.  Any means possible is being used to take advantage of the system.  The U.S. Supreme Court has even gotten into the act by allowing individuals and corporations to use their wealth to drown out weaker voices.

The conservatives make promises parallel to that of the democrats but when you try to pin them down as to details they fail to provide details. They say they will do away with Obama Care and replace it with something like Obama Care.  Would their plan have provisions allowing those with existing conditions to have insurance without additional costs.  Would their plan have extended insurance for college students?  The simple fact is out there--conservatives represent the insurance companies, not the average citizen.  When they say "the people want this or that" they mean the corporations want this or that.

In the past we did have some leaders who represented the people and great strides were made to better the conditions of the people; who were by and large newly arrived immigrants. Working conditions were terrible and unsafe:  they were improved and made better after many had been injured or killed.  There was a time when people were listened to.  Not now.  Instead we get Fox (laughable) News, whose message is Propaganda.  Remember Propaganda in this blog site if you are unfamiliar with the techniques used to get people to jump through hoops. 

If the situation weren't so serious our government's antics would be laughable.  Congressmen's actions are blatantly unpatriotic.  It seems that there should be an ethical guideline to follow, that stipulates that the people shall be represented without bias or thoughts of monetary or political rewards from individuals, parties, or corporations and that a prerequisite amount of time will be spent doing the people's work and not engaged in trips or campaigning on the people's time. 

More to follow...