Archive for the ‘Propaganda’ Category
Democrats are Not Immune from Ignorance
Over the last few years I have become very acquainted with politics. I formed my views during the Bush presidency, and they have remained rather stable since then. I disagreed with just about everything George Bush did as president. I disagreed with his economic policies, his foreign policies, and his huge power grab for the executive. However, upon voicing my opinions I was referred to by republicans as un-American and unpatriotic. I felt this sort of ignorant name-calling was unique to the neoconservative side of the American political system. However, recent events have proven me wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
Are You A Racist? Take the Test…
Many of you saw the letter to the editor in the Daily Mississippian early this week. It was in response to Justin Head’s article about Obama’s pro-war foriegn policy. In short, the article called Justin a racist for criticizing Obama. At first I could not figure out how this guy could come to the conclusion that Justin was a racist…then I saw this. It all makes sense now.
The Djarum Experiment
I bought a pack of Djarum Black cigarettes this week, never having been a fan of cigarettes. They are what I like to call an ‘endangered species’. Their unnatural predator? The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (H. R. 1256). Signed into law, this bill bans flavored cigarettes, with the exception of menthol flavors. Individuals that enjoy these products are being told that it isn’t their choice any more. The drafters of the legislation contend that these cigarettes must be banned to help protect children from tobacco. I never saw kids smoking these cigarettes growing up. I don’t see anyone at all smoking these cigarettes. Given a smaller user-base, is it reasonable to argue that these cigarettes in particular are exposed more to children? Why must we endure yet another useless prohibition? Perhaps if I try to understand the following of these goods, I’ll have, in my mind, started an even hotter “brush fire of freedom.”
Supporting the Constitution is Terrorism, Missouri Says
The Missouri Information Analysis Center recently released a report to over 1,000 of its law enforcement officials warning that “violent” militia members are usually supporters of Ron Paul and Campaign for Liberty. Oh yea, they are also usually characterized by their support of the Constitution.
So there you have it! It has finally been done. The men and women of America who actually believe in and support the US Constitution have been labeled terrorist threats! One state down, 49 to go.
This comes, of course, on the eve of the UM Constitutionalists trip to St. Louis, Missouri to attend the Campaign for Liberty Regional Conference. We are now considered terrorist threats in the state we are about to enter, I wonder if we will be arrested with no charges, sent to Bagram Base in Afghanistan and tortured by Obama’s watchmen.
If you want to read the story on this go here:
http://www.chuckbaldwinliv
e.com/c2009/cbarchive_20090317.html
Also, please sign C4L’s pledge in response to this ridiculous report. Go here:
http://www.campaignforlibe
rty.com/campaigns/citizenspetition.php
Greed, War, and their Visit to Ole Miss
The world is too astonishing for me sometimes. I usually end up with my hands being thrown in the air screaming, “They did WHAT!!” The most recent news with the ability to elicit such a response from me is that Colin Powell was picked to speak on our campus about, “A World of Opportunity and Challenge” as part of Black History Month. He has also been touted as being, “an extraordinary human being who has reached the top ranks of military, diplomatic and political circles,” by the Honors College dean. It’s a nice attempt to characterize the extremely expensive guest speaker as better than he actually is, but don’t be fooled.
In order to grasp the horrid picture I have of Colin Powell, I must first describe the events in which he played a major role. According to Richard Cummings and his article Lockheed Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, a meeting occurred in November of 2002 between Stephen J. Hadley, then deputy national security advisor, and Bruce Jackson where they discussed how to get American citizens complacent with a needless war that they were about to start. Hadley reportedly told Jackson, “they are going to war and are struggling with a rationale,” to justify it. So Jackson’s job was to do just that, create a reason to have innocent American soldiers and Iraqis murdered.
Orwellian Doublethink from the White House
In his classic science fiction novel 1984, George Orwell warns his readers of the psychological propaganda schemes exploited by totalitarian governments. Essentially, these tactics are efforts to control public opinion with deceitful language. The George W. Bush Administration is notorious for its use of such propaganda, some instances being more obvious than others. Consider Bush’s rhetoric in the early days of the “War on Terror” (and the idea of a war against terrorism in the first place), and you may recall such statements as: “Either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists,” or, shortly before the invasion of Iraq, “Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof—the smoking gun—that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
The propaganda continues into the final weeks of the Bush Administration. Bush seems to have learned his tactics of deception from Orwell himself, who explained the concept of doublethink:
“Doublethink is an unending series of victories over your own memory, reality control; to know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constricted lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancel out, knowing them to be completely contradictory, and believing in both of them; to use logic against logic to repudiate morality while laying claim to it.”
This week’s example of doublethink concerns the executive bailout of the auto industry, for which Bush explains: “I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.” Two completely contradictory statements wrapped into one. Logic does not permit the coexistence of these facts any more than, say, crashing one’s car into a wall to maintain its prime condition. These rhetorical contradictions stink of propaganda at the highest level of American politics. The noxious odor dissipating from Pennsylvania Avenue is nothing new; media soundwaves have carried it eastward for eight years. But it’s become evident that the source of this stench is a rotting rule of law, infested with maggots whose survival depends upon perpetual death and rancid bullshit.
Don’t let yourself be deceived. Propaganda falters upon its recognition. Deceitful intentions must be recognized before they can be rejected.
-Dan Blazo
Source: thinkprogress.org
