( – promoted by mataliandy)
To survive people conformed. They kept silent. And the continuous propaganda worked.
In the USSR, Lenin and Stalin cultivated their power with the aid of the media. Sure, media was less sophisticated in those days: radio, newspapers, and the movies were pretty much it. But with willing propagandists at the media helm, tyranny was certainly an easier ride – for the tyrants.
Propaganda
Function: noun
Definition:
3 : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect
Propaganda was the pretty face painted on brutality. It was able to whip up boogey men in an instant, regularly trumpeting the latest “enemy of the state,” as if the poor victim was the political equivalent of the day’s biggest fashion faux-pas.
But propaganda laid out in sheets of a newspaper or floating freely across the radio waves could only carry them so far.
Follow me below the fold…
What was needed?
Well-indoctrinated kids brimming full of propaganda could be mustered to help the Bolshevik leaders deal with their fundamental problem-that the masses, the older generations, remained backwards.
They needed to cultivate crops of believers. They needed indoctrination.
To survive people conformed. They kept silent. And the continuous propaganda worked.
As a schoolgirl in the 1950s Tatiana Vorontsova remembers she learned the Morozov lesson in the fourth grade. “… We, of course, would also have liked to be heroes and at that time if I had been in the same situation, and my father had done something against the Soviet state, of course, I would simply have gone and reported him, just like that.”
And this brings us to a modern tale of propaganda.
Next Monday, is the 5th anniversary of 9/11, the day thousands of Americans were murdered in cold blood by fundamentalist religious zealots. Our President says they did it because they hate America, they hate our freedoms. He says we should: …uphold the values of America, and remember why so many have come here. We are in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them.
Next Monday, ABC plans to show a fictionalized “docudrama,” written by Rush Limbaugh’s friend Cyrus Nowrasteh, with the help of the Thomas Kean, appointed by the President to be the figurehead at the helm of the 9-11 Commission (which Bush didn’t … want to happen … at all).
ABC claims that the movie is “a dramatization of the events detailed in The 9/11 Commission Report and other sources,” implying that if it’s in the movie, it’s real, and came from a credible source. That claim is a lie of omission, because it leaves out vital information that, if known, would drastically change the perspective of the viewer.
The most popular scene in right-wing blog land is one in which (try to follow me here, it’s a bit convoluted) the Northern Alliance, which doesn’t have bin Laden surrounded, doesn’t have a CIA official ask a White House official for permission to bomb the not-surrounded bin Laden. The call was never made, but in the non-call, the CIA official is told by the administration official whom he didn’t call, that they can’t bomb the bad guy they don’t have surrounded.
But of course the scene replaces all the parts that didn’t happen in real life, with stuff that does happen in Disney life.
And that’s not the only scene that pushes history through the looking glass.
Remember the definition of propaganda? That whole thing about furthering your own cause while hurting your opponent’s?
It sure sounds like this movie uses a whole bucket of paint in a flimsy attempt to blot out the truth of Democratic [.wav sound file] competence, while tossing a big ol’ throw-rug over the Republican incompetence.
One of the biggest roadblocks to actually protecting us against terrorists was the Republican Congress, which was so obsessed by the trivial matter of two consenting adults “diddling,” that they refused to see terrorism as the crucial life-and-death issue it was. In fact, they seemed to relish using a movie title as a metaphor to imply fighting terrorism was a diversion from the real business of hanky panky in the oval office:
“Look at the movie ‘Wag the Dog.’ I think this has all the elements of that movie,” Rep. Jim Gibbons said. “Our reaction to the embassy bombings should be based on sound credible evidence, not a knee-jerk reaction to try to direct public attention away from his personal problems.”
Massachusetts acting Gov. Paul Cellucci, a Republican and a movie buff, said: “It popped into my mind, but I do hope that that’s not the situation and I trust that it isn’t.”
One of the first questions asked of [Clinton’s] Defense Secretary William Cohen at a nationally televised Pentagon [briefing] was how he would respond to people who think the military action “bears a striking resemblance to ‘Wag the Dog.”‘
“The only motivation driving this action today was our absolute obligation to protect the American people from terrorist activities,” Cohen said. “That is the sole motivation.”
(from: http://www.cnn.com/A…)
Anything Can Come True, If You Wish it Hard Enough
They believe they can wipe the slate clean, perhaps? They know the short attention span of the American public. Maybe, if they can tell big enough lies on the TV, they can fool enough people to bring them to victory in November.
They don’t want people to remember their failure to protect us. They want people to forget that President Bush, the man who did a little landscaping while terrorists prepared to kill thousands, the man they have supported in every failed policy, every bungled action, every stupid move, let 9/11 happen on his watch, then promptly ran the ship of state aground in the desert of the Middle East, without any strategy, without caring enough about the lives of our sons and daughters to have devised a definition of success. So now our kids and those of all the innocent civilians in a country that posed no threat, have merged into an endless stream of blood and death half a world away.
But Wait! There’s More!
Remember that propaganda through the media can only be “so” effective. The “masses” tend to be too cynical to buy it all (except that inexplicable 35% Bush base). But there is a way to cultivate a crop of true believers. To grow a corps of followers who won’t know any better.
Send the Propaganda to School via Indoctri-Cation[tm] Now with Leave no Truth Behind!.
When ABC decided to make this propaganda piece, they also partnered with Scholastic to make a curriculum that requires students to watch the movie and answer “discussion” questions, which are not at all misleading or propagandistic (yeah, that’s the ticket!).
Samples (from Gerogia 10):
- Accompanied by a Bush 9/11 Bullhorn Picture, states that Afghanistan is “increasingly stable and independent”
Timeout for Truth:
Friday September 8, 2006
Nato’s top commander appealed yesterday for helicopters, planes and hundreds of extra troops to reinforce the alliance’s Afghan force against the Taliban. Returning from a visit to Afghanistan, General James Jones admitted he had been taken aback by the ferocity of violence in the south of the country.
(from Guardian UK)- encourages students to debate “whether the media helps or hurts our national security.”
Hmmm… debate whether the media is a threat. I can just hear whoever cobbled this dreck together: “Does it get kids to question the Constitutional right to freedom of the press? Yessir! Check. Next…”
- Lists all the pertinent government agencies, stating that the CIA and FBI were accused of not doing enough to prevent the attacks. No such reference is included in the “National Security Council” section or the “NSA” section.
Note: NSA was run by Condoleeza Rice when 9/11 occurred, and she insisted that she ignored the plan to prevent terrorist attacks, which had been provided by the Clinton transition team, because it was an “historic” document. As if having been written in the past magically removes its value. Hint for Condoleeza: all documents were written in the past.
- Gives a rundown of each country involved in the movie, no mention is made of Clinton’s attempts to get bin Laden in Afghanistan. Rather, it states that “after 9/11”, we asked the Taliban to hand him over.
Leaves out Saudi Arabia, which provided 15 of the 19 hijackers. Also includes Iraq as a country that was part of 9/11. Also ignores Taliban offer to hand over bin Laden pre-war.
- Under “Iraq”, the document states that the U.S. “believed that Hussein had been developing weapons of mass destruction that he planned to use against Americans and other targets.” But, conveniently, there is NO mention that WMD were never found, leaving students with the impression that the war was justified.
See here for a discussion of Just War Principles v. Iraq
- Also under “Iraq”, the document states that the US is still in Iraq, “battling insurgents who want the United States to pull out.” No mention of civil war, no mention of how Iraqis want us out, no mention of anything but a phrase which leaves students thinking that if someone suggests a pull out, they are siding with the insurgents.
I don’t really need to comment here, the original says it all.
- Under “Pakistan,” you’ll find glowing praise for Pervez Musharraf.
The Musharraf dictatorship doles out ostensible support in the war on terror to keep it in the good graces of Washington, while it presides over a society that fuels and empowers militants at the expense of moderates. And the political madrasas, which I spent years as prime minister dismantling, flourish and grow under the military dictatorship. Why is it that the terrorist trail always seems to lead back to Pakistan? Why are second-generation Pakistani emigres far more attracted by this pattern of terrorism than other disillusioned Muslims in the west? What is it about Islamabad that puts it at the centre of terrorist plots?
– former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
The curriculum has reportedly already been shipped to 100,000 teachers around the country.
What Can We Do?
Propagandizing is bad enough, but indoctrinating our kids with it is beyond the pale. Making their class grades depend on learning the propaganda is abhorrent.
Cheating our children out of the truth and betraying their trust is not an American value. Covering up failure makes it impossible to prevent a repeat. This dishonors all who have died, it is not an American value.
If you’re as pissed off about this as I am, there are a bunch of easy steps you can take. Please see this diary on Daily Kos for a zillion bits of contact info. It’ll take just a couple of minutes to write an email or make a phone call.
Be sure to be polite! The people answering the phone or reading the email are not the people who are trying to promote blatant propaganda and force feed it to our children, plus you “attract more flies with honey” and all that…
If You Are a Parent with Kids in the Public Schools – A Special Task
Please contact your school board, the school principle, your child’s history and reading teachers, and your PTA. Let them know you do not want your child to be subject to this propaganda.
Ask the school to contact their Scholastic sales representative to discuss changing distributors unless this is corrected.
I know this is a VERY long post, but it only scratches the surface and barely sketches out a hint of the outright falsehoods in this movie. Please see here for a list of articles debunking the movie’s claims.