Propaganda
From NYTimes.com on Saturday:
“And Representative Paul C. Broun, Republican of Georgia, said: ‘Of course Americans engage in propaganda. It’s a vital part of the mission of the United States to promote democracy and protect our country from harm.’”
Representative Broun represents the 10th Congressional District which is Northeast Georgia. His quote was in an article about two new investigations of the retired officers scandal earlier this year when it was revealed that the Pentagon was feeding “military analysts” misinformation that they were passing on in interviews in newspapers and on TV.
In a realpolitik, “we’re in a war” context, I don’t have a problem with propaganda, “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.”
But, that isn’t what the Pentagon and the retired military officers were doing. From the original NYTimes.com article on April 20th:
“Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as ‘message force multipliers’ or ‘surrogates; who could be counted on to deliver administration ‘themes and messages; to millions of Americans ‘in the form of their own opinions.’”
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“Again and again, records show, the administration has enlisted analysts as a rapid reaction force to rebut what it viewed as critical news coverage, some of it by the networks’ own Pentagon correspondents. For example, when news articles revealed that troops in Iraq were dying because of inadequate body armor, a senior Pentagon official wrote to his colleagues: ‘I think our analysts — properly armed — can push back in that arena.’”
So, the Bush Administration lied to us, for no reason other than to not look bad; and Rep. Broun thinks this is good thing, an effort to “protect democracy.” I disagree.
It's interesting to note that Mr. Broun's website says he judges legislation based on four factors. The first is "Is it moral/right?" I guess he's OK on the lying to look good thing by the Administration since there was no legislation involved.
9 comments:
One problem with lying is that people might not believe what you say.
On an off topic note, the link to your site at apwbwgttd points to a specific post. You may want to change that to go to the home page.
chamblee54
Thanks Chamblee, I'd noticed that and don't know how to fix it. I guess I'll send the administrator an Email.
I think that the government would not be getting away with this much planted propaganda in the news media if we did not have the 24-hour a day continuous news cycle to fill. If news sources had to pick and choose what to present in just an hour or two a day, they might be more choosy about what they air. Just a thought. Not that there is any going back. I hate what TV news has become and refuse to watch it.
It's like the little boy who cried wolf. Can we believe them when the actually tell the truth?
I've long held to the belief that politicians tell each group what they think that particular group WANTS to hear so that way they can say/do whatever they really want in the end then with no backlash. Since they endorse lying then it is obvious they don't consider honesty vs lying as being part of any type of moral code. Or is this just my own jaded attitude about politicians coming through?
I'm not against "promoting democracy."
I'm against portraying war as noble and necessary when it's neither.
And now we have Scott McClellan, who says his job as administration spokesman turned out to be "administrator of misinformation" - my designation.
As history clearly shows, the first indicator of despotic government is that leaders propagate falsehoods. Sounds like Broun is a co-conspirator.
This is so numbingly offensive (or would be more offensive if we had not become so numb to it). I'm sure that you've seen McClellan new book excerpts, basically saying that the Bush administration shuttled facts for campaigning. This is not news - just a confession. Tragic. And as every recovering drug addict can tell you, the consequences of ignoring reality are never good.
Hey Ron, I'm glad to see you haven't given up all web life.
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