alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

July 18, 2007

Blogaganda

by AltHippo @ 10:56 am. Filed under propaganda

For those of you who are interested in understanding the government’s use of propaganda, I’d recommend this essay on Orwell’s 1984. This excerpt particularly struck me:

Although the regime appeared repressive to Smith, it was not this feature which bothered him as much as the
lying, rewriting history, misrepresentation of current events and facts, and endless sloganizing designed to entrap the subject masses. Smith was an employee of the Ministry of Truth and was often responsible for editing and rewriting information. , He was painfully aware of the manipulation of the truth. Big Brother’s henchmen had not yet perfected their psychological techniques to the point that they could resolve effectively the dissonance between knowledge and belief. Smith knew the propaganda was false and the slogans meaningless, yet even he was expected to believe and trust.

Repression and prevarication are devices commonly used by the powerful to assert legitimacy since the exercise of power never benefits the powerless as much as the powerful. Those who hold power customarily must rationalize a privileged position which is never fully deserved.

Propaganda is a common tool of the powerful. It’s used to rationalize the continued existence of the powerful. And, it’s the enemy of understanding.

One of the reasons I bring this up is because of two blog posts I read this morning. The first from the Archcrone:

The Pentagon has a new operation, “Communications Outreach,” formerly known as “Surrogates Operation.” This is an attempt to work with talk radio hosts and bloggers to spread the “good” word about the debacle otherwise known as the War in Iraq.

The second is from Open Left:

However, a quick review of Google news results for Edwards haircut shows immediately that it is a right-wing smear job that the corporate press is happily reporting. Who is talking about the Edwards haircut? Why, Forbes, Powerline, the Daily Telegraph, Fox, Real Clear Politics, New Busters, the Politico, Town Hall, the New York Sun, Rush Limbaugh, American Spectator, Hot Air and Human Events. Al Gore must be watching this with a real sense of deja vu.

Are the entities that Chris Bowers lists acting either as an extension of the White House, the RNC, or other right-wing entities? I think it’s likely. Others likely identify more with the clan (I said “clan” not “Klan”) nature of politics, and smearing someone, or twisting the facts in order to “win”- whatever “winning” might mean in this sense- justifies their actions to themselves. To the list I’ll add NRO, Michelle Malkin, the Druge Report and Instapundit.

Here, I’ll just add that my objection to these blogs and media sites isn’t that I disagree with their opinions. It’s that I find what they do reprehensible. Distorting the truth for money or for sport. Which in the end serves to keep those who are undeservedly powerful in power.

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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.

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