Propagandist Caught
This morning when I read this title on CNN, "Al Qaeda 'proagandist caught'," part of me, for a moment thought that they'd reigned in the GOP marketing machine. I'd thought that they'd catapulted the propaganda right out of The Administration.
Because, you see, The Administration has been among the greatest propagandists in aid of the terror inflicted by Al Qaeda on American citizens. More than simply being complicit with Al Qaeda, The Administration has used them, time and time again, to rebuild the only popular aid they've got when their numbers dip: Fear. Orchinus has written extensively on this loose system, and he turns in another reasoned analysis following the New York Subway Hoax [which, interestingly, came after GOP Mayor Bloomberg's numbers have taken a lashing], but he turns in something fascinating and shocking: that when you market and sell mass fear in a time of war, you end up laying the groundwork for serious internal breakdown rather than any reasoned attempt at stifling the global problem. This is how we ended up with Interment camps in America during the second World War.
This isn't a difficult logical leap to make- and we've even seen demonstrated how apparently operative it is in the apparently government-less wake of Katrina, the corruption of the Plame Affair, and the failure of the elective Invasion in Iraq. The Administration, after 9/11, makes a global agenda out of the exporting of democracy in the name of fighting terror. In order to do this, they need to maintain an adequate level of domestic support for a global agenda- their operative method has always been through the manipulation of American Fear following the 9/11 attacks. Everything turns on their global agenda- every press conference references the war on terror, every statement made relies on it. It is their central thesis of governance. When support for the cause dips, suddenly a letter from number 2 to number 1 in Iraq; a video from the Big Man; a subway plot.
If all you have to do to maintain your agenda is maintain adequate levels of Fear, you really don't have to do anything else. Such as- adequate preparations for disaster relief [hire a crony into FEMA!], public health [no worries about avian flu!]; or domestic justice [race, class, gender- BAH! Million men marching? Nah. Ohio race riots? Who cares!].
But maintaining fear doesn't work toward the stated goals- and putting all your resources into that only furthers the corrosion and crisis.
It's like torturing prisoners with the intent of gleaning meaningful and important information: torture itself actually doesn't work as those with vital information likely will not expose it, or regularly give false information; and those being tortured who know nothing give terribly wrong information as a means to end the torture being enacted upon them. And the social effects of torture during this war, for instance, actually provide more propaganda and impetus to join terroristic causes then not to.
Because, you see, The Administration has been among the greatest propagandists in aid of the terror inflicted by Al Qaeda on American citizens. More than simply being complicit with Al Qaeda, The Administration has used them, time and time again, to rebuild the only popular aid they've got when their numbers dip: Fear. Orchinus has written extensively on this loose system, and he turns in another reasoned analysis following the New York Subway Hoax [which, interestingly, came after GOP Mayor Bloomberg's numbers have taken a lashing], but he turns in something fascinating and shocking: that when you market and sell mass fear in a time of war, you end up laying the groundwork for serious internal breakdown rather than any reasoned attempt at stifling the global problem. This is how we ended up with Interment camps in America during the second World War.
This isn't a difficult logical leap to make- and we've even seen demonstrated how apparently operative it is in the apparently government-less wake of Katrina, the corruption of the Plame Affair, and the failure of the elective Invasion in Iraq. The Administration, after 9/11, makes a global agenda out of the exporting of democracy in the name of fighting terror. In order to do this, they need to maintain an adequate level of domestic support for a global agenda- their operative method has always been through the manipulation of American Fear following the 9/11 attacks. Everything turns on their global agenda- every press conference references the war on terror, every statement made relies on it. It is their central thesis of governance. When support for the cause dips, suddenly a letter from number 2 to number 1 in Iraq; a video from the Big Man; a subway plot.
If all you have to do to maintain your agenda is maintain adequate levels of Fear, you really don't have to do anything else. Such as- adequate preparations for disaster relief [hire a crony into FEMA!], public health [no worries about avian flu!]; or domestic justice [race, class, gender- BAH! Million men marching? Nah. Ohio race riots? Who cares!].
But maintaining fear doesn't work toward the stated goals- and putting all your resources into that only furthers the corrosion and crisis.
It's like torturing prisoners with the intent of gleaning meaningful and important information: torture itself actually doesn't work as those with vital information likely will not expose it, or regularly give false information; and those being tortured who know nothing give terribly wrong information as a means to end the torture being enacted upon them. And the social effects of torture during this war, for instance, actually provide more propaganda and impetus to join terroristic causes then not to.
posted by General Stan at 12:18 PM
1 Comments:
another reasoned analysis following the New York Subway Hoax [which, interestingly, came after GOP Mayor Bloomberg's numbers have taken la lashing],
I think that Bloomberg wasn't in favor of that alert and that he was forced to deal with it because of leaks. Not sure but I know I read it somewhere - Gilliard's place?
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