You Have Been Had, Snookered, Duped, They are Laughing at You.

[hang a left]

This whole scene in the media for the past 10 days has been one big mini-series for the masses. A docudrama. Clarke, Rice, the WH. Nobody is on your side, you are being played, the whole country is going for a ride with the elite in the driver's seat. Wake up!!!!! We are being manipulated, pitted against one another, diverted.

Think about the last few months. No WMD. Scandals in congress. 9/11 commission white wash. Medicare bill fraud. Overtime pay. Patriot Act II. Gay marriage.

Your job, should you chose to accept it, is to figure out "what you gonna do about it." For God's sake don't stick your head in the sand on this one. What is left of this once great country is at stake.

Be afraid, be very afraid, and when your done doing that, get mad, get very mad.

snip>

December 16, 2003—Propaganda in this nation has never been more incessant than today. From the hundreds of lies, misrepresentations and deceits being told to us by both government and corporate media about battles, deaths, injuries, the resistance, security and the deteriorating state of the occupation of our quagmire in Iraq to the distortions and chicanery the Bush administration seemingly launches at us in wave after wave of lies to the purposeful distortion and omission by corporate media of the corrupt going-ons of the embarrassment and scandal that is the bordello called Congress.
Propaganda, it seems, has never been used so systematically and methodically. While the corporate Leviathan launches war against us its media merrily downplays or ignores its truth or consequences or our daily lives. With the growing power of the Leviathan becoming ever stronger, in essence becoming our government, we are witnessing propaganda, conditioning and manipulation on a scale never seen before. Our nation is being devastated by both government and business propaganda. As a result, we are being made brainless puppets attached to the willful strings of the powerful elite. What follows is an examination of this growing phenomenon and how it is affecting us all, our democracy and the direction this nation is headed in.

He who controls the media controls the masses. Today, America's media is controlled exclusively by fewer than a dozen multinational conglomerates and their many interests. NewsCorp, AOL, Viacom, General Electric, Disney and others have formed a media oligarch that reaches into every American home and most every citizen. These few omnipresent entities hold as paramount the belief in assuring for themselves perpetual loyalty from as many of the people as possible. Revenue and profit, corporate growth and power, executive pay and ego, these are all determined by us, the masses, and helps explain why the oligarchy has decided to invest and take an interest in all forms of media that reaches and influences us.

We are the lifeblood of the conglomerate, of vital importance, and, as such, it is in its best interest to control as much of our lives as possible, transforming us into obedient servants of obliviousness. Is it no coincidence, then, that the United States has become a nation whose masses no longer question authority or the propaganda that passes for news? Is it any wonder why we seem so ignorant as to what is being done to us and incurious as to what is happening in the world, readily and naively accepting as true everything that is spewed out of our televisions and newspapers? We have allowed the oligarchy to hide the keys of democracy while we carelessly follow it on the road to fascism, where the elite have control of all aspects of our lives, including our minds.

snip

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Media/121603Valenzuela/121603valenzuela.html

on edit fixed link

[FlemingsGhost]

1. You go ahead and be afraid... that's the idea, afterall.

I'm going to laugh at * THEM *, and simply live my life.

I'm not afraid.

(edited for grammar)

[JohnyCanuck]

2. Today's media is Goebbels' wet dream

Here's what the former head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the US Army War College says:

The way in which the Bush junta is conducting itself is an interesting brainwashing technique in itself: Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, and the others continually commit OUTRAGES but don't excuse them, explain them, or invite reflection on these affronts to morality and sanity. In fact, when some timid media voice criticizes the Bush junta, the person is demonized as questioning behavior which is beyond reproach.

Americans are being brainwashed to ask only the questions the Bushites allow and they are programmed to see everything the Bush junta does as unquestionably correct. The brainwashing has gone so far that Americans no longer see what has happened to our country.

In an earlier article, I reviewed the varied aspects of personality profiling and simulation. While serving as Head of the Artificial Intelligence Department at the U.S. Army War College, 1993-1995, I conducted studies on profiling, psychological programming, and brainwashing. I explored and developed personality simulation systems, an advanced technology used in military war games, FBI profiling, political campaigning, and advertising. Part of my discovery was that:


unenlightened human minds are combinations of infantile beliefs and emotional patterns

these patterns can be simulated in profiling systems

these profiling systems can be used to program and control people

Personality simulation systems are being used to create political campaigns that apply voter profiles to control their voting behavior. TV commercials and programs use personality simulation to profile viewers to control their purchasing and viewing behaviors. And sophisticated propaganda and brainwashing techniques are being used by the Bush junta to keep American citizens under control.


Brainwashing America

[yella_dawg]

5. "these profiling systems can be used to program and control people"

One of the weirdest things I saw in AI research is that extremely simple rules, applied uniformly to a group of digital objects, will produce complex and eerily biological behaviors.

All this stuff rings frighteningly true from an AI perspective.

[goz]

18. Great stuff, JohnyCanuck! Great but scary...

[0007]

19. I like the Whore House at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave cartoon

It's organized crime with dumb and dumber at the controls.

[JohnyCanuck]

22. I like their anti-propaganda posters like this one

[H2O Man]

3. I respectfully disagree.

(1) The 9-11 hearings, while not what would come from a commission of d.u. members, is making a significant impression on the voting public. (2) Do not be afraid. Ever. Whoever teaches you to be afraid also teaches you to hate yourself, according to Malcolm X. Be as brave as Malcolm. Remember that Malcolm was good friends with Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, and he met with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., outside of some Senate hearings. To be truly revolutionary, you must make changes occure -- and that requires fearless work within the system. Just my opinion.

[markses]

4. Will the gloom and doom never end?

I have no time for defeatists. The endless conspiracies you weave here leave us all helpless. It is better to believe, in this case, cuz one at still has a reason to keep fighting. Your worldview crushes that, and is therefore thoroughly useless.

[hang a left]

13. I am so glad that you have annointed yourself the official

spokesperson for everyone at DU. "The endless conspiracies you weave here leave us all helpless"

That is a tactic used by the media and our government by spewing bs poll numbers and making statements like "Well the American people think, feel, have moved on.....to tell us what to think.

I prefer to think for myself.

My latest obsession is with the propaganda and psyops that the American media uses on it's people. I am not a defeatist, I am a realist, and I watch everything very carefully.

I am trying to bring this issue to the forefront here at DU ala BBV. THat was a conspiracy theory when it started here too. And there are a couple of posters here on this thread, in fact, that did all that they could to deter people from the subject, using the same techniques that you are employing.

[BeHereNow]

23. Ah yes, the hypocracy factor of the "librul" thinker.

"I will condemn the degrading and dimissing rhetoric
of those right wingers who dare to attack my american idols,
but use the tactic myself when it suits my personal agenda,
because I am different, ya know..."
It never ceases to amaze me.
And for the record L&P, you and I are on the same page
and as you know, I prefer to think and speak for myself too.
BHN

[BeHereNow]

24. Defeatist/Realist

Being a realist requires one to be a GROWN-UP.
And I believe you are a realist.
A defeatist is one who can not face reality
and gives up adopting another less mature
coping mechanism, say, like administering
invalidating and dismissive statements about anothers'
viewpoint: especially when it bursts their bubble
about being so special as to be able to
actually fight the empire? HAH! Now that is funny!
But severely delusional. As if putting on a superman
cape renders you with the ability to fly?
Child's play is what I often see here at DU
when "matters" that matter are seriously brought up.
A flock of kids in capes with key boards.
Willing to attack those who have no delusions
about the fact that their capes will not
save them from the global elite who have by the way,
taken absolute control over every living soul,
to steal the words of Leonard Cohen.
If that does not scare the pants off of you,
then you truly do not comprehend what is happening
and you should continue to hide under your cape.
You will be happier in ignorance, like the child in
the the movie "Life is Beautiful." Power to you.
However, DO not attack those of us who are
grown up and understand that this is not a game
and there is no contest here. WE are doomed.
Yes, hate to break it to ya, doomed.
Life will never be the same. Not in our lifetimes
anyway. That is a grown up fact.
L&P-
I do not see you giving up, I see you being realistic
and fully informed at the gravity of our situation.
If someone refers to people like us as "defeatists"
perhaps it is because they are not grown up enough
to fully face reality? Perhaps what you, I and a scant
number of other DUers continually try to bring to the
table is just too grown up for some to face, and thus
it is easier to dismiss us and sucumb to defeat at the
task of facing the situation in a grown up matter,
as in understanding the severity and reality of
what has happened in this country and
the grim implications of where it is heading?
Wait, who is the defeatist again?
BHN

[MadProphetMargin]

26. How do his conspiracies make you "helpless"? Just asking.

[BeHereNow]

28. Even better question-

Since when are facts conspiracies?
Oh heck, that would require research and reading
and (gulp) maybe the recognition that there is no
conspiracy, but rather some rather HARSH reality?
Screw that!
Gimme my cape, I don't want to face facts-
(Hands over the ears singing-)
"Nah-nah-nah-nah, I can't hear you and your
just a bad conspiracy theorist person anyway..."
Where's my markers? I wanna color a peace poster now.
That will show those bad men in Washington.

BHN

[americanstranger]

6. I've been mad for three years now.

But afraid? Nope.

That's what they want, and I ain't givin' it to them.

-as

[goz]

7. Great work! Thanks.

I have an issue with only one thing, the use of the word "fascism". Today, "fascism" is used in its marxist sense, which basically is ABSOLUTE EVIL, which Marxism WAS, IS! I would suggest that you use the word "totalitarism" or "dictatorship" instead. That way, everyone will be happy, left and right...

Keep up the good work!

[Zorra]

10. A fascist by any other name is still a fascist.

And the other name is GOP.

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise. " Adolph Hitler

" The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power. "
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

[aquart]

21. Yup. And fascists can only destroy.

People get tired of that.

And please remember, nobody is more frightened than a fascist. Bush enters buildings by the back door, imports his own hand-picked audiences, goes nowhere people won't pre-guarantee to cheer.

Cheney lives in a bunker. A plush bunker, but still spends time hiding.

These guys know they have no friends but each other. Would you trust a friend like that?

[goz]

30. My point was...

... that "dictatorship" (forget "totalitarianism") is more neutral than "fascism". The later is controversial as demonstrated by some deletions, yesterday... Controversial, therefore divisive. Who was it again, that said: "Divide and rule!"??? At the start of this new century, we (the masses) are still divided in two camps: the Left and the Right. Who might be profiting from such phenomenon? Hum, I wonder...

Today, the term "fascism" is used in its marxist acceptation which is: ABSOLUTE EVIL! In other words, "totalitarianism" or "dictatorship" IN GENERAL. The problem with that is, as I just said, that the first ones to do it IN THAT MANNER were "wild eyes Marxists" with blood up to their shoulders! It would be interesting to find out when they did start using it. Was it in the mid-twenties* (the Fascist National Party was founded on December 24, 1925 - strange choice of date...) or was it in the mid-thirties**, when the Nazi Party became the main voice of the masses, in Germany?

Anyway, the reason for using it, in that manner was to create a DIVERSION in order to distract the international community and hide the true nature of Communism! It also served as a justification for their deeds. That is that anyone opposing communism (or suspected of) was labelled a "fascist" and eliminated!

The TRUE meaning of "fascism" (as opposed to the marxist one) is a Corporatist type of dictatorship like under Mussolini (which, incidentally, has always been a socialist except for that so-called "fascist" episode). Corporations united with the State. As for Franco-ism, it was rather a "Catholicism at war" that, although undefeated, led to a democracy.

Under communism (ANYWHERE in the world), Corporations, small businesses, intellectuals, military officers, foremen, middle-class peasants (Koulacks) have been wiped out so, invariably, the economy went right down the drain. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote, the Bolsheviks were killing before, during and after the Nazis!

(*) They (the Bolsheviks) had then been killing for 8 years (roughly 10 millions)...

(**) They had then been killing for 18 years (roughly 25 millions)...

NOW, WE ARE ALL IN GRAVE DANGER. Therefore, I believe that we should ALL concentrate on what unites us, not what divides us. Consequently, we should ALL make the necessary compromises and stop picking at each others. IS IT TOO MUCH ASKING?

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[salib]

8. Maybe a difference of perception?

If it is seen as a struggle between republican and democrat, then it is truly an endless series of conspiracy theories, instead of what is important: i.e., beating *, so that Kerry and the democrats can be in power. However, if one sees this as a struggle on principle, then it is easy to call this whole discussion about Condi/*/Cheney as more theater for the propoganda mill.

But isn't that the frightening part.

[Must_B_Free]

9. It was once called "Yellow Journalism"

and its nothing new. Facists poison the well.

[Cocoa]

11. I take my cues from the Family Steering Committee

they for sure are not naive about the thing, and yet they are not hysterically defeatist.

[hang a left]

14. A very interesting article on a study on how we were misled into war

Governmental Agitprop
Replaces U.S. News
Excerpted from Eric Margolis's Foreign Correspondent
The Toronto Sun: Sunday, September 28, 2003
A fascinating March study of network TV news by New York's Fairness and Accuracy in Media shows how Americans were misled into war by outrageously biased programming on Iraq.

The analysis found:

76% of all commentators about Iraq on TV were present or former government officials

only 6% of commentators expressed skepticism regarding the need for war - when 61% of the public supported more time for diplomacy and inspections

on the four TV networks, less than 1% of sources were identified with anti-war groups.
And more than two-thirds of commentators were from the U.S., 75% either present or former government or military officials. The small number of foreign commentators mostly came from nations like Britain and Israel which were backing Bush's war policy.

In short, the major networks, under White House prompting, beat the war drums and blatantly excluded commentators with contrary views, giving Americans a badly warped view of world events.

No wonder so few Americans understand what is going on abroad, how the outside world really sees them, or why America has so many enemies overseas. Small wonder many Americans are turning for balanced news to the CBC, BBC and the Internet.

Citizens of the old Soviet Union suffered the same information isolation. Like Americans since 9/11, they were force-fed agitprop and patriotic pap disguised as news, and deprived of all knowledge of the real world around them.

http://www.newswatch.org/agitprop.htm

[VolcanoJen]

15. Well, crap. I'm all angry again.

Reading this post, and the Condi-posts, makes me worry more than I already do.

We've indeed been hoodwinked, more than thrice, by this crooked excuse of leadership. I'm so disgusted I could... well...

:puke:

[calimary]

16. Has ANYONE called, emailed, faxed, or written to ANYBODY about this?

(FROM DUer bigtree – 3/2004) Use the responses to strike back at the attacks, here and elsewhere.

“MEET THE PRESS”: [e-mail]

MSNBC-Phone: [phone]

Opinions: mailto:[e-mail]

News: mailto:[e-mail]

Letters to the Editor: mailto:[e-mail]

MSNBC on the Internet
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________________________________________________________________

CNN- (404) 827 – 1500

CNN TV: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv /

CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/dotcom /
_________________________________________________________________

[e-mail]

Readers' Representative Office: http://www.latimes.com/services/site/la-comment-readersrep.story

Los Angeles Times
202 W. 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
[phone]

The Times Orange County
1375 Sunflower Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626-1697
[phone]

Los Angeles Times
Valley Edition
20000 Prairie Street
Chatsworth, CA 91311
[phone]
Los Angeles Times
Ventura County Edition
93 S. Chestnut Street
Ventura, CA 93001
[phone]
_________________________________________________________________

New York Times:

To Write The Publisher or President: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html#o

Letters to the Editor: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html#a

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
E-mail to [e-mail] .

OP-ED/EDITORIAL
For information on Op-Ed submissions, call [phone] or send article to [e-mail]" target="_blank">[e-mail] . To write to the editorial page editor, send to [e-mail] .

NEWS DEPARTMENT
To send comments and suggestions (about news coverage only) or to report errors that call for correction, e-mail [e-mail] or leave a message at 1-888-NYT-NEWS.
The Editors
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

The Newsroom
[e-mail] ; [e-mail]
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[e-mail] ; [e-mail]
[e-mail] ; [e-mail]

PUBLIC EDITOR
To reach Daniel Okrent, who represents the readers, e-mail [e-mail] or call [phone].

TO WRITE THE PUBLISHER OR PRESIDENT

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Chairman & Publisher:
[e-mail] .

Janet L. Robinson, President & General Manager:
[e-mail] .
_________________________________________________________________

USA Today:

Letters to the Editor: http://www.usatoday.com/marketing/feedback/feedback-online.aspx?type=1...

USA TODAY / USATODAY.com
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_________________________________________________________________

Washington Post:

How can I contact Washington Post writers?: http://washingtonpost.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/washingtonpost.cfg/php/endu... *&p_li=

How do I submit a letter to the editor?: http://washingtonpost.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/washingtonpost.cfg/php/endu... *&p_li=

How do I submit an Op-Ed piece?
http://washingtonpost.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/washingtonpost.cfg/php/endu... *&p_li=

How do I contact the Ombudsman?: http://washingtonpost.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/washingtonpost.cfg/php/endu... *&p_li=

The Washington Post
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__________________________________________________________________

More:

National Newspapers: http://newslink.org/--news.html

Television by state: http://newslink.org/stattele.html

Radio by State: http://newslink.org/statradi.html

Networks-

Radio: http://newslink.org/netr.html

Television: http://newslink.org/nett.html

(CBS) 60 Minutes:

ADDRESS:
60 Minutes
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019

PHONE: [phone]

TRANSCRIPTS: 1-800-777-TEXT

VIDEOTAPES: 1-800-848-3256

CBS “60 Minutes” email info:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml - go to the bottom of the page and click on "feedback" and you're in.

***********ALSO NOTE: www.takebackthemedia.com – for the most comprehensive, extensive list of media contacts. ****************************************
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
301 7th Street, SW
Room 5125
Washington, DC 20407

Washington Office*
Tel: [phone]
Fax It is vital to get these criminals under oath.
: [phone]

email: [e-mail]
AL FELZENBERG, DEPUTY FOR COMMUNICATIONS National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

Office: 202-401-1725 Cell: 202-236-4878 Fax: [phone]"

[e-mail]

And don't forget your reps in Congress:

www.senate.gov

http://www.house.gov/writerep/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And finally , PLEASE NOTE MY SIG LINE – TO CALL YOUR REPS, TOLL FREE!!!

[hang a left]

17. Does this freak you out?

"The CIA & The Media" from Rolling Stone, 10/20/77.

Edited on Mon Mar-29-04 09:19 PM by liberalnproud
The CIA and the Media

Here's just a snippet from Carl Bernstein's famous 1977 article entitled "The CIA & The Media" from Rolling Stone, 10/20/77. Anyone with access to a library should try to find this - it's a truly breakthrough piece - 16 pages long in the reprint!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 1953, Joseph Alsop, then one of America's leading syndicated columnists, went to the Philippines to cover an election. He did not go because he was asked to do so by his syndicate. He did not go because he was asked to do so by the newspapers that printed his column. He went at the request of the CIA.

Alsop is one of more than 400 American journalists who in the past 25 years have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency according to documents on file at CIA headquarters. Some of these journalists' relationships with the Agency were tacit; some were explicit. There was cooperation, accommodation and overlap. Journalists provided a full range of clandestine services -- from simple intelligence-gathering to serving as go-betweens with spies in Communist countries. Reporters shared their notebooks with the CIA. Editors shared their staffs. Some of the journalists were Pulitzer Prize winners, distinguished reporters who considered themselves ambassadors without portfolio for their country. Most were less exalted: foreign correspondents who found that their association with the Agency helped their work; stringers and freelancers who were as interested in the derring-do of the spy business as in filing articles; and, the smallest category, full-time CIA employees masquerading as journalists abroad. In many instances, CIA documents show, journalists were engaged to perform tasks for the CIA with the consent of the managements of America's leading news organizations.

The history of the CIA's involvement with the American press continues to be shrouded by an official policy of obfuscation and deception for the following principal reasons:

The use of journalists has been among the most productive means of intelligence-gathering employed by the CIA. Although the agency has cut back sharply on the use of reporters since 1973 (primarily as a result of pressure from the media), some journalists are still posted abroad.
Further investigation into the matter, CIA officials say, would inevitably reveal a series of embarrassing relationships in the 1950's and 1960's with some of the most powerful organizations and individuals in American journalism.
Among the executives who lent their cooperation to the Agency were William Paley of the Columbia Broadcasting System, Henry Luce of Time Inc., Arthur Hays Sulzberger of the New York Times, Barry Bingham Sr. of the Louisville Courier-Journal, and James Copley of the Copley News Services. Other organizations which cooperated with the CIA include the American Broadcasting Company, the National Broadcasting Company, the Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Newsweek magazine, the Mutual Broadcasting System, the Miami Herald and the old Saturday Evening Post and New York Herald-Tribune.

By far the most valuable of these associations, according to CIA officials, have been with the New York Times, CBS and Time Inc.

<...>


http://www.realhistoryarchives.com/media/ciamedia.htm

[MadProphetMargin]

25. Hey, Watergate started out like this. Let's just see what happens...

...after all, it's not like you can DO anything to influence events, other than writing your congressman's staffers, which will accomplish nothing more than receiving an intelligence-insulting form letter in reply.

[Kool Kitty]

27. Watergate DID start like this.

And it took a couple of years for it all to fall into place. It feels like the pieces are starting to fall. I just hope we survive this, or, rather-the country survives.

[MadProphetMargin]

29. Well, even Shrubbya "wins" another term, at least there's the hope that

he will enjoy his second term as much as our old friend Richard Milhous Nixon enjoyed his.

[hippiegranny]

31. i have been thinking the same thing lately

i really think this house of cards is coming down and that the bush mafia will be called to account - even more so if they manage to subvert another election. if they think we're pissed now....