I'm losing it. Ever so slowly...

[MadisonProgressive]

Is the Gannon thing just some trouble-making bloggers now? That's all I see from the Shit-for-Brains-Media (SFBM).

Is that all there is? Is this really the United States of America?

Did I miss the punchline?

Someone please help me!!!!!!!!!

[Yavin4]

1. You Now Understand That The MSM Is In The Pocket of Corporate America

and the Republicans. Compare the Lewinsky coverage to the Gannon non-coverage and you will find the real bias in the media. The America as you know it does not exist any more.

[KittyWampus]

4. It Isn't Mainstream Media & I Can't Understand Why This Is Perpetuated

it's corporate media.

[FreedomAngel82]

36. The next time

some freakin freeper claims "liberal media" just point out this hypocriacy. "Liberal media" my ass.

[leveymg]

2. If this were the 1930s, you'd be upset about the same thing. SFBM

are just the same TIMEspeak a-holes working for the same lame publications as their Luce and Jackson-employed propagandist grandparents.

Don't dispair. We didn't go away, either.

[depakid]

12. Nice that someone remembers their history

I have never and will never read Slime magazine. Aside from being vacuous, it's been a Henry Luce fascist promoting publication for its entire existence. Turned CNN that direction too-

[leveymg]

18. Better to "know thine enemy". Read TIME, WSJ, Times of London, JPost

Aerospace Weekly. Read and understand them daily. Nothing will surprise you.

You can skip Faux News. That's for the Proles.

[leftyandproud]

3. No...It just wasn't an interesting story

I honestly couldn't care less about it.

So one guy got a press badge and asked a few softball questions of the prez. Big fu*kin deal. The fact that he was a prostitute has absolutely no impact on my life, or on anything else of importance. It's just a phony "scandal" that nobody cares about except hardcore bloggers and political junkies. It reminds me of the michael jackson trial...or a controversial outfit someone will probably wear at the Oscars tonight. I really don't give a shit. It doesn't impact anything in my life and won't change the course of events in our country. I don't care about the crap going on in Hollywood...Nobody else does either, because it doesn't matter to 99.999999999% of the population. Sure, if you make a living gawking at celebrities and writing about what clothes they wear, you will drool over those 'stories'...much like the bloggers are drooling over their beloved Gannon scoop. Just don't be surprised when the rest of the world doesn't care.

[MadisonProgressive]

5. You just proved that you don't get it.

[TexasLawyer]

8. wasn't interesting? WTF?

The story's fascinating to everyone else. It's got "sin," lust, hypocrisy, crime, corruption, prostitution, other potential illegality, on a scale that is punishable by death (the Plame connection), and it ties together the whole propaganda, bribed-and-bought media scandal that has been emerging over the last several months.

And that's just off the top of my head.

[MadisonProgressive]

11. With a name like 'leftyandproud' I wouldn't expect an answer like that

Kind of makes you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[leftyandproud]

13. sorry I can't tow the party line on every issue

the story just didn't hold my interest

[borg5575]

27. Good for you.

I am a leftist too but that doesn't mean that I have to subscribe to a herd mentality. In fact, I am a leftist because I am an independent thinker and I refuse to let anyone on either the left or the right tell me how I should think about any particular issue.

And having said that, I have been disappointed to read several homophobic comments at these very message boards in regards to this so-called story.

One of my main tenants as a liberal is that I will oppose homophobia everywhere that it rears it's ugly head, and if that happens here at DU I will oppose it just like I would oppose it anywhere else.

[MadisonProgressive]

32. I am not part of a herd, nor am I homophobic

You both should learm more about the ramifications of gannongate before dismissing those that have taken the time to understand.

[stillcool]

6. The 'SFBM'....(i like it!) live on another planet.

I am starting to think that they spend their days reading scripts and believing the words coming out of their own mouths. This Gannon thing is way too bizarre....totally defies logic in my book. But, then again, you really have to reach to find logic in anything these days.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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

[Mugweed]

9. I won't even

launch into the "Think of the outrage we'd hear if it was a Democrat in the WH" tirade. I realy don't get the total lack of ethics, lack of pride in an honest day's work, and lack of interest in the recent exposure of the propaganda machine. Instead we hear redirections that bloggers are digging up personal dirt (lie), or that we are focusing on salcious aspect (the homo thing is an example of the admin hypocrisy). There is no hope for this country. I never before believed in Nihilism, but now I have to reconsider.

[MadisonProgressive]

10. I'm about ready to give up hope for us

I haven't done so yet - but I'm getting close. Where have the good people gone? I thought the good people would choose country over greed. I guess I was wrong.

[Donailin]

14. I have a a bit of hope today

b/c the word is that the SS thing is dead in the water, so it's a Bush loss and that is good. Also, 60 percent of the american people want the dems to restrain Bush. In my mind, this is also welcome news because one thing the MSM cannot do is make up poll results. Third, Bush is making an ass of himself in Europe, and he cannot hide from the reality based community over there. And finally Hillary has a good approval rating amongst republicans in NY -- I find this significant because a year ago it wasn't the case. The bigger picture in that is that folks ( dems, repubs who aren't political junkies) are realizing that Bush is bad for america. The price of oil, the cost of war, the cost of health insurance, the deficit, the attempt to raid SS, all of it -- people are nervous.

[leveymg]

21. Agree with everything except Hillary. She's Dick Morris in drag.

A socially-redeemable political comment. Please don't delete, Admin.

[Just Me]

34. I really appreciate you sharing the positive signs!!!

I'm having a terrible day and will embrace every positive thing anyone posts today!!!

[stillcool]

15. I keep going up and down with all this crap....

it hurts to even take in the tiniest glimpse of the magnitutde of this sick secret society with all that power. I don't know how it will all shake out, but the internet is a tool never available before to combat mass corruption like this, and that explains a)whatever hope I have, and b)my addiction to DU. I think sometimes I take in way too much information and in order to process it I have to give it a rest. Hard to turn it off though.

[Disturbed]

16. The Gannon story is part of the Fascism.

It ties in with the Bush Junta controlling the Media and the Media being complicit. I guess that many are hoping it leads to the disgrace of the Bush Junta via the Rather setup and the V. Plame setup. Gannon is merely a puppet in the scenerio.

[Blue_In_AK]

19. The Internet is truly a gift...

...if for no other reason than people in other countries can read what is written here and other liberal sites and see that we're not all freaks like **. It would be truly a shame if they were led to believe that he speaks for all Americans as might be the case if they were relying on our "news" media to get their information. Also, for those despairing, my husband spends the day listening to our local progressive talk radio, and he tells me that there have been a LOT of Republicans calling in who are displeased with **, so there is hope, and we shouldn't give up. I can't imagine that Alaska Republicans are all THAT different from the ones in the Lower 48.

[TexasLawyer]

17. what the people chose

The people DID choose country over greed. There is very convincing statistical, and other, evidence that the 2004 presidential election was stolen. This country has been taken over in a fascist coup d'etat.

But don't be discouraged. Americans will find out eventually that this has happened and will rise up to put an end to it. For now, fight the power. Help wake up the country.

A typical strategy in any coup d'etat is to promote the idea that resistance is futile. It is also a typical strategy to isolate regime opponents and make them feel that they are all alone in their beliefs. This helps to feed the "resistance is futile" strategy.

Don't fall for these strategies, and PLEASE don't promote them by announcing "all is lost" or that you're "giving up" or other defeatist sentiments. Perk up. We're the majority, and we're going to get our country back.

[TexasLawyer]

22. On the COUP D'ETAT theme

check out "Coup 2K" by John Dee, published on the web at http://www.lumpen.com/coup2k/framer.html?pg=8

Here is an excerpt from the chapter called "Propaganda". I just finished the Luttwak book, which Dee references here. The book is basically a "how to" handbook for carrying out a successful coup d'etat. I see many resonances between the book's instructions and what is going on now in America:

<snip>

In his Coup d'Etat handbook, Luttwak explains the importance of propaganda in the post-coup period. "Our first objective," says Luttwak, "will be achieved by conveying the reality and strength of the coup instead of trying to justify it." The goal is not to explain the legitimacy of the seizure of power, but simply to emphasize that it is a fait acompli to be accepted as fact.

(Re the 2000 election) This very stratagem served as the touchstone for James Baker and the entire Bush apparatus. Rather than act on the confidence of their professed certainty, let alone take the moral high-ground in what everyone agreed were questionable circumstances, the Bush campaign instead did everything it could to derail the recounts and assert the "fact" of their victory.

They did not seek to prove the vote had not been tampered with or that machines had not failed catastrophically. Rather, the issue of the legitimacy of the Florida vote was only addressed in terms of its finality. Through simple repetition, these mere stipulations took on the coloration of fact. The people have spoken, we have a majority (even though evidence suggests otherwise), the deadline has passed, and 3,000 Jewish votes for Buchanan just happened. Tough luck, get over it, now shut up and give us the keys to the Capitol. These same semantics were reflected in the GOP's legal challenges to Gore's calls for perfectly legal (indeed, mandatory) recounts. Bush's hatchet men did not so much justify their position, as they instead merely emphasized over and over that it was a done deal.

Another important propaganda theme was that it was Bush who was truly honoring the law; that it was Gore who was violating the law and thus defiling the sanctity of the democratic process. Through this constant refrain, the Bush campaign sought to create an image of themselves as protectors of these sacred tenets of the nation. This is fully consistent with Luttwak's propaganda strategy:

"...Our information campaign...must...reassure the general public by dispelling fears that the coup is inspired by foreign and/or extremist elements, and to persuade particular groups that the coup is not a threat to them. The first aim will be achieved by manipulating national symbols and by asserting our belief in the prevailing pieties.... "

As Luttwak further explains, marginalizing whatever resistance might oppose the coup is equally important. By the same token, creating a sense of isolation and futility among oppositional elements is vital to prevent any possible unification against the coup.

"...News of any resistance against us would act as a powerful stimulant to further resistance by breaking down this feeling of isolation. We must therefore make every effort to withhold such news. If there is in fact some resistance and if its intensity and locale are such as to make it difficult to conceal from particular segments of the public, we should admit its existence; but we should strongly emphasize that it is isolated, the product of the obstinacy of a few misguided or dishonest individuals who are not affiliated to any party or group of significant membership."

<snip>

[leveymg]

24. Chomsky is good. Luttwak is better. Orwell and Machiavelli are still the

princes in my book of propaganda/political dirty tricks. You should also read Simpson's work - unfortunately his studies of US propaganda end in the 1950s - that damn fifty year classification rule.

[TexasLawyer]

28. Thanks for the recommendations

I read "The Prince" and "Animal Farm" a long time ago, but I should re-read in light of the current Bush/neo-con doings. I don't know anything about Simpson. I'll check that out.

[leveymg]

29. Christopher Simpson is a Prof. at American Univ. in DC

His work on the history of post-war US intelligence and propaganda is the best scholarly work in the field. Some of it is on-line, or look up his books on your library catalogue.

Larry Sabato (UVA) has also written some good work on the topic of political communications.

Get Orwell's collected essays, read "Politics and the English Language" for analysis of political communications, and "The Lion and the Unicorn" for an example of positive, inspired application. Both were written during or just before WWII, and are classics. I'd start here, and then read Simpson.

Good reading. Enjoy.

[leveymg]

23. A genuine expression of dispair is okay. It rallies the rest of us

and brings out our instincts for community support. Chins up.

[TexasLawyer]

25. you're probably right

I overstated things a bit. Obviously this particular expression of despair did rally us and inspired us to talk about some very important things.

[leveymg]

26. Glad you're with us. Let's talk some more.

I try to get back promptly, but always within a day or so.

[leveymg]

20. Forget Nihilism. It wrecked Anarchism's reputation forever.

Please, PLEASE. Don't go the way of the Russian Social Revolutionaries into Nihilism - they were controlled by the Czar's secret police, the Okhrana. GOOGLE "Okhrana" and "agent provocateurs". The SDS and SLA made the same mistake during the Vietnam era and were just used as "propaganda by deed" tools by the FBI/Red Squads.

We can beat them. We've beaten them before, several times.

[donkeyotay]

30. You're not losing it. You're one of the only sane ones left!

Shit For Brains Media is SOOO much more descriptive than the bland but vaguely Orwellian MSM.

They ain't mainstream. They's whores... but Shit For Brains works for me too.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

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

[MadisonProgressive]

33. Difference between night and day!

The Swift Boat a-holes were a bunch of lying bastards (proven countless times). The people exposing Gannon are only telling the truth.

[ComerPerro]

35. Damn bloggers. Of course, they were media darlings during "Rathergate"

WTF?