Propaganda ALERT!

[mogster]

Here's from a thread in GD, a quote from an upcoming Repub campaign that just looks like the Rovian touch:

"You will soon see a lot of people wearing Red on Fridays. Here's why ....The Americans who support our troops, are the silent majority. We are not "organized" to reflect who we are, or to reflect what our opinions are.

Many Americans, like yourself, would like to start a grassroots movement using the membership of the Special Operations Association, and Special Forces Associations, and all their friends, simply to recognize that Americans support our troops. We need to inform the local VFW's and American Legion, our local press, local TV, and continue carrying the message to the national levels as we start to get this going. Our idea of showing our solidarity and support for our troops is -starting Friday, and continuing on each and every Friday, until this is over, that every red - blooded American who supports our young men and women,

WEAR SOMETHING RED! Word of mouth, press, TV -- let's see if we can make the United States, on any given Friday, a sea of red much like a home football game at a University.

If every one of our memberships share this with other acquaintances,
fellow workers, friends, and neighbors, I guarantee that it will not be long before the USA will be covered in RED - and make our troops know there are many people thinking of their well-being. You will feel better all day Friday when you wear Red! Let's get the word out and lead by example; wear RED on Fridays.

I sent this out to everyone on my email list; hopefully, you will too.

Please forward this to everyone you know!!

Wear Red on Fridays .

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE, BECAUSE OF THE

BRAVE. FOR US, THEIR BLOOD RUNS RED!! GOD BLESS AMERICA"

Read the comments:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3461559&mesg_id=3461559&page=

How to counter this:

1. Campaign metadata: It is clearly meant to be launched on a specific date, say on the upcoming Friday perhaps (O4/15-2005). Even though the slogan is Wear red on Fridays, which signals an ongoing campaign, not to be limited to one day only. Did I hear new sets of bumper stickers being printed? ;-)
Or maybe they already are - it might tell us a bit about the Rovian style if ready-made sets of bumperstickers already exists on Friday...

Campaign type: Ongoing (w/kick off)
Campaign start date: 04/15-2005

2. Campaign content: The target group is clearly the Repub grassroot. This has nothing to do with Democrats as far as the actual message goes, but as always: Rove's campaigns usually have a double bottom.
What's the intention here, if we look at the target group (TG) first?
Well, first of all they're supposed to feel good. It's the 'Feel-good'-effect, folks. The message--so accurately pointed out by BB--is 'Do whatever you like, just wear red on fridays'.
What a splendid campaign! What better excuse for parties in red? Red shrimp canapees, red wine (not French), red shoes, red hats, red ideas, red ideology...oh wait, I slipped there for a sec... but anyway, here's a breakdown of the message:

"The Americans who support our troops, are the silent majority"
- keep on thinking what you thought yesterday, stay on course, don't change your mind. Trust us. You are a part of the MAJORITY. It doesn't show in the polls, but hey - you know all about those doctored liberal polls anyway, eh?
Note also that this line does not SAY anything wrong, but implies that the rather all-embracing term "the Americans who support our troops", have stayed silent until now--which excludes all noisy librul's on March 19th and evil liberal media 'hating America'--and is longing for a way of expressing themselves.

"Many Americans, like yourself, would like to start a grassroots movement"
- this does not come from the government, oh no. It is You and I, brother, who does this out of the love for our troops. And the Revolution. Again, the term "Many Americans" appears out of nothing. This is the infamous 'Some people'-effect used with such success by FOX. Many Americans indeed.
The truth is that the support for Bush is slipping, and need reinforcement. And also that other serious players are entering the field; the Military Families is one such group that's growing fast and steadily. They have a lot of breakthrough power in being the real OWNERS of the troops, if you look at it from a purely cynical point of view. As Rove does. They could sway minds by appealing to peoples feelings, because they're the ones who've lost sons and daughters.
Also the IVAW, VVAW, VFP strike a chord among people, especially those with a military career, active or not.
A grassroots movement is a battle for the 'ownership' of the troops, and the role as official 'Troop Protector'. I know this sounds silly, but it's the best description I can give.

"WEAR SOMETHING RED! Word of mouth, press, TV -- let's see if we can make the United States, on any given Friday, a sea of red much like a home football game at a University."
- here's where the first double-bottomed Rovian message appear: The color red is by far too tainted from the election campaign to be seen as neutral, as something any Democrat or liberal would wear to IDENTIFY themselves by.
What this message really says: Exclude all liberals.
Pretty ugly, isn't it? By not confronting the liberals, but pretending by appealing to common, unpolitical happenings such as "a home football game at a University", you'll smack several flies in one hit; exclude the liberals (non-confrontational) and make a swoop for the troop ownership as well. If you in addition can identify the troops by the color red, it becomes very visual and handy to use for the Propaganda Dept.

"If every one of our memberships share this with other acquaintances,
fellow workers, friends, and neighbors, I guarantee that it will not be long before the USA will be covered in RED"

- eeeek! This sounds like Stalin on acid! :-o
If you were a conservative 20 years ago and uttered the words "workers" and "I guarantee that it will not be long before the USA will be covered in RED" in the same sentence, you'd find your self an Ace in the deck of Suspicious Individuals that Reagan used.
When he played poker with Ayatollah Khomeiny. Over Nicaragua.
But I digress.

Campaign message:
Conservatives only, liberals stay away.
Campaign intention:
Rock the boat in regards to the MF and the peace movement, and challenge for the ownership of the troops. Never Mind Our Asphalt SUV Parking Lots, It Is We That Own The Grassroot.

3. Campaign expected result: Probably a lot of red-wearing Repubs transgressing as usual on every common sane scale; you'd have the Red Spoon Lady (adeptly renamed Red Rifle Lady), the Red Juggler For The Troops, the Little Red Riding Troop - the works. Watch out for reindeer.
And a lot of disgruntled librul's stunned by the sea of red, envying the Happy Repubs their cool campaign. As if.

4. Suggested response: Well, first: sanity check. Is this a campaign or some noise to kick up dust? But if the Rove machine are gonna put some effort behind it, then it might be worthy of a response.

And there's a lot to grab a hold of here, if the wording of the message is approx. like posted. It would fall to the sanity check to reveal that, but if it is, it tastes so much of Soviet propaganda that you'd find more or less exact comparisons.
You think the umpty million communists in the Soviet empire never once exclaimed "I guarantee that it will not be long before the USA will be covered in RED"? How about Kim Il Jong of North Korea? I'll bet there's something there for the avid googler :popcorn:

Visuals:
Wear black - bring a flag. The RED hangup is a total miss in terms of color choice. Gawd, I can't believe the Rove could miss out on this.
Imagine the visuals on TV with all the red stuff - you'd find a lot of images from old communism to compare with, possibly also TV pictures and this will stick in people's minds if someone draws that comparison and make enough noise about it. A bummer.
And if you choose red as your color, you don't choose red, white and blue, and this leaves the Stars and Stripes free to be used by Dems/liberals.
They'll probably think of this, and bring some flags, but if it's gonna be a RED day, you can't bring to many. And the SS looks better against black, anyway. Or white - it doesn't matter, the point is to agree on one color.

Handouts:
Produce small hammer and sickle signs out of yellow paper, stars too. Collect and print out pics of Stalin, make small copies of Maos Little Red out of cardboard, Kim Jong Il-buttons... you get the drift?

Then hand them out to the red-wearing Repubs. It'll make them think.
Later, when they come home and the RED color wears off a little.

[Sweet Freedom]

1. Thanks for posting /nt