People are saying…
When we went to the D Day Museum in New Orleans, we noticed an entire room dedicated to the propaganda of the time period. There was one particular pamphlet that told us how to tell the difference between our “Japanese enemies and our Chinese friends.” One could easily imagine the government printing out the same pamphlet five years after World War II ended and simply switching the two.
Two things characterize the propaganda of the past. When we are separated from it for several decades it becomes so much easier to see the outrageous nature of it. How could anyone have put any stock in any of it? Of course, we have to acknowledge how effective it was at the same time. Propaganda plays on our fears and our prejudices. That is the unfortunate second thing that characterizes the propaganda.
Maria Baritromo is just the latest to get clipped for trying her hand at propaganda. We can go any number of directions in this deal, but the hilarious point here is the use of the colloquial “people are saying.” In this case she used the journalistic equivalent of “people are telling me.” Sure. It was a trick that her former leader tried throughout his presidency.
One wonders what happens to anyone when they are subjected to a barrage of crap like that. Maybe Baritromo is a prime example. Maybe someone who’s claim to fame was a dress she wore to the Al Smith dinner in 2016 couldn’t be expected to keep an air of objectivity. Perhaps that’s just a cheap shot on my account. The folks at Fox have never been anywhere close to objective. She wouldn’t be the first or the last “journalist” to be sold based on sex appeal and not actual intelligence.
It’s also one of those things that makes you wonder what the toll is on all of us when propaganda gets tossed around. The good folks on Twitter refer to it as getting ratioed. For those that don’t frequent Twitter, the term “ratioed” refers to when someone’s tweet attracts trolls and detractors in full force. Sometimes it is deserved, but it makes you wonder what the effect is on average ordinary folks.
Well, the average person can’t help but get sucked into all of it. One cannot watch something like Fox Business without having an extreme visceral reaction. Either you find yourself agreeing with the nonsense or you find yourself getting more angry at the nonsense. It creates a two-tiered con on the public. The base level con is that we believe Baritromo when she reports that “people are saying.”
The second level of the con is to get you riled up at the ridiculousness of it. It is here that we probably should mind the Yoda lesson of how anger and fear lead to the dark side. It creates separation where there was not separation before. It throws a wedge in between ordinary folks. It creates the “how could you think that…” dynamic.
From there, it is easy enough to separate people into their separate information silos. You can almost picture folks at Fox and MSNBC meeting together for a power lunch and toast to each other’s efforts. It serves both of them and their profits. You just wonder which one is covering the bill today.
eventual Bartiromo: “We have always been at war with Eastasia. We have never been at war with Eurasia.”
1Nick, if you were speaking instead of typing, we might caution you to “take a breath.” Wowzah. So many thoughts in only one paragraph.
Maria Bartiromo, Lara Logan, Stephanie Ruhle, Andrea Mrs. Greenspan Mitchell, et al are a toxic brew of paycheck opportunism, conservatism, and voodoo economics funded by a corporate media hellbent on dazzling us with BS. Ironic. The biggest toxic waste to evuh spit on a mic, Rush Limbaugh, called them infobabes. Poor Rush. Even as a misogynist he failed. The “word” would be infobots. And for the four aforementioned women, we could name a mirror of at least 40 men. Man or woman, a fiscal conservative is both a moron and an oxymoron.
2We are bombarded by right wing propaganda 24/7 and many don’t even realize it. The biggest threat to our Democracy is Fox ‘Hate’ News and Conservative controlled MSM. Remember ALEC https://crooksandliars.com/karoli/alec-exposed-and-it-aint-pretty (and many other wingnut think tanks)
3What you will not hear much of but it is very important to understand how the right wing control the MSM message. Mainly thru subtle propaganda.
Case in point ..
‘High gas prices’ is a conservative dog whistle for demonizing Biden and Liberals. It is the new ‘Benghazi!!!’ and/or ‘Clinton’s emails’ etc. For weeks now all I see on all the local news (Hearst Broadcasting, Fox affiliate etc.) is ‘the high gas prices’, over and over and over again!!!! Arghh! And guess what, 2 of my right wing friends and even a post on Nextdoor came out BLAMING Biden, aka Liberal’s, for ‘high gas prices’. I spotted their propaganda right away. Conservative’s control about 80% of MSM and is all about blaming and demonizing the Liberals and supporting the Republicans. Words matter, they change brains.
Again, oldie but goodie ..
“Framing the issues: UC Berkeley professor George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics”
https://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml
Sorry Jane and PKM (and everyone else subjected to that). When I import it, it has paragraphs. I normally have to come back and force WordPress to indent. I forgot to do that this morning.
4It is easy to tell BS from real news…
5In a blog is there ‘Blue hyperlink’ to the reference source of the dudes point? No! Then just opinion at best and most likely lies. Is the info you have from a head line only?? Yes! then it is a lie. Is the person saying stuff wearing an expensive suit or some preacher garment? Yes! Its a lie. When you saw it on the infernalnet, did you google a number of different sources and get a consensus? Yes! Good for you.
The data you are paying attention to ,stated by the gov’mint under stressful times? Be very doubtful of its truth! & double check with other sources. If the data is complex and difficult to understand, its probably true so keep at it. If it is simple, and emotional, be cautious as it probably a lie!
Nick, no worries. Your meaning still came through. Now **if only** proven propagandists such as Bartiromo, et al could actually be banned from the airwaves. No way when written did the 1st Amendment anticipate this conservative current rash of (i)freedumb(/i) of speech. Justice Porter Stewart struggled to define porn. Think the Roberts’ SCROTUS can define a lie, or what should distinguish freedom from freedumb?
6It’s hard not to have a “visceral” reaction when maria bartiromo speaks. The definition of visceral is reacting from instinct not intellect. In her case I react with both as she is both deranged and toxic (as are most of her guests). Her interviews and comments are tied for the worst on fux news. Anyone that actually sits down and watches fux business news is really deep in the cult. I can only read about her BS in small doses.
7Coincidentally, just today people have told me, Maria Bartiromo, Fox News and their sycophants, boobs, all of ’em.
8By any definition of the word.
Jane@6 says “Now **if only** proven propagandists such as Bartiromo, et al could actually be banned from the airwaves. ”
I’m not certain what sort of “ban” you would be supporting, and that would matter a great deal to me. The government ought not have the power to decide what is propaganda, what is true or false, what is allowable or not.
If by “banned,” you mean their employer ought to consider the limited benefits against the substantial threat of losing viewers and thus having extensive harms, contemplate if that is the best use of their resources, and make a decision to end the individual’s access to their broadcasts, I’m up for that.
9My mother always said that Hitler only dreamed about his propaganda being as effective as what you see on American TV.
10She should know, she lived under Hitler in Vienna from 1938 to 45.
Here is a short video (1:47) of an interview at a MAGA rally that shows the power of propaganda in the maga world echo chamber.
Caution, your head could explode listening to this!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1503428007255453705
11Ukrainians are calling their relatives in Russia to tell them about the bombings. Their Russian relatives are either telling them that the bombings aren’t really happening or that Zolenski is bombing his own people.
I understand Jane and PKM’s thought process. I also understand the reservations when one reads something like that. Ultimately what we want is there to be access to reality. We need to know what is going on. From there, we can express whatever opinion we want about what to do, but the thought that the Russian people are so out of touch with what is going on is scary. The thought that we could be as out of touch is even more scary.
12I agree with most all of this and y’all.
However, I’d like to point out an interesting little factoid that I’ll bet most of y’all are unaware of.
Maria Baritromo AND Tucker Carlson BOTH got their television careers started on PBS!
Yeah, the mofoing tax subsidized Public Broadcasting System we all sorta luv [except for its’ RW bias since Dubya Boosh and Dickus Cheney stacked the board].
Baritromo used to be on the now defunct ‘The Nightly Business Report’ frequently. And Focker C was on the Newshour often.
13Really.