Propaganda 101: Not Just for The Communist

This is a nifty little article to understand the subtle nuances of Propaganda being used today against the sheeple of the world. Re-read and Understand. The mind you save could be your own. -SF

 

“Truth is an absolute; it is perception that becomes a psilocybin laced rabbit hole.”  Col.  Jakkob Rasmussen (Shai) –  יהי זכרו ברוך.

* pro·pa·gan·da
Noun: an old Soviet Communist means of controlling  people with disinformation

well, maybe not.

_____

We all remember 5^th grade civics and surely you can list the three branches of government and their functions… right?

The Executive Branch is the top leadership; the Legislative Branch crafts our laws and the Judicial Branch decides issues of law.

Before we go on to more complex concepts; let’s test your knowledge with an impromptu quiz.  I want to make sure I’m not wasting my time with someone who doesn’t understand the basic workings our Republic.

See if you can match the following offices with their respective branches of government. Ruminate on your answer and then just mentally draw connecting lines between the two columns from the office to the branch. I borrowed this from an 8^th grade civics mid-term, so it should be simple.

   Office                                                                                              Branch

The President                                                                         Legislative Branch

Speaker of the house                                                          Judicial Branch

Attorney General                                                                Executive Branch

Now let me see if I can guess your answers. If research bears true; just about 93% of you answered:President/Executive Branch, Speaker/Legislative Branch and Attorney General/Judicial Branch. Not too bad, you got two out of three correct.

Only about 5% you answered all three correctly and about 2% of you only got one right.  Another two or three of you gave answers that defy reason and baffle the imagination. Right now about half of you are wondering how you got it wrong. You knew the Attorney General was Executive Branch . . . right? So how did you make such an obvious error?

Goebbellian propaganda techniques.

Like fine emery cloth shaping a piece of soapstone into a work of art I used Goebbels’ techniques to gently form your responses for you. Before I asked the questions, I simply conveyed the impression I wanted you to believe and tailored my description of the branches to omit certain relevant facts.

Several propaganda techniques are being used on you today. It’s not limited to any one party or movement and I chose my examples based solely on quality of example; not source of message.

 

This is not an endorsement or condemnation of either side it is simply reality.

Still, some of you will take offense, and some of you are already mad at me over the “just to make sure I’m not wasting my time“ remark. That’s OK. Your anger is a powerful weapon in the hands of a skilled propagandist

What you just experienced is the basic technique of subtle guidance: The subtle presentation of a predetermined conclusion in a way that it is hard to not accept. Effective for short term issues, but the target audience will always eventually figure out their error.

Another common example of misinformation? Random statements of fact. For example, “No one blames Obama for gas prices falling below two dollars.”  This is a true statement that means absolutely nothing yet supports what the target audience already wants to believe.  Effective for growing a following and laying a foundation.

The outright act of lying to the target audience was once rare, but has become a common tactic today. You just wrap your lie up in some truth, then add just a pinch of emotional drama while providing references and authorities that do not actually support the intended message, but are too complex for the bulk of the target audience to understand, so they don’t bother. This method is only effective with the basest of audiences.

This technique was exhibited with the “Obama Cut Combat pay” story.  HR1540 and S1254  were reported to be Obama’s plan to cut combat pay although neither cut combat pay and neither bill was authored or sponsored by the Obama administration.  Yet — half of you still believe POTUS cut combat pay.

Read the Remainder at Havok Journal