By GottaLaff

You must read this op-ed by Robert Parry from OpEdNews.com. It gets into a lot of what I’ve been ranting about lately (media propaganda, Sarah Palin’s speech, the death of accurate reporting), only with a twist: Psy-ops.

The trick, [CIA psy-war specialist Edward Lansdale] said, was to plant propaganda in a publication that was perceived to be open and honest because the readers’ defenses would be down and thus they would be more susceptible to the message. In other words, they first had to be fooled about who controlled the outlet and what its biases were.

Several things came to mind as I read this: How do you unfool an entire country? Why can’t we control the message?

And how do you educate low-information voters?

Pleaseohplease go read the whole thing:

A key strategy of the Right has been to convince as many Americans as possible that the U.S. news media has a “liberal bias,” a canard that has stuck even though newspapers have been traditionally pro-Republican and most media outlets are owned by giant corporations reflecting the interests of wealthy individuals. [...]

Alexander’s article in the Post is, in essence, a fancily written version of the Right’s “populist” anti-intellectualism. Anyone who insists on checking out facts and applying reason must be an “elitist.”

That this “condescending” attack line against the Left is being trumpeted by the supposedly “liberal” Washington Post makes it all the more powerful to many Americans.

Now, with the emergence of Sarah Palin as the latest heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy and as a potential next President of the United States it is clear that empiricism will be snowed under again by a blizzard of half-truths, emotional appeals, historical myths and nasty zingers.

Anyone who dares speak up for facts and reason will be portrayed as a pointy-headed intellectual out of touch with “real Americans.” [...]

The American Right again has taken on the “populist” mantle of the plucky underdog facing down the “elitist” Obama and his arrogant entourage of House Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, defenders of Big Government, not to mention the “liberal” news media.

In this narrative, Palin, the Fox News personalities and poor Rush Limbaugh are the real victims who must face the cruelty and condescension of an all-powerful, arrogant Left.

Go read. Now.

H/t: Gr8RDH

By GottaLaff

I’ll give you an excerpt that should press enough buttons to get you to read the whole thing:

Of course [former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and current Alabama gubernatorial candidate – Roy] Moore ranted about homosexuals today in his speech. If you’re interested in what he said, you read a summary here. But, two takeaways from this.

1. That this man served at such a high level in our judicial system is shameful.
2. Why the fuck is Sarah Palin paling around with people that want to execute homosexuals and/or pull their children away from them? And, more importantly, why is her embrace of such hate being tolerated by the mainstream media – and by us.

There now, provoked? Good. Go read the rest.

H/t: StopBeck

By GottaLaff

All morning, Thom Hartmann has been discussing rise of fascism in this country, how the middle and lower classes are dwindling to nothing, and that the powerful wealthy corporatists are finally realizing their dream. It’s been pretty depressing to listen to, because he’s making a lot of sense.

Then he came up with what he calls a “simple” solution [some paraphrasing]:

We can co-opt the Tea Partiers’ strategy… Turn their rallies into anti-globalization rallies, bring signs that say things like “Bring my jobs home” and “No more tax cuts for wealthy executives”. Find things that we have in common with them, and pile on, joining forces in a way.

I wish I had been liveblogging, some of this is from memory, but the gist of it is accurate.

What do you think? Did anyone else hear him on the subject?