Propaganda – Politics Plus

Open Thread October 29 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 4:56 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 292024

Yesterday, I had managed to spend the night in bed. My back hurt when I got up, but far less so than last Wednesday and Thursday, and by the time I got toi the computer in the den, I knew i would not need ice or the TENS. Good thing too – I find my thoughts depressing enough without pain making them any worse.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-26-2024
Some time ago I downloaded and kept a copy of a training video from World War II called “Dont Be A Sucker.” You can call it propaganda if you like, but if you do, you kind of need to add that if the material in propaganda is true and has the goal of discouraging civilian violence, then propaganda can be positive. Trust historian Heather Cox Richardson to remember that the Army also provided positive propaganda to the tropps – and to share some of it.

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-week-ahead-aeb
You know that history is important in relation to what we are experiencing now when Joyce Vance’s “The Week Ahead” starts with history. She discusses and links to a short film comprising archival clips from the 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden. People who aren’t paying attention are likely to be shocked. Personally, I find Trump** rallies to be much more scary, partly because today the language is more coded, and the violence is more open. Who today would use the word “Gentile” at a gathering like this? You know what also scares me? Even people as old as I am, when we think od World War II and America’s part in it, think of Nazis and concentration camps, of orsiners of war in Germany and Americans workinf with resistance groups. But the truth is, if Japan had not bombed Pearl Harbor, FDR would never have been able to get enough backing to send troops to Europe. Our victories would never have been possible. Tere would have been no United Nations. No Geneva Convention. likely 1984 would have been “1984.” Joyce says “But the Greatest Generation didn’t fall into the trap.” i don’t think we know that. We will never truly know what the 20th century would have been like had Japan not forced us intot he war. But I can’t believe it would have been pretty.

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Open Thread October 1 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:04 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 012024

Yesterday, a radio program dedicated to American composers featured Robert Russell Bennett. If you think you have never heard again, let me tell you what I have been calling him for almost 50 years now: “the man who wrote Rodgers and Hammerstein.” Seriously, hammerstein wrote the words, which is not a trivial thing, and rodgers wrote the melodies, also not a trivial thing. But bennett did all the prchestrations – yhe harmonies, the non-verbal countermelodies, the instrumentation – wrote out all the parts – and to do that, you must also know how to transpose some parts, because some instruments play in different keys from others. it ain’t easy – and it’s also not all mechanical. To do it, you must be a real musician. And he also found time to compose original works. (There is also a Richard Rodney Bennett, who is no relation – he’s a Brit -who has composed a whole bunch of movie and TV scores and been knighted for them. I have to keep pinching myself to remember they are not related, the names and their talents being so similar.) Does all this qualify as a “Now you know the rest of the story”?

Mary Trump’s morning dispatch addresses CBS’s decision not to fact check on TV in real time. If I am reading her correctly (and if she is reading them correctly) they will fact check in real time in their live blog in social media. But it seems pretty cowardly of them to fear being yelled at by Trump** – even to fear a lawsuit from him which would surely fail. I wanted y’all to know this in advance in order for you to find a more principled source (in fact, I bumped another of her articles to Thursday to make room for this one. And, if you already learned it elsewhere and have prepared, she also includes a meaty section on how finland teaches its citizens to discern propaganda.) Also, I should say I plan on watching the debate tonight, but am not looking forward to it.

Rasmussen Reports used to have a halfway decent reputation. They were known to have a mild Republican bias, but only about 1.5 point. But then Nate Silver stopped using them, which says something – and now, I guess, they’ve lost any reputation they ever had.

Video Thread 10/22/23

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 4:49 pm Open Thread, Politics

Oct 222023

Glenn has skipped two days in a row (which is partly why I am so late.) I am plugging in this movie, which they showed to high school kids in 1948! would they allow it today? It’s a bit over 7 minutes but there’s a lot in it.

The Lincoln Project – Joe Biden in Israel

Farron Balanced – Viewers Demand Farron Give An Update On His Pets

Patrick Fitzgerald – Royals (Kevin McCarthy / Puddles Pity Party / Postmodern Jukebox / Lorde Song Parody)

Senior Chihuahua Turns Into A Puppy Once He Finds The Perfect Family

Beau – Let’s talk about Biden’s trip….

Video Thread 4/30/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:53 am Open Thread, Politics

Apr 302023

Glenn Kirschner – In closing arguments, Proud Boys BLAME DONALD TRUMP for the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol

Thom Hartmann – Distressing Truth Scientists Don’t Want To Tell You

Farron Balanced – Donald Trump Gives Jim Jordan The WORST Compliment A Politician Could Get

Parody Project – CALLOUS MAN – A Parody of Piano Man

Hissing Feral Cat Becomes A Couch Potato

Beau – Let’s talk about true propaganda….

Video Thread 5/6/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:31 am Open Thread, Politics

May 062022

Glenn Kirschner – Draft opinion shows Supreme Court about to revoke women’s constitutional privacy rights

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Supreme Court Justices Lying UNDER OATH!

Rebel HQ – Ojeda v. Gaetz

Really American – GOP Plans To Take Right to Privacy (It’s been suggested that future movemets for abortion [and birth control] should not focus on the 14th Amendment but on the 13th, which prohibits involuntary servitude, and I concur.)

VoteVets – The Moment

Kalush Orchestra – Stefania – Ukraine 🇺🇦 – Official Music Video – Eurovision 2022
This is Ukraine’s entry in the Eurovision Son Contest (May 14). You can read more about it and about the contest here –

Beau – Let’s talk about 10 propaganda techniques you’ll see in the midterms….

Video Thread 3/1/22

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:42 am Open Thread, Politics

Mar 012022

Glenn Kirschner – NY Prosecutor Hoffinger Takes over Trump Case After Veteran Prosecutors Resign. Who is ADA Hoffinger (Meaning no disrespect, this sound to me like “set a thief to catch a thief.” Not that she will have necessarily participated in every dodge white collar criminals use or might use – but she will certainly be familiar with them)

Meidas Touch – Defeat Putin (Stand With Ukraine)

Lincoln Project – #PrimetimePropaganda (it didn’t take me long to get bihind with tht Lincoln Project again. They are on fire.)

Ring of Fire – National Guard Troops Furious About Being Used As Political Props Along Texas Border

MSNBC – Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Hailed As Hero For Democracy

Ukrainian National Anthem

Beau – Let’s talk about orders, tradition, and cops….

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