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Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

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Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#161

Post by nsonha »

namdnay wrote: post #93
jfmarshall wrote: post #88

The propaganda effort shown in popular movies is just a small tip of the iceberg. The United States and its state-run propaganda and terrorism organisations cannot be allowed to walk through the 21st century without answering and making amends to the crimes committed. It has never before been more urgent to question and criticise the United States for its past decades of war, propaganda, sowing discord and effort to…

I think the main thing that gets people accused of being shills it using new accounts to send shrill calls to action

I would not publish any of my political views with my identity in this cancel culture. It makes sense some people want to be anonymous with those statements.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#162

Post by 29athrowaway »

PaulAJ wrote: post #70
prmoustache wrote: post #20

I cringe every time I hear the US president being described as the leader of the free world, as if there were 2 specific sides and USA were leading it and as if USA was an advocate for freedom.

Up until 1990 that was a reasonable approximation to the truth. The USA certainly had its issues, but in a comparison between the USA and the USSR there was no question about who the relatively good guys were. Since the USSR collapsed, and especially since 9/11, things have gotten a lot murkier.

The "good guys":

- Guatemalan genocide

- Operation Condor

- Mass sterilization in Puerto Rico

- Panama as a country

- Arming the Taliban

- And more...

I think both governments had really shady people and cannot be characterized as "good".

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#163

Post by valdiorn »

say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #108

China is using movies to propagandize against the U.S. now. What used to be Rambo vs Russia is now Chinese Rambo vs U.S. Let that thought sink in.

Everyone should watch Wolf Warrior, it's basically the Chinese Rambo 2/3.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#164

Post by awestroke »

PaulAJ wrote: post #70
prmoustache wrote: post #20

I cringe every time I hear the US president being described as the leader of the free world, as if there were 2 specific sides and USA were leading it and as if USA was an advocate for freedom.

Up until 1990 that was a reasonable approximation to the truth. The USA certainly had its issues, but in a comparison between the USA and the USSR there was no question about who the relatively good guys were. Since the USSR collapsed, and especially since 9/11, things have gotten a lot murkier.

Really? Good guys? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r... I especially like the US-created Contras in Nicaragua - actual terrorists.

Just a massive history of interfering with democracies with the sole aim for furthering the economic goals of the US.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#165

Post by pydry »

ben_w wrote: post #137
vintermann wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something like this? https://twitter.com/raytheontech/status/880497266255175685?l... It's not that there's something wrong with gay rights, or any other specific social cause powerful organizations adopt. It's just that it's a very cheap way to win a positive image for things that ... would have trouble getting a positive image if focus was on their core business.

That example sounds like pinkwashing? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkwashing_(LGBT) Whenever I see someone use “woke” as an insult… it’s been an inconsistent mishmash that matches what was called “political correctness gone mad” when I was a kid — stuff the user doesn’t like but knows better than to say plainly that they don’t like. Of course, I know plenty of people who have used the word “woke” positively, in…

It's a word whose meaning is gradually being deradicalized by mass media.

Once it stops being about fighting back against the black community being murdered in broad daylight by police or striking for $15/hour and starts being about "unthreatening-to-state-and-capital" topics like pronoun choice and diversity quotas in the C suite it starts to look a bit ridiculous.

And thats the point where a lot people start to hear about it and reject what they see.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#166

Post by mulmen »

34679 wrote: post #121

>The film also notes that the United States has laws against propagandizing the U.S. public, which might make such a disclosure a confession of a crime. I would add that since 1976, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has required that “Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.” That changed in 2013: >The U.S. government's mammoth broadcasting arm has begun the "unleashing of thousands o…

Ok so war propaganda is illegal but what changed in 2013? Did the laws change or did we just stop caring to enforce them?

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#167

Post by agumonkey »

anthonyshort wrote: post #83
agumonkey wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bet is that most groups have this in them. Being right, being the hero. America just had the lead in entertainment and tech

In my experience, other countries don't view themselves that way, and it's mostly seen as an Americanism (I'm not American)

Maybe to a lesser extent but you can find Indian movies of absurd heroism too. That's what propped me to think America is not very special.

Also being a young and rich state probably pushed things to eleven.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#168

Post by imwillofficial »

camillomiller wrote: post #157
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad that thanks to the internet and proper journalism, we have a better view on things. I grew up mainly in the 90's, with action movies from the time - think Rambo and co. I don't remember watching anything that glorified the Vietnam war though. Full Metal Jacket showed how it was a shitshow. On a weird kind of lighter note, Forrest Gump showed how people died or were gruesomely injured. Rambo may have been the…

The movies you mention always only show the atrocities from the American side, ending up justifying, pitying and damning or saving the American protagonist. America is just always front and center. Americans just can't help being up their own ass so deep that even when they express criticism they can't not make it all about themselves. I'm really sorry about the generalization, but as someone living in a city where U…

Wait, you mean American movies staring Americans, for American audiences WERE ABOUT AMERICANS?!

Inconceivable!

I’m currently visiting DC, and I hate to break it to you.

Every nationality, in any country, forms their own bubbles if they can.

People gravitate to what they know.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#169

Post by 1_player »

windsignaling wrote: post #130
say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #108

China is using movies to propagandize against the U.S. now. What used to be Rambo vs Russia is now Chinese Rambo vs U.S. Let that thought sink in.

China has always done this and it is always comically obvious. The propaganda coming from the US against the Chinese is more subtle and convincing. It's scary not only because of how good it is, but because people here don't even realize they are being manipulated.

Perhaps you think the US propaganda is more subtle because it's very similar to your world view, as a member of the Western world. I bet a Chinese citizen would find the Hollywood propaganda hilariously over the top, though don't forget that the US propaganda is so widespread it already has infected everybody, including the common Chinese citizen, for decades.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#170

Post by cycomanic »

PaulAJ wrote: post #70
prmoustache wrote: post #20

I cringe every time I hear the US president being described as the leader of the free world, as if there were 2 specific sides and USA were leading it and as if USA was an advocate for freedom.

Up until 1990 that was a reasonable approximation to the truth. The USA certainly had its issues, but in a comparison between the USA and the USSR there was no question about who the relatively good guys were. Since the USSR collapsed, and especially since 9/11, things have gotten a lot murkier.

I seriously challenge you to read up on the history of the Latin Americas or many African nations. The "leader of the free world" was installing and supporting fascist dictatorships left right and center, who killed thousands of people in their torture chambers (often using CIA resources). It's correct that the US was generally better to its own people (unless you were black of course), but it certainly wasn't a beacon of freedom to the world.
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