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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

#181

Post by detaro »

ryanlol wrote: post #180
kmonsen wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoting from Wikipedia: “ Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is an English adjective meaning 'alert to racial prejudice and discrimination' that originated in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for left-wing ideas involving identity politics and social justice, such as the notion of wh…

Did “woke” actually originate in AAVE instead of whatever the technical term for twitter-speak is?

Given that the early uses predate Twitter by a few decades: yes, unless you argue that it has shifted enough to be a "new word" now.

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

#182

Post by aaaaaaaaaaab »

systemvoltage wrote: post #13
heavyset_go wrote: post #7

Once this was pointed out, I can't unsee it. It's kind of ruined movies that involves the military or military equipment for me, since it can be really obvious when creators toe the line for the military. When I see military equipment my gut reaction is to anticipate the other shoe dropping, and to look for shoehorned hero worship or some good-versus-evil plot point.

Speaking of good-vs-evil, do you also see WWII veterans and military history in the same light? They got into war that no one asked for. I cannot imagine if US and allies had lost WWII. It is simply unimaginable. Aside: I find the WWII era military training/propaganda videos pretty entertaining: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QgXuhv7-54

>It is simply unimaginable.

WWII being the fight of good versus evil is the foundation myth of post-1945 western civilization. It is the central dogma of the western pseudo-religion, which prevents meaningful discussion of these matters.

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

#184

Post by fsloth »

cycomanic wrote: post #178
fsloth wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USA is an advocate of very specific stability. "Free world" is a hyperbolic but US is still a huge global power. In cold war it was obvious there were two sides, and the other was obviously more free than the other. Go ask for example Estonians, Lithuanians or Latvians who they enjoyed the yoke of the USSR. Now, as China is becoming an ever more stronger player, we again see that there are two sides arising. While pa…

> USA is an advocate of very specific stability. "Free world" is a hyperbolic but US is still a huge global power. > In cold war it was obvious there were two sides, and the other was obviously more free than the other. Go ask for example Estonians, Lithuanians or Latvians who they enjoyed the yoke of the USSR. You could also ask a Guatemalan how they enjoyed living under the US installed military dictatorships (whic…

Yes, that is absolutely right. Even Greece had it's anti-communist junta which massacred students. It's never clear cut, but on the _average_ I do think the pro-USSR side was less-free.

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

#185

Post by kzrdude »

systemvoltage wrote: post #54
kzrdude wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an example of a well-cemented "good-vs-evil" dichotomy in the sense that the story of good vs evil in WWII has been told and retold so many times, that people can't imagine arguing with it. The concepts of "good" and "evil" are interesting, for example the discussion of the Banality of Evil (Arendt) etc.

Yes, many philosophers (e.g. Nietsche) wrote of it. It is a pretty well established moral line today, completely undisputed - the holocaust, terrorism, etc. It is beyond political ideology.

To say that any side was "undisputed good" would be a simplification too far - of WWII, but I imagine that's not what you mean.

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

#186

Post by Hokusai »

cm2187 wrote: post #39
heavyset_go wrote: post #7

Once this was pointed out, I can't unsee it. It's kind of ruined movies that involves the military or military equipment for me, since it can be really obvious when creators toe the line for the military. When I see military equipment my gut reaction is to anticipate the other shoe dropping, and to look for shoehorned hero worship or some good-versus-evil plot point.

I think Hollywood is lot less subtle now at trying to push political propaganda than it was ever then, except that wokeism is the theme of the day. In some instances it has completely taken over the plot, like in the last season of Fargo, to the point of becoming some sort of unwatcheable catechism.

> wokeism is the theme of the day

That billions of equipment and resources provided by the woke cabala? Let's talk about that instead of military covered intervention in society.

As a citizen from An USA allied country, I find disturbing how much propaganda the military pushes for at global level. That's a very serious matter.

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

#187

Post by cycomanic »

throwaway4good wrote: post #159
nsonha wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The single person that could have said no but said yes? The whole concept of responsibility breaks down when you make it impersonal.

Maybe Kissenger had the position he had because he said and did what he did. Had he not, someone else would be in the position he was in.

It's not about absolving the others, but pointing out main perpetrators. Should we not point out the central roles of Hitler or Himmler in the holocaust? At some point there is personal responsibility.

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

#188

Post by Hokusai »

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)

That is also true for the police. Usually the police is incompetent if you want to be funny, or they are suffering humans. The police as a hero is also USA propaganda.

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

#189

Post by riedel »

mulmen wrote: post #166
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?

The act "geoblocked" propaganda that was ment e.g. for us European's from being received in the US. I think the argument is by "unblocking" it for US audiences there is indirectly a legalization of national propaganda. Particularly as such propaganda is excempt from the freedom of information act, it might be rather hard to prove that such propaganda only targeted an international audience (which is quite aware that Hollywood movies are all propaganda for the American way of live, I guess)

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

#190

Post by windsignaling »

crate_barre wrote: post #2

The other country that is doing this at Hollywood scale is China, and it’s not just their ‘only popular in China’ movies like Wolf Warrior (1 and 2). Some scenes: https://youtu.be/g7y36UIRAjo IP Man 4, which is more well known to western audiences: https://youtu.be/OlW2VphUNd4 https://youtu.be/JFmaPK0JyVQ You get the idea. Americans make movies where America good, everyone bad. China is now making movies where China…

Ehh, this has been standard fare for China for decades.

It is always comically obvious (like in the videos you posted above). Pick any movie and you're likely to see something similar.

On the other hand, consider the last time you saw an Asian male in a Hollywood production that wasn't:

a) a kung-fu caricature b) the joke

Western propaganda is more subtle and effective.

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