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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

#221
I wonder at which point the US public will have an "are we the baddies" moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU

Harsh, I know. But how long can US people watch the lies in their top-selling films about how heroic their soldiers are, while completely ignoring the atrocities their armies are involved in, around the world?

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

#222
post #70

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.

Is that how one reads history? Whether the Mongolian Empire or the Khwarazmian Empire were the “relatively good guys”?

This is a child’s way of seeing the world.

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

#223
post #205

Some amount of promoting "we are the good guys" seems inevitable. Where I think this becomes really despicable is when you have productions like "24" or "zero dark thirty" propagandising the use of torture. It would be interesting to know how directly the military or security services were the source of that.

My guy, I have bad news: Zootopia has an torture scene. In other words, torture is so pervasive in American media you don't even notice most instances of it.

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

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would love to know what this means. You saying you’re completely baffled by this term, or asking for the poster’s particular meaning? I’d draw a parallel to “White supremacy”. Given the wild range of applications for the term, you need to get a sense of what any one wielder really means. But it’d be quite obtuse to reply “what’s White supremacy?”

White supremacy is the belief that white people and whiteness should hold power over black and brown people. No one in my social circles uses “wokeness” at all, certainly never seriously. It always seems like people upset at “wokeness” are actually just upset that people producing popular media support very simple concepts of diversity. Like when black actors get representation in media previously dominated by white…

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

#226
post #70

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.

That’s only possible with an extremely euro centric world view. If you were to focus on say, South America, you would’ve come to the exact opposite conclusion.

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

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For all the feigning of ignorance, 'woke' is well entrenched in in mainstream language now. It would definitely have made it to one of those "word of the year" things within the past few years if it wasn't for wokeism. Urban dictionary can help you out if you really don't know https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woke Pretending to be bravely battling fascism and tyranny on behalf of the oppressed while ce…

I asked because whenever I hear about someone complaining of “wokeism” they’re complaining about things that I think are good. Giving black actors roles in areas normally dominated by white actors? That’s awesome! But whenever this happens loads of people online will claim that is “wokeism”. Representation for gay, lesbian, queer, and trans people in media? Wow that’s great! Many complain this is “wokeism”. Recognizi…

> I asked because whenever I hear about someone complaining of “wokeism”

Forgive me if you were being genuine, but frequently when I see the word used on the internet, I see replies from people who seem utterly bewildered and claim that they really want to know what the word means. But it's trivial to find out what this or any other word or slang word means with a simple internet search, so it doesn't really seem like they care to learn what it means but rather they are trying to make a statement or trying to use cheap rhetoric to cast aspersion on the post being replied to without actually addressing it in any coherent way. Then when definitions are proffered, they are often not met with gratitude and understanding but with argumentation -- suddenly they do know what it means.

EDIT: Ah I misread your post you indeed were not asking sincerely, you were actually feigning ignorance as I thought. Worse, you're misrepresenting what the word means and baselessly attacking the parent poster as a bigot, and you have refused to walk that back or provide any evidence for these insults. This is a good example of behavior that is described as wokeism.

> they’re complaining about things that I think are good.

That's not what woke means though, it's clearly about hypocrisy and insincerity and performative pointless acts or gestures. Did you not read the definition I gave you, or were you being insincere when you asked about the meaning of the word in the first place? Also, the parent poster did not seem to be complaining about any of the things you are talking about here, if you are making that claim that they are bigoted it's very serious I hope you have some good reason to do so. I would go so far as to say it's totally against the site rules so you need to clarify.

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

#228
It's not just propaganda, it's also the fact that a lot of what is portrayed in films is outside the realm of experience for regular people. People just can't tell what is realistic and what isn't, because many people just don't know.

Battles, gun fights ("it's just a scratch, walk it off"), stabbings, fights and so on.

Then there's topical films like Contagion, and Outbreak.

And then there are disaster films portraying tsunamis nothing like the ones we saw in Japan and Banda Aceh.

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

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For all the feigning of ignorance, 'woke' is well entrenched in in mainstream language now. It would definitely have made it to one of those "word of the year" things within the past few years if it wasn't for wokeism. Urban dictionary can help you out if you really don't know https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woke Pretending to be bravely battling fascism and tyranny on behalf of the oppressed while ce…

I asked because whenever I hear about someone complaining of “wokeism” they’re complaining about things that I think are good. Giving black actors roles in areas normally dominated by white actors? That’s awesome! But whenever this happens loads of people online will claim that is “wokeism”. Representation for gay, lesbian, queer, and trans people in media? Wow that’s great! Many complain this is “wokeism”. Recognizi…

In few paragraphs you managed to convert a rational conversation to a moral argument and, worse than that, a personal attack.

I am not the GP but this sort of "this is good"/"you are a bad person" litany is exactly what is off-putting to many people.

I won't even comment on "The real reason I asked was to get people on here to reveal what kind of progress they are against."...

And as for entertainment strong moral undertones are enemies of fun.

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

#230
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> I think Hollywood is lot less subtle now at trying to push political propaganda I think the past efforts were pretty blatant. I think we just know more about how they operate and so it becomes easier to see. > wokeism Would love to know what this means.

Wokeism- any movie that does not involve a white guy being a hero.
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