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The Pentagon and CIA have shaped thousands of movies into effective propaganda

worldbeyondwar.org

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

#111

Post by mcpackieh »

cmmeur01 wrote: post #91
mcpackieh wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before the JFK assassination, 'conspiracy theory' literally meant a theory about a criminal conspiracy. In the case of the JFK assassination, all theories that were counter to the official lone-wolf theory were conspiracy theories, theories about multiple people being involved in the assassination are categorically conspiracy theories while a lone-wolf theory involves no conspiring. Due to this, the term 'conspiracy…

Have you read CIA 1035 960? https://archive.org/details/CIADOC1035960/mode/1up

I have now. This document shows that the CIA was trying to counter conspiracy theories about JFK's assassination (of course they were), but it doesn't seem to provide evidence for the CIA deliberately shifting the meaning of 'conspiracy theory'.

This part got an audible "Heh" out of me though: "Note that Robert Kennedy, Attorney General at the time and John F. Kennedy's brother, would be the last man to overlook or conceal any conspiracy." Robert Kennedy was murdered one year after this document was written, while running for president. Suppose he secretly doubted the Warren Commission's report (as has been claimed by some of the people close to him, but disputed by others), becoming president would have given him a uniquely privileged position from which to assail it.

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

#112

Post by carapace »

Fervicus wrote: post #77
nsxwolf wrote: post #12

I wonder if "Contagion" was propaganda. It really made me believe that if a SARS pandemic ever happened, a bunch of incredibly competent scientists and government agents would swoop in and save us all. The "Olympus Has Fallen" series also made me believe that if a mob ever stepped foot on the White House lawn, a bunch of auto turrets would pop up and gun them all down. The last few years has shown that the world is r…

> the world is run by a bunch of jokers That's what they'd like you to believe. They know exactly what they are doing.

One of the classic and unmistakable hallmarks of a fool is that they think they know what they are doing.

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

#113

Post by mcpackieh »

the_optimist wrote: post #30
mikece wrote: post #3

I'm curious: for how many people is this news? For those more inquiring you should look into the Smith-Mundt Act, which makes it illegal for the US Government to directly propagandize the American people; it was effectively repealed in 2012.

Is there a difference between propaganda and false information? This is a practical question. If they say “propaganda” but in practice simply plant false information, is that still in scope?

> Is there a difference between propaganda and false information?

Yes, not all propaganda is false. Propaganda uses both truth and lies freely, choosing whichever is most convenient for the narrative being promoted. Often propaganda tells you things which are true, while simply omitting other truths. Propaganda also uses statements which are neither true nor false, e.g. subjective value claims.

From the other angle, not all false information is propaganda. This statement is false: My hair is red. That's false, but it's not propaganda. Propaganda and false information are overlapping sets, but neither is a strict subset of the other.

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

#114

Post by mcpackieh »

giobox wrote: post #20
wil421 wrote: post #10

Similar things have been said about the rise of FSP games. I’ve heard the military basically created FPS games for their combat simulators. They also pushed or gave money to developers to popularize FPS games. FPS=first person shooter.

I've never heard this argument ever for FPS games - the history of the FPS is extremely well documented. The earliest FPS games are frankly far too basic to be of much use for military training.

> "The earliest FPS games are frankly far too basic to be of much use for military training."

That didn't stop them from trying to use Doom to train "military thinking" and "exercise and develop their decision making abilities": https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2019...

Related: Human silhouette targets at firing ranges, low fidelity as they are, were developed to reduce inhibitions against shooting people. They are used by police and military for this purpose and probably work.

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

#115

Post by free_glamorgan »

ceejayoz wrote: post #56
thesaintlives wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I can't tell if you're serious or sarcastic, but a great illustration of the point. It's very possible for a disease to kill a million people in the US and for some folks to not have it kill any of their family and friends personally. Someone who lived in NYC in March 2020 would likely have had a very different experience than someone in rural Minnesota, for example.

I have a working hypothesis that a very large number of people don't personally know anyone who has died of Covid, except maybe for an elderly relative and "they were getting on a bit anyway". It's true of me and anyone else I've had this conversation with.

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

#116

Post by ryandrake »

ndriscoll wrote: post #26
wil421 wrote: post #10

Similar things have been said about the rise of FSP games. I’ve heard the military basically created FPS games for their combat simulators. They also pushed or gave money to developers to popularize FPS games. FPS=first person shooter.

That doesn't sound true, but they did make one of the best shooters (America's Army) and released it for free as an advertisement basically.

It was really amazing how good America's Army was. When I got it, I was expecting a cheesy propaganda piece cobbled together to barely work, but it was actually a great and very fun shooter.

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

#117

Post by dragonwriter »

the_optimist wrote: post #30
mikece wrote: post #3

I'm curious: for how many people is this news? For those more inquiring you should look into the Smith-Mundt Act, which makes it illegal for the US Government to directly propagandize the American people; it was effectively repealed in 2012.

Is there a difference between propaganda and false information? This is a practical question. If they say “propaganda” but in practice simply plant false information, is that still in scope?

> Is there a difference between propaganda and false information?

Yes.

Propaganda is information you are told that is crafted to inculcate a particular belief, whether or not the information and/or belief are true. (Derived from the old latin name of the institution in the Vatican bureaucracy responsible for spreading the faith, propaganda fidei.)

All advertising and persuasive speech is propaganda. Some of it uses true information, and some of it is intended to spread true beliefs.

False information is information which isn’t true, no matter what the purpose of it being presented to you is.

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

#118

Post by webmobdev »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #28

I simply can't take a source like this seriously. Am I denying that the government has interest in and lobbies for friendly content portrayals? No. Will I get information about it from charged up ideologue who clearly has a strong slant against the US government/military. No. It's effectively random blog tier credibility.

You do know that "communist" artists in Hollywood were spied on, harassed and even blacklisted? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_blacklist

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

#119

Post by SenAnder »

ttoinou wrote: post #89
goneri wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insane? Really? There is nothing wrong with defending your language and the artistic industry. They've got also some similar quotas for the song in French on the radio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toubon_Law .

Its promoting making bad movies and song though. Let the world compete

Not everyone is so eager to dissolve their national identities and turn their countries into economic platforms for the world to compete on.
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