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Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

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Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#121

Post by nirui »

The firm got some good in it, sure. But as I see it, today people could be motivated by a firm of good meanings, then tomorrow a post with bad intentions could swing people the other way just as far.

The firm was produced back in 1945, but we still hearing similar if not exact same racist and xenophobic talk points today across many countries of different backgrounds. This alone is telling.

People don't really care about good or evil, truth or lies, but the message, the story telling, whether someone can make it flip the switches inside their heads, make them subscribe. If you can flip their switches in the exact right way, they'll be your utility.

It turns out, we are, unmistakably, suckers. Just with different arrangement of switches.

I stopped believing good intentions long ago.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#123

Post by thomassmith65 »

pyuser583 wrote: post #120
thomassmith65 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are much more "zero-sum," both right and left. The mistake with ending on that note is that, while 'both right and left' are more zero-sum, only the left gives a shit about the ideals in the actual quote. To drive the point home, the current crop of Republicans wouldn't take kindly to an immigrant SJW college professor like the character in the film preaching to them about liberal values. Then again, he is Hungari…

The quote is a call for unity, so I felt it inappropriate to end by attacking my fellow citizens.

If my fellow citizens are tired of liberal democracy, and subjecting the rest of us to something worse, it warrants criticism.

Whether criticism will improve anything, or just annoy people, is another story.

There's not likely to be any 'Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?' moment in the current environment, so God help us all.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#125

Post by haritha-j »

like_any_other wrote: post #108

[flagged]

Gee it couldn't possibly be because us minorities are made to feel aware of our skin colour everytime we go out in the streets and see someone putting up an English flag, or preach about how their city has too many people that look like us, which means we're hyper aware of our race and it defines our perspective of ourselves. If racism didn't exist, then being asian wouldn't really form an important part of how i think about myself.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#126

Post by noobermin »

cortesoft wrote: post #95
cardanome wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is literally propaganda. Very good propaganda with a very good and truthful message. (Except maybe a bit of too much idealizing the US and also the role of the catholic church but the main point is fine.) I guess the confusion is because in Western societies people are used to the doublespeak of only calling something propaganda when it is done by the "other side". The other side is "spreading the narrative" you a…

Well, the standard definition of propaganda is that it is false and misleading : > information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a particular cause, doctrine, or point of view. Which I think most people consider bad. If the information is true and not misleading, it would be considered educational or informational.

The traditional meaning of the phrase is that it is not neccessarily information of a misleading nature but is propagated to advance a particular political aim. In that older definition, propaganda can be true or false, misleading of correct.

The current connotation to me seems a result of propaganda from authoritarian states (nazis in germany, communists in the old communist bloc) and the presupposition that the propaganda they pushed was misleading and/or false.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#127

Post by mindslight »

yes_really wrote: post #107
mempko wrote: post #7

This is important for everyone here to watch. A divided house does not stand, and if you haven't noticed, it's getting more divided every day. Don't be a sucker, don't let them divide us. For perspective, we now have masked agents roaming the streets kidnapping people in broad daylight. In the United States. Think about how fast this came. EDIT: Why not have a conversation instead of downvoting. What did I say is wro…

This type of comment is what is increasing division and extremism in the US. The people defined immigration laws through democracy. Following democracy means following the immigration laws that were defined through democracy, not following what you'd like the law to be. The opposition of "Rule of Law" is "Rule of Men". If we don't follow the immigration laws defined democratically, it means, by definition, that we wo…

The gall to bemoan the "rule of men" when we've got masked paramilitary gangs ransacking apartment buildings in the middle of the night.

The problem isn't that immigration law is being enforced. The problem is the manner in which it is being enforced. Someone breaking the law is not a justification for whatever you want to be done to them. Someone breaking the law is not an excuse to violate other people's constitutional/natural rights by association. And the law not being enforced for a long time is not an excuse to eliminate what little accountability there was for people tasked with enforcing the laws. I hope some day you will realize these things.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#128

Post by notarobot123 »

pyuser583 wrote: post #113
neilv wrote: post #23

I love that this was US propaganda at one point. The US always has failings, but this message is something we can be proud of.

There was a FOIA-dump of old NSA propaganda posters. The kind they put up around Fort Meade for their own employees. It started off, in the early-50s, with things like "Remember, Freedom of the Press is one of the most important Freedoms." and "Remember, Freedoms come not from humans, but from nature/God itself." Then it slowly morphed into "Remember, we practice security so we can defend our liberties: every securit…

I was expecting this comment to go in a more sinister direction but we're not quite there yet.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#129

Post by worldsayshi »

nirui wrote: post #121

The firm got some good in it, sure. But as I see it, today people could be motivated by a firm of good meanings, then tomorrow a post with bad intentions could swing people the other way just as far. The firm was produced back in 1945, but we still hearing similar if not exact same racist and xenophobic talk points today across many countries of different backgrounds. This alone is telling. People don't really care a…

People will be more likely to have good intentions if they expect others to have good intentions. If there's a lot of distrust in society good intentioned narratives will lose their power.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#130

Post by mulmen »

swed420 wrote: post #34
neilv wrote: post #23

I love that this was US propaganda at one point. The US always has failings, but this message is something we can be proud of.

Except for the endorsement of littering, which fit the time period. It would be decades before they wheeled out a crying native american on TV to make people feel guilty about the matter(s).

Littering? Did I miss something?
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