For students of official propaganda, manipulation of public opinion, psychological conditioning, and emotional coercion, it doesn’t get much better than this. As Trump and his army of Goldman Sachs guys, corporate CEOs, and Christian zealots slouch toward inauguration day, we are being treated to a master class in coordinated media manipulation that is making Goebbels look like an amateur. This may not be immediately apparent, given the seemingly risible nature of most of the garbage we are being barraged with, but once one understands the actual purpose of such official propaganda, everything starts to make more sense.
Chief among the common misconceptions about the way official propaganda works is the notion that its goal is to deceive the public into believing things that are not “the truth” (that Trump is a Russian agent, for example, or that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, or that the terrorists hate us for our freedom, et cetera). However, while official propagandists are definitely pleased if anyone actually believes whatever lies they are selling, deception is not their primary aim.
The primary aim of official propaganda is to generate an “official narrative” that can be mindlessly repeated by the ruling classes and those who support and identify with them. This official narrative does not have to make sense, or to stand up to any sort of serious scrutiny. Its factualness is not the point. The point is to draw a Maginot line, a defensive ideological boundary, between “the truth” as defined by the ruling classes and any other “truth” that contradicts their narrative.
Imagine this Maginot line as a circular wall surrounded by inhospitable territory. Inside the wall is “normal” society, gainful employment, career advancement, and all the other considerable benefits of cooperating with the ruling classes. Outside the wall is poverty, anxiety, social and professional stigmatization, and various other forms of suffering. Which side of the wall do you want to be on? Every day, in countless ways, each of us are asked and have to answer this question. Conform, and there’s a place for you inside. Refuse, and … well, good luck out there.
In openly despotic societies, the stakes involved in making this choice (to conform or dissent) are often life and death. In our relatively liberal Western societies (for those of us who are not militant guerillas), the consequences of not conforming to the official narrative are usually subtler. Despite that, the pressure is still intense. Conforming to the consensus “reality” generated by these official narratives is price of admission to the inner sanctum, where the jobs, money, professional prestige, and the other rewards of Capitalism are. Conforming does not require belief. It requires allegiance and rote obedience. What one actually believes is completely irrelevant, as long as one parrots the official narrative.
The Russia hysteria has not abated.
There is no proof that Russia did anything.
But the narrative on the corporate media insists otherwise.
At some point, you'll find people who will give up countering the lies just out of exhaustion.
I blame Hillary who has pimped this lie.
She lost.
She can't deal with it.
She needs to.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Friday, October 13, 2017. Iraq again on the brink of civil war?
How bad are things?
A Talabani e-merges.
Jalal Talabani was a two-time president of Iraq. His family is one of the ruling families in the KRG. He died last week and there was little international focus -- in part because Jalal disgraced himself by kowtowing to the United States and betraying Kurdish interests and also because for the last two years of his presidency he hid from the people because he was too ill to hold the post -- he could not speak and he was paralyzed.
His wife Hero helped fool the Iraqi people.
But the reality was that his PUK party then went from the first ranked party in the region to beneath it's long term rival the KDP (led by the Barzanis) and also beat out by the newly emergent Goran party.
Today, Jalal's eldest son Bafel has issued a statement:
Today we face a massive financial crisis and we stand under the specter of war -- a war we do not need, a war we do not want. Today the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi army are facing each other across a potential battlefield.
That's how bad things are: a Talabani sees a political opening.
Hayder al-Abadi never had a shot at being a smart person. When you are best described as "sniveling," chances are the only marks you'll ever leave will be in your own underwear.
But did anyone grasp that he was this stupid?
ALJAZEERA reports:
The Kurdish Regional Government has deployed thousands of troops around the disputed oil city of Kirkuk for fear of an attack by Iraqi government army and militia, a senior official said.
"Thousands of heavily armed peshmerga units are now completely in their positions around Kirkuk," a top aide to Kurdistan regional president Masoud Barzani posted on social media on Friday.
Remember September 25th, when the Kurds held a non-binding referendum?
And all the leaders or 'leaders' of various countries were in a state of high drama, this referendum will tear Iraq apart!
It didn't.
It was a peaceful vote.
It did nothing other than register the opinions of over 90% of Iraqi Kurds.
The drama came not from the Kurds but from those around them.
And now that Baghdad is threatening the Kurds, where are the same leaders or 'leaders' to condemn these remarks and actions?
What's going on?
IBT reports that Hayder is denying that the Iraqi military is being mobilized and on the verge of attacking.
While some are calling it fake news, there is this:
Oil rich Kirkuk has always been a hot spot.
Bully Boy Bush had to send troops to defuse the situation at one point, former President Barack Obama had to do the same.
Baghdad wants Kirkuk due to the oil, the KRG wants it due to the oil.
The RAND Corporation, at the end of Bully Boy Bush's occupying the White House, identified Kirkuk as the hot spot noting that the unresolved status meant problems for the future.
The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley -- updated:
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraqiraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraqiraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraqiraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq Iraq
How bad are things?
A Talabani e-merges.
Jalal Talabani was a two-time president of Iraq. His family is one of the ruling families in the KRG. He died last week and there was little international focus -- in part because Jalal disgraced himself by kowtowing to the United States and betraying Kurdish interests and also because for the last two years of his presidency he hid from the people because he was too ill to hold the post -- he could not speak and he was paralyzed.
His wife Hero helped fool the Iraqi people.
But the reality was that his PUK party then went from the first ranked party in the region to beneath it's long term rival the KDP (led by the Barzanis) and also beat out by the newly emergent Goran party.
Today, Jalal's eldest son Bafel has issued a statement:
Today we face a massive financial crisis and we stand under the specter of war -- a war we do not need, a war we do not want. Today the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi army are facing each other across a potential battlefield.
Bafel Talabani, Mam Jalals Son makes an statement in English regarding current political situation in #KRG - Iraq Video Part 1
That's how bad things are: a Talabani sees a political opening.
Hayder al-Abadi never had a shot at being a smart person. When you are best described as "sniveling," chances are the only marks you'll ever leave will be in your own underwear.
But did anyone grasp that he was this stupid?
ALJAZEERA reports:
The Kurdish Regional Government has deployed thousands of troops around the disputed oil city of Kirkuk for fear of an attack by Iraqi government army and militia, a senior official said.
"Thousands of heavily armed peshmerga units are now completely in their positions around Kirkuk," a top aide to Kurdistan regional president Masoud Barzani posted on social media on Friday.
Remember September 25th, when the Kurds held a non-binding referendum?
And all the leaders or 'leaders' of various countries were in a state of high drama, this referendum will tear Iraq apart!
It didn't.
It was a peaceful vote.
It did nothing other than register the opinions of over 90% of Iraqi Kurds.
The drama came not from the Kurds but from those around them.
And now that Baghdad is threatening the Kurds, where are the same leaders or 'leaders' to condemn these remarks and actions?
#Kurdistan govt deploys ‘tens of thousands’ of fighters in #Kirkuk to confront Iraqi ‘threats’ http://on.rt.com/8pp9 (Archive image)
What's going on?
IBT reports that Hayder is denying that the Iraqi military is being mobilized and on the verge of attacking.
#Iraqi PM "Our forces cannot & will not attack our citizens, Arab or Kurd. The fake news being spread has a deplorable agenda behind it"
While some are calling it fake news, there is this:
Soldiers from Iraqi ERD are posting photos on social media alongside newly captured Peshmerga positions south of #Kirkuk
Iraqi militia burning a Kurdish flag in a position they took over near Kerkuk.
Why Kurds don't trust these sectarian & racist scum.
Oil rich Kirkuk has always been a hot spot.
Bully Boy Bush had to send troops to defuse the situation at one point, former President Barack Obama had to do the same.
Baghdad wants Kirkuk due to the oil, the KRG wants it due to the oil.
The RAND Corporation, at the end of Bully Boy Bush's occupying the White House, identified Kirkuk as the hot spot noting that the unresolved status meant problems for the future.
Iraq is about to declare war on Iraqi Kurdistan simply because the #Kurds want freedom. Is the US going to abandon its loyal ally again?
The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley -- updated:
- She's worse than ever10 hours ago
- The last ones to be let on the life rafts11 hours ago
- What is it about her?11 hours ago
- EMPIRE episode 311 hours ago
- The Kurds11 hours ago
- They are fake13 hours ago
- Alicia Keys13 hours ago
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iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraqiraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraqiraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq Iraq
