On Mon, 19 Aug 2013 18:58:58 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article ,
nestork wrote:


And, that removes the tool of "propoganda" from the government's tool
chest. Before, when a king wanted to go to war, he first had to
motivate the people to support that war. And, the easiest way to do
that was to spread lies about the people he wanted to go to war with.
So, you had propoganda that shaped the opinion of the masses to suit the
leader's agenda.


I admre your optimism, but that isn't my experience. If anything, it
increases the jumble of propaganda messages and makes even more
propaganda outlets available.
"Mission Accomplished" speech that George W. Bush gave
aboard an aircraft carrier declaring that major military operations in
Iraq were over. You couldn't miss it; he made that announcement dressed
up in a full g-suit to give you the impression that he'd just finished a
bombing sortee over Bagdad.
Well, it turns out that announcement was made on the deck of a US
aircraft carrier only a few miles off the coast of San Diego. The
podium and news cameras were set up so that the cameras were pointed
toward the open ocean. That way, no one would see the US main land in
the back ground.
A prime example of exactly what I meant. It was made abundantly clear
at the time that he was welcoming the Lincoln back to the US from a tour
off Iraq. The Mission accomplished banner was put up at the request of
Navy because the Lincoln had done just that and was heading home.

That was the FIRST story put out. Later stories amended that to say
that the banner was made and brought to the ship by the White House
people and it was the white house people who wanted it put up.


Nowhere in the speech was the term Mission Accomplished ever used
and indeed, Bush specifically stated "We have difficult work to do in
Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain
dangerous."

How funny, the reason order needed to be brought to Iraq was because
the US invaded Iraq and blew the place the **** up.


ANd especially telling: "Our mission continues...The War on Terror
continues, yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final
victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide."
So not only was there an abundance of propaganda, but the anti-Bush
propaganda won out. So much for making the spreading of lies harder. If
anything it would seem to make the spreading substantially easier.


As long as people can talk to one another, we can avoid war. In order
to motivate someone sufficiently to risk their lives to kill someone
else, they have to be convinced that that other person deserves to be
killed, and that doesn't happen when they can talk directly with each
other using twitter or facebook or myspace or even internet forums like
this one.
IN which alternative universe?