What Would Godwin Do?
or
Sometimes a Cigar is Actually A Cigar
or
Sometimes a Cigar is Actually A Cigar
Trump supporters have a unique rallying cry when he goes on his rambling tirades: "Lock Them Up!" Them who? The media. It's not funny. It's absolutely f*cking ridiculous. But it is not funny. The reason they want to lock up the media isn't for some profound universal infraction. Their ire is drawn by repeated condemnations from Donald Trump demanding that the media is out to get him. And the initial response - instead of asking for retractions or correcting any records - is to forfeit journalists' Constitutional rights and toss them in jail. Again, this isn't funny. And this is not an issue to be taken lightly.
Propaganda must always address itself to the broad masses of the people. (...) All propaganda must be presented in a popular form and must fix its intellectual level so as not to be above the heads of the least intellectual of those to whom it is directed. (...) The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings, in finding the appropriate psychological form that will arrest the attention and appeal to the hearts of the national masses. The broad masses of the people are not made up of diplomats or professors of public jurisprudence nor simply of persons who are able to form reasoned judgment in given cases, but a vacillating crowd of human children who are constantly wavering between one idea and another. (...) The great majority of a nation is so feminine in its character and outlook that its thought and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than by sober reasoning. This sentiment, however, is not complex, but simple and consistent. It is not highly differentiated, but has only the negative and positive notions of love and hatred, right and wrong, truth and falsehood.
"I will provide a propagandistic casus belli. Its credibility doesn't matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth."
So there's that.
Kiss Kiss.... Mean Progressive
August 28, 2016 ~ Editor's note: Since the writing of this piece by our good friend MeanProgressive, Donald Trump has upped his game. Officially bringing on board the ousted head of FOX news, Roger Ailes for advice and debate prep, and making the former head of Breitbart.com alt-right hero Steve Bannon the "CEO" of his presidential campaign. The airwaves have been taken over. Operation control the message is in full force.