The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest
Vol: 34 Issue: 3 - Saturday, July 03, 2004
When Good News is Catastrophic
by Jack Kinsella"Propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. If the means
achieves the end then the means is good." (Josef Goebbels, Nazi Minister
of Propaganda and National Enlightenment, 1933)Propaganda can be as blatant as a swastika or as subtle as a joke. Its
persuasive techniques are regularly applied by politicians, advertisers,
journalists, radio personalities, and others who are interested in
influencing human behavior.Propaganda messages can be used to accomplish positive social ends, as in
campaigns to reduce drunk driving, but they are also used to win elections
or to sell malt liquor. Regardless of the ends, it is the means that
count. Call it twisting the truth, or spinning an agenda, or by whatever
euphemism, it is still propaganda.Propagandists love short-cuts -- particularly those which short-circuit
rational thought. They encourage this by agitating emotions, by exploiting
insecurities, by capitalizing on the ambiguity of language, and by bending
the rules of logic.It works. Just listen to the way the network news reporters frame their
stories. For example, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates a
quarter-point at their recent meeting. CBS News' reporter Anthony Mason
reported, "The era of cheap money is over."Mason then offered this gloomy forecast: "Your credit card interest rate
will be rising. So will adjustable rate mortgages. And say goodbye to
those zero percent auto loans."Mason concluded: "Either way, this era of low interest rates is beginning
to appear in the rear view mirror. And economists say it could be decades
before we encounter another one. Anthony Mason, CBS News, New York."On the NBC Nightly News, reporter Anne Thompson located the Taylors, a
couple with a home equity loan and $25,000 in credit card debt. Thompson
warned: "And mortgage rates, while not directly tied to what the Fed does,
are already up nearly a percentage point since March, a worry for the
Taylors who are in the market for a new house."Good heavens! Interest rates are rising, and the sky is falling!
Assessment:
First, what do the propagandists hope to accomplish? In this particular
case, it is the defeat of the Bush administration. The Bush
administration's vulnerabilities are diminishing, and that has the liberal
media worried. Remember the famous 'Bush lied' charge regarding Iraqi
efforts to obtain 'yellowcake' uranium from the Nigerians?Turns out to be true, although that story has been largely spiked by the
American media. But the British Financial Times ran a front page exclusive
story on June 28 headlined;'Intelligence Backs Claim That Iraq Had Talks With Niger Over Uranium."
The article added, "Intelligence officers learned between 1999 and 2001
that uranium smugglers planned to sell illicitly mined uranium ore, or
refined ore called yellow cake, to Iran, Libya, China, North Korea and
Iraq. . . .European intelligence officials have for the first time
confirmed that information provided by human intelligence sources during
an operation mounted in Europe and Africa produced sufficient evidence for
them to believe that Niger was the center of a clandestine international
trade in uranium."Let me know if you can find this story in the New York Times.
Another one of Bush's diminishing vulnerabilities is the resurging
economy -- something the liberal media is trying to keep as secret as the
Nigerian Yellowcake story.Let's reexamine the propagandists' 'short cuts' by the numbers; 1)
agitating emotions; 2) exploiting insecurities; 3) capitalizing on the
ambiguity of language; and, 4) bending the rules of logic.Premise: The Bush administration is doing a lousy job with the economy and
America would be better off if John Kerry were president.Problem: The economy is defying the premise by continuing to expand and
grow. Job creation slowed slightly this quarter, but all the leading
indicators indicate it is expanding at a faster rate than it did during
the heyday of the Clinton administration.Despite September 11, the war on terror, the war against Saddam Hussein,
the cost of maintaining homeland security, the threat of a nuclear Iran,
North Korea, Syria and the ongoing security issues in Iraq, the US
unemployment rate today is the same as it was when Bill Clinton ran for
reelection in 1996. (Clinton won because the economy was doing so well)The Dow has jumped from less than 8,000 in 2001 to its pre-war levels --
now approaching 11,000.Back to the 'short cuts'.
1) Agitating emotions: "The era of cheap money is over. Your credit card
interest rate will be rising. So will adjustable rate mortgages. And say
goodbye to those zero percent auto loans. For the first time in four
years, the Fed has raised interest rates by a quarter of a point."The era of cheap money is over because of a quarter point jump in the Fed
rate? Ummm, in 2000, when Bill Clinton was still in office, the Fed rate
was 6.5%. The quarter point bump the Fed announced brings the 2004
Federal Reserve prime rate all the way UP to 1.25%. The era of cheap
money is OVER?2) Exploiting insecurities: Your credit card interest will be rising. To
highlight this impending economic disaster, CBS hunted down the Taylors --
remember them? They had borrowed up the equity in their home, were
carrying $25,000.00 on their CREDIT CARDS and fear they can't afford a new
house because the Fed rate jumped a quarter percent to what remains the
lowest Fed rate since Eisenhower was president.With twenty-five grand on the credit cards, a quarter point increase at
the Federal level is the LEAST of their problems.3) Capitalizing on the ambiguity of language: "For the first time in four
years, the Fed has raised interest rates by a quarter of a point" and
leaving the rest of the statement hanging. (The part about it remaining
the lowest rate in four decades, etc, etc.)4) Bending the rules of logic: CBS' Anthony Mason wrapped his report on
the dismal economic outlook in store for America -- thanks to a prime
lending rate of 1.25%. "Either way, this era of low interest rates is
beginning to appear in the rear view mirror. And economists say it could
be decades before we encounter another one."There is probably no generation in history that should be less receptive
to propaganda than this one. Unlike the generation who lived a hundred
years ago, or a thousand years ago, this generation knows first hand how
deadly is the poison of the propagandist's pen. Propaganda kills.We saw what Nazi propaganda accomplished. We saw what Soviet propaganda
accomplished. We are eyewitnesses to what Islamo-facist propaganda is
capable of.But this generation eats it like candy -- blithely unaware of what the
truth is -- or, aware of the truth but preferring to hear cunningly
devised fables that suit their personal agenda.For example, how many Americans would still support abortion if they
witnessed a living fetus murdered and dismembered in the womb, before
being pulled out in chunks -- in living color, on ABC's Nightly News?Everybody KNOWS what an abortion is, but they prefer cunningly devised
fables like a 'woman's right to choose' while leaving out 'to kill her own
baby' because it's easier to support it if you don't keep dwelling on that
baby-killing part.The same can be said for gay rights. If being gay is 'normal', then how
come heterosexual couples don't raise their kids to be gay? Gay rights
groups call that 'bigotry'. In that one word, you'll find all four
elements of propaganda; agitating emotions, exploiting insecurity,
capitalizing on ambiguity of language and bending the rules of logic.Still, knowing all this, we remain the most heavily propagandized and
easily brainwashed generation in human history. And we eat it like it was
candy."And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him
privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be
the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you." (Matthew 24:3-4)