Star Man
01-27-2013, 01:46 PM
"Zero Dark Thirty": US-Condoned Propaganda Promotes Extra-Judicial Killings of Brown Men
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 00:00 By Deepa Kumar (https://www.truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/46891), Truthout | Op-Ed
Downloaded January 27, 2012 from https://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/14030-zero-dark-thirty-popcorn-and-extra-judicial-killings
"Zero Dark Thirty, nominated for the "best picture of the year" Oscar award, is a harbinger of things to come. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed into law by Obama earlier this month, includes an amendment (https://rt.com/usa/news/propaganda-us-smith-amendment-903/) that legalizes the dissemination of propaganda to US citizens.
"We can therefore expect not only more such films, but also more misinformation on our TV screens, in our newspapers, on our radio stations and in social media websites. What used to be an informal arrangement, whereby the State Department and the Pentagon manipulated the media, has now been codified into law.
We live in an Orwellian world: The government has sought and won the power to indefinitely detain and kill US citizens, all wrapped in a cloud of secrecy, while it lies to us.
"Propaganda is essential to such a system to convince the citizenry that they need not be alarmed, they need not speak out and they need not think critically. In fact, they need not even participate in the deliberative process essential to a democracy. We are being asked, quite literally, to amuse ourselves to death."
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Dear WaccoBBeans,
I have downloaded only a snippet of Kumar's essay here, because Truth-out does not allow reprinting of entire articles.
Citizens, Kuman's disclosure that the National Defense Authorization Act legalizes the dissemination of propaganda to Americans is extremely disturbing. If you have a TV, you must have noticed the bombardment of commercials for Zero Dark Thirty. I figured it was propaganda just watching the commercials. Among other things, Osama bin Laden was not hiding anywhere. He was living in plain sight with the knowledge of the Pakistan government. Political expediency was the only reason he was assassinated when he was. My sense is the Obama wanted to be able to campaign on a sound-bite of "I killed Osama bin Laden." That left Mittless in the position of saying, "Well, I would have killed him too."
What I did not know was that the NDAA authorizes the production and dissemination of propaganda. Want to know where your tax dollars are going? Just watch the commercials for ZDT. Rarely does a film receive as much promotion as ZDT. It is instructive to notice all the defense-related commercials (Army, Marines, Navy) and realize the commercials for ZDT are identical, war-promoting propaganda. The direct defense budget this year is about $600 billion, and the indirect costs are nearly half as much. This is what we work for. This is what we pay our taxes for. Who benefits? Big Defense. Lockheed. Boeing. General Dynamics. Big Defense buys the legislators at state and federal levels. Big Defense takes the profits. We citizens ignorantly and powerlessly work our asses off to have our Social Security stolen, our chance at universal health care stolen, and our Medicare and Medicaid stolen. The stolen revenues are sucked up by Big Defense which then makes propaganda movies to sell stupid, uneducated, clueless citizens on what a great country America is. I'm turning my TV off. The only show I watch anyway is "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," and I can see that on the 'net.
Star Man
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 00:00 By Deepa Kumar (https://www.truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/46891), Truthout | Op-Ed
Downloaded January 27, 2012 from https://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/14030-zero-dark-thirty-popcorn-and-extra-judicial-killings
"Zero Dark Thirty, nominated for the "best picture of the year" Oscar award, is a harbinger of things to come. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed into law by Obama earlier this month, includes an amendment (https://rt.com/usa/news/propaganda-us-smith-amendment-903/) that legalizes the dissemination of propaganda to US citizens.
"We can therefore expect not only more such films, but also more misinformation on our TV screens, in our newspapers, on our radio stations and in social media websites. What used to be an informal arrangement, whereby the State Department and the Pentagon manipulated the media, has now been codified into law.
We live in an Orwellian world: The government has sought and won the power to indefinitely detain and kill US citizens, all wrapped in a cloud of secrecy, while it lies to us.
"Propaganda is essential to such a system to convince the citizenry that they need not be alarmed, they need not speak out and they need not think critically. In fact, they need not even participate in the deliberative process essential to a democracy. We are being asked, quite literally, to amuse ourselves to death."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dear WaccoBBeans,
I have downloaded only a snippet of Kumar's essay here, because Truth-out does not allow reprinting of entire articles.
Citizens, Kuman's disclosure that the National Defense Authorization Act legalizes the dissemination of propaganda to Americans is extremely disturbing. If you have a TV, you must have noticed the bombardment of commercials for Zero Dark Thirty. I figured it was propaganda just watching the commercials. Among other things, Osama bin Laden was not hiding anywhere. He was living in plain sight with the knowledge of the Pakistan government. Political expediency was the only reason he was assassinated when he was. My sense is the Obama wanted to be able to campaign on a sound-bite of "I killed Osama bin Laden." That left Mittless in the position of saying, "Well, I would have killed him too."
What I did not know was that the NDAA authorizes the production and dissemination of propaganda. Want to know where your tax dollars are going? Just watch the commercials for ZDT. Rarely does a film receive as much promotion as ZDT. It is instructive to notice all the defense-related commercials (Army, Marines, Navy) and realize the commercials for ZDT are identical, war-promoting propaganda. The direct defense budget this year is about $600 billion, and the indirect costs are nearly half as much. This is what we work for. This is what we pay our taxes for. Who benefits? Big Defense. Lockheed. Boeing. General Dynamics. Big Defense buys the legislators at state and federal levels. Big Defense takes the profits. We citizens ignorantly and powerlessly work our asses off to have our Social Security stolen, our chance at universal health care stolen, and our Medicare and Medicaid stolen. The stolen revenues are sucked up by Big Defense which then makes propaganda movies to sell stupid, uneducated, clueless citizens on what a great country America is. I'm turning my TV off. The only show I watch anyway is "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," and I can see that on the 'net.
Star Man