The Russian blogger leading Russia's vote-rigging protests has accused supporters of Vladimir Putin of seeking to smear him with a fake photo.
Alexei Navalny proved that a picture in a newspaper distributed by Putin supporters was a forgery when he published the original on his blog.
The faked photo shows Mr Navalny alongside fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who lives in London.
Protesters fear the March presidential vote may be rigged to favour Mr Putin.
Read more here.
Showing posts with label propaganda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label propaganda. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Friday, October 14, 2011
Felix Salmon of Reuters wonders aloud about Reuters hit piece on Occupy Wall Street
Propaganda's a bitch
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Occupy Wall Street — the soi-disant “99%” — were being secretly funded by billionaire Davos Man George Soros, exemplar of the 1%? Well, no, it wouldn’t, actually. As Noreen Malone points out, lots of the 1% have, like Soros, expressed sympathy with OWS, including Bill Clinton, Ben Bernanke, and at least one member of the Buffett family. And when you’re sympathetic to a cause, and have lots of money, often you donate money to that cause.
But in this case it looks very much as though there’s no connection at all between Soros and OWS. That makes sense: for one thing, Soros is a creature of Wall Street himself, and for another, he tends to fund well-organized groups with specific goals. Which, clearly, OWS isn’t.
Which is why today’s Reuters story about the connection between Soros and OWS has elicited so much derision around the blogosphere. Beyond allowing us to shoehorn the #ows and #soros hashtags into a single tweet, there’s no real substance to it at all:
Read more here.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Occupy Wall Street — the soi-disant “99%” — were being secretly funded by billionaire Davos Man George Soros, exemplar of the 1%? Well, no, it wouldn’t, actually. As Noreen Malone points out, lots of the 1% have, like Soros, expressed sympathy with OWS, including Bill Clinton, Ben Bernanke, and at least one member of the Buffett family. And when you’re sympathetic to a cause, and have lots of money, often you donate money to that cause.
But in this case it looks very much as though there’s no connection at all between Soros and OWS. That makes sense: for one thing, Soros is a creature of Wall Street himself, and for another, he tends to fund well-organized groups with specific goals. Which, clearly, OWS isn’t.
Which is why today’s Reuters story about the connection between Soros and OWS has elicited so much derision around the blogosphere. Beyond allowing us to shoehorn the #ows and #soros hashtags into a single tweet, there’s no real substance to it at all:
Read more here.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Mark Egan and Michelle Nichols of Reuters pen hit piece on Occupy Wall Street
A parade of illogic, even sighting Rush Limbaugh as a source of "speculation"...
Anti-Wall Street protesters say the rich are getting richer while average Americans suffer, but the group that started it all may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world's richest men.
They go on to string unrelated events and innuendo into a piece of propaganda writing Goebbels would be proud of.
Someone must be worried if they are resorting to these tactics.
Read more here.
Anti-Wall Street protesters say the rich are getting richer while average Americans suffer, but the group that started it all may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world's richest men.
They go on to string unrelated events and innuendo into a piece of propaganda writing Goebbels would be proud of.
Someone must be worried if they are resorting to these tactics.
Read more here.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Newsweek and how propaganda works
Newsweek runs a story by a one Howard Kurtz on "Obama's messaging strategy ahead of 2012"
It includes this quote: “I think you need to talk about how poorly they [the White House] do on message,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tells Newsweek’s Howard Kurtz. “They can’t see around corners; they anticipate nothing.”
Which she never said...
this is a horse that Kurtz definitely wanted out of the barn -- earlier Monday, it was the money quote he tweeted to his followers, teasing the piece. Three hours later, he corrected the record on Twitter. (According to Zeke Miller's tick-tock on Business Insider, Kurtz corrected Twitter sometime after the correction was appended to the piece online.)
Read more here.
It includes this quote: “I think you need to talk about how poorly they [the White House] do on message,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tells Newsweek’s Howard Kurtz. “They can’t see around corners; they anticipate nothing.”
Which she never said...
this is a horse that Kurtz definitely wanted out of the barn -- earlier Monday, it was the money quote he tweeted to his followers, teasing the piece. Three hours later, he corrected the record on Twitter. (According to Zeke Miller's tick-tock on Business Insider, Kurtz corrected Twitter sometime after the correction was appended to the piece online.)
Read more here.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
MGM hopes its jingoistic remake Red Dawn doesn't offend the wrong totalitarians..cont
This is a film that was shot back in 2009, and subsequently underwent digital modifications to change the villains of the new film to North Koreans (they were original Chinese). And it’s a film that’s struggled to find distribution in the aftermath of MGM’s troubles, given that, as the Los Angeles Times reports, no major studio wanted to potentially offend the Chinese government. China is, after all, one of the most lucrative growing markets for films.
But offending the ticket buying public is ok...
Read more here.
But offending the ticket buying public is ok...
Read more here.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
F*ck Hope, be Afraid, be very Afraid
Rick Perry political ad. Unbelievable crap, Americans will eat it up.
Comments and ratings disabled on Youtube. Duh.
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
World in mortal danger if China ever masters Photoshop
Until then we can all laugh at a superbly inept propagandist.
On the afternoon of June 27, our reader interviewed the Huili County Government publicity department director Zhang Yongzhi. According to Zhang, several county leaders went out to inspect the road. An accompanying worker took some photos for the record. But when it came to posting onto the website, the worker decided that "the background of the original photo did not look very good" so a decision was made to crop the leaders onto a different background. The Huili County Government has removed all relevant information and reprimanded the worker who handled the photo. The Huili County Government issued an apology at the Tianya Forum and the Sina.com Weibo.
Read more here.
Saturday, May 07, 2011
Pentagon releases Osama video, begs, pleads with us to remix them
Come on everybody, join in the propaganda.
In life, Osama bin Laden carefully crafted his image as a pious, anti-American leader. In death, he surely wouldn't appreciate the U.S. government releasing his blooper reel.
As part of what a senior U.S. intelligence official called "the greatest intelligence success, perhaps, of a generation," the government has released five videos captured during Sunday's dramatic storming of Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. None of them display his execution. All have had the sound excised so as not to spread al-Qaida propaganda.
Read more here.
In life, Osama bin Laden carefully crafted his image as a pious, anti-American leader. In death, he surely wouldn't appreciate the U.S. government releasing his blooper reel.
As part of what a senior U.S. intelligence official called "the greatest intelligence success, perhaps, of a generation," the government has released five videos captured during Sunday's dramatic storming of Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. None of them display his execution. All have had the sound excised so as not to spread al-Qaida propaganda.
Read more here.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Hillary Clinton refuses to admit she might have a human emotion
Oh please, you are fooling no one.
An allergy and not anguish may explain why Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had her hand to her mouth while watching the commando operation to kill Osama bin Laden, she said on Thursday...
..."I am somewhat sheepishly concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs. So it may have no great meaning whatsoever," Clinton added.
Translation: I am tough, and can not be affected by a momentous world event. Only an allergy can do that...
Read more here.
An allergy and not anguish may explain why Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had her hand to her mouth while watching the commando operation to kill Osama bin Laden, she said on Thursday...
..."I am somewhat sheepishly concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs. So it may have no great meaning whatsoever," Clinton added.
Translation: I am tough, and can not be affected by a momentous world event. Only an allergy can do that...
Read more here.
Monday, May 02, 2011
When telling your children about Bin Laden's death, treat them as simply as politicians treat the public
When talking to young children about Osama bin Laden's death, keep information simple and reassuring, psychologist says.
Isn't this how we all get generally get talked to by politicians?
If you do broach the topic with your kids, keep the message simple. "Kids are very black and white, without a lot of ability to think abstractly," says Coleman. Emphasize that bin Laden was very bad and hurt many people, and that when you hurt other people, you get punished so you can't keep hurting. You might even give them the relatable analogy of a bully who gets in trouble so he'll stop picking on other kids.
Don't worry kids, that's as deep as public discourse gets these days.
Read more here.
Isn't this how we all get generally get talked to by politicians?
If you do broach the topic with your kids, keep the message simple. "Kids are very black and white, without a lot of ability to think abstractly," says Coleman. Emphasize that bin Laden was very bad and hurt many people, and that when you hurt other people, you get punished so you can't keep hurting. You might even give them the relatable analogy of a bully who gets in trouble so he'll stop picking on other kids.
Don't worry kids, that's as deep as public discourse gets these days.
Read more here.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Intentionally leaked audio makes Obama sound tough
Surrrrrrre this is accidental.
President Barack Obama was caught on an open mic making some blunt and intriguing remarks about the actions of Republicans in recent budget negotiations that produced a deal to avert a government shutdown at a fundraiser in Chicago on Thursday, CBS News reports.
Read more here.
President Barack Obama was caught on an open mic making some blunt and intriguing remarks about the actions of Republicans in recent budget negotiations that produced a deal to avert a government shutdown at a fundraiser in Chicago on Thursday, CBS News reports.
Read more here.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
U.S. Army Sock Puppets want to be your friend
If you can't win through honest debate, lie.
The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda...
...Once developed, the software could allow US service personnel, working around the clock in one location, to respond to emerging online conversations with any number of co-ordinated Facebook messages, blogposts, tweets, retweets, chatroom posts and other interventions.
Read more here.
The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda...
...Once developed, the software could allow US service personnel, working around the clock in one location, to respond to emerging online conversations with any number of co-ordinated Facebook messages, blogposts, tweets, retweets, chatroom posts and other interventions.
Read more here.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
MGM hopes its jingoistic remake Red Dawn doesn't offend the wrong totalitarians
Look up C.B. deMille's "The Cheat" from 1915. Same crap, different time.
"Red Dawn" is one of the worst 80's movies there is. What genius thought this was a good idea? (see the second link below for a clue. It rhymes with "swarmy")
China has become such an important market for U.S. entertainment companies that one studio has taken the extraordinary step of digitally altering a film to excise bad guys from the Communist nation lest the leadership in Beijing be offended.
When MGM decided a few years ago to remake "Red Dawn," a 1984 Cold War drama about a bunch of American farm kids repelling a Soviet invasion, the studio needed new villains, since the U.S.S.R. had collapsed in 1991. The producers substituted Chinese aggressors for the Soviets and filmed the movie in Michigan in 2009.
But potential distributors are nervous about becoming associated with the finished film, concerned that doing so would harm their ability to do business with the rising Asian superpower, one of the fastest-growing and potentially most lucrative markets for American movies, not to mention other U.S. products.
Read more here.
On a similar topic, try How the '80s programmed us for war.
"Red Dawn" is one of the worst 80's movies there is. What genius thought this was a good idea? (see the second link below for a clue. It rhymes with "swarmy")
China has become such an important market for U.S. entertainment companies that one studio has taken the extraordinary step of digitally altering a film to excise bad guys from the Communist nation lest the leadership in Beijing be offended.
When MGM decided a few years ago to remake "Red Dawn," a 1984 Cold War drama about a bunch of American farm kids repelling a Soviet invasion, the studio needed new villains, since the U.S.S.R. had collapsed in 1991. The producers substituted Chinese aggressors for the Soviets and filmed the movie in Michigan in 2009.
But potential distributors are nervous about becoming associated with the finished film, concerned that doing so would harm their ability to do business with the rising Asian superpower, one of the fastest-growing and potentially most lucrative markets for American movies, not to mention other U.S. products.
Read more here.
On a similar topic, try How the '80s programmed us for war.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Courage to Stand, or don't believe everything you see
This guy Pawlenty has recently undergone a makeover, and now there's this: a good old fashion dose of "We're so wonderful" American jingoism.
Sad part is, this kind of crap actually works on some people.
Friday, January 14, 2011
DOD General Counsel Jeh Johnson: Idiot of the Day
Unbelievable dribble from an official at the Department of Defense.
Although the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is best remembered by the American public for fighting against racial discrimination, he was also an outspoken opponent of war and violence, most notably of the war in Vietnam. A top Obama administration official at the Department of Defense, however, argued Thursday that if King were alive, he would support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At a Pentagon commemoration of King's accomplishments, DOD General Counsel Jeh Johnson said that today's wars are in line with the reverend's teachings.
"I believe that if Dr. King were alive today, he would recognize that we live in a complicated world, and that our nation's military should not and cannot lay down its arms and leave the American people vulnerable to terrorist attack," Johnson said. "Every day, our servicemen and women practice the dangerousness -- the dangerous unselfishness Dr. King preached on April 3, 1968."
Read more here.
Although the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is best remembered by the American public for fighting against racial discrimination, he was also an outspoken opponent of war and violence, most notably of the war in Vietnam. A top Obama administration official at the Department of Defense, however, argued Thursday that if King were alive, he would support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At a Pentagon commemoration of King's accomplishments, DOD General Counsel Jeh Johnson said that today's wars are in line with the reverend's teachings.
"I believe that if Dr. King were alive today, he would recognize that we live in a complicated world, and that our nation's military should not and cannot lay down its arms and leave the American people vulnerable to terrorist attack," Johnson said. "Every day, our servicemen and women practice the dangerousness -- the dangerous unselfishness Dr. King preached on April 3, 1968."
Read more here.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Tony Blair: Idiot of the Day
Excerpt from Tony Blair's new book (prefaced by Time's editorial comment):
That old canard of the left about Bush’s intelligence is rebutted by one of the smartest political leaders around. Perhaps it’s time to let that one rest*.
"George Bush was straightforward and direct. The stupidest misconception was that he was stupid. He also had (has) great intuition. But his intuition was less—as in the case of Bill—about politics and more about what he thought was right or wrong. This wasn't expressed analytically or intellectually. It was just stated. ... I would be at a press conference with him, in the epicentre of those world-changing events, and I would think 'George, explain it; don't just say it." (p. 5)
"This was not because he wasn't smart; he was very smart. One of the most ludicrous caricatures of George is that he was a dumb idiot who stumbled into the presidency. No one stumbles into that job**."
Revisionist history can be an amusing read, but bullshit is still bullshit, and Bush continues to be an idiot.
Read more here.
* Some really do believe Bush 2 was and is intelligent. They also believe in unicorns.
** Having the Supreme Court "stumble" you in doesn't hurt.
That old canard of the left about Bush’s intelligence is rebutted by one of the smartest political leaders around. Perhaps it’s time to let that one rest*.
"George Bush was straightforward and direct. The stupidest misconception was that he was stupid. He also had (has) great intuition. But his intuition was less—as in the case of Bill—about politics and more about what he thought was right or wrong. This wasn't expressed analytically or intellectually. It was just stated. ... I would be at a press conference with him, in the epicentre of those world-changing events, and I would think 'George, explain it; don't just say it." (p. 5)
"This was not because he wasn't smart; he was very smart. One of the most ludicrous caricatures of George is that he was a dumb idiot who stumbled into the presidency. No one stumbles into that job**."
Revisionist history can be an amusing read, but bullshit is still bullshit, and Bush continues to be an idiot.
Read more here.
* Some really do believe Bush 2 was and is intelligent. They also believe in unicorns.
** Having the Supreme Court "stumble" you in doesn't hurt.
Thursday, September 09, 2010
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