Re: [A-List] 'When will genocide end?'...& the nature of propaganda

["tony black" <tal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Anne,

Yes, please do keep an eye out....I actually don't much attend to the Spec
anymore...Ever since they stopped publishing my material I find so little of
substance there to read :)

As for the fact that this august institution (as with virtually the entire
corporate media) occasionally deigns to include a protest letter or article
is, I must point out, nevertheless, entirely in keeping with its propaganda
function.

How often, for instance, are we reminded by right-wing pundits that, in
fact, they *did* see a piece critical of this or that state or corporate or
imperial policy/action...somewhere...at some time..'Just the other month I
saw....'

The point, of course, is that propaganda finds its essence in the sheer
*volume* of false, distorted, partial or omitted  information purveyed.
Repetition is at the heart of it  and, clearly, one reasoned article on page
10 or impassioned letter on page 20 can never undo a thousand headlines on
page 1.

 Indeed, the token reasoned article or letter can then, in due course, be
used by casuists in an attempt to exonerate the media from the charge of
bias. Even more effective is the function such anomalous content serves in
maintaining the rationalizations of the editors themselves, confirming their
belief that they are, after all,  most certainly good and round fellows in
dogged pursuit of the truth....All bogus, naturally, but then,
transgressions of elementary logic are hardly inimical to the propagandist's
task.

After all, as Jacques Ellul elucidated so definitively many years ago (and
here, forgive me this excursus), propaganda does not operate at the level of
the intellect, but of the emotions and the subconscious. It does not
convince, it creates a myth, a sense of the sacred, a world-view and vision
of all that is true and just and good (i.e. the 'American Way'). At this
level argument gives way to conditioned emotional reflex. Naturally the
propagandee is partially *complicit* in all this.... Thus, why are the
'masses' so easily duped? Because we desire it. We desire it because we have
needs which, seemingly, only propaganda can fulfill. The need, for instance,
to have a simplified, dualistic picture of the world, to parse it in the
language of a fairytale. The need to belong, to transcend ourselves in the
group, to express vicariously via the State our repressed hates and longings
for power. To raise ourselves from the sludge of anonymity and passivity
that inform our lives unto the empyrean heights of National Purpose and
Collective Concern. To link our humdrum fate with the fate of Empire. These
and a thousand other urgings prompt us to conspire in our own encirclement
by propaganda; an enslavement which, far from simply being imposed from
above, is nurtured secretly from within.....

...Finally, and as a bit of an aside, I am reminded by the foregoing of the
old saw, "You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the
people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the
time."

..I've always found this saying merely another weapon in the casuist's bag
of tricks, lending a spurious consolation to those not entirely convinced of
the official version of reality ...for the crux, the heart of the matter
seems to me, that you can fool *most* of the people..*most* of the time..

Tony




----- Original Message -----
From: "Anne Williamson" <annewilliamson@xxxxxxx>
To: "The A-List" <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 12:37 PM
Subject: Re: [A-List] 'When will genocide end?'


> Tony -
>
> Unlike Chris, I am not yet prepared to assume your excellent letter will
not
> be published.  As a regular reader of The Spectator, I can say I have read
> many, many scathing letters of criticism that they have published, and
> therefore I hope for the best.  I'll keep an eye out for yours, of course,
> but please do keep us informed as to your letter's fate. -A.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <bar@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "The A-List" <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 12:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [A-List] 'When will genocide end?'
>
>
> >
> > Real good but I think you will have to post as a "they refused to post
> > this".   But it should be published. Nobody else is saying this obious
> > fact yet.
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > > ...Any bets on whether they'll publish it?
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: tony black
> > > To: letters@xxxxxxxxxxx
> > >
> > > Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 2:40 PM
> > > Subject: 'When will genocide end?'
> > >
> > >
> > > To the editors:
> > >
> > > In last Saturday's edition the Spectator ran an editorial bemoaning
the
> > > seemingly endless procession of 'genocides' that have afflicted
> > > (especially) the last hundred years or so of world history. This
> > > world-weary sentiment clearly in response to the  recently publicized
> > > human rights abuses committed in Iraq by American forces. When, it
> asked,
> > > will it all end?
> > >
> > > Let me proffer a partial answer by first reminding the Spectator that
in
> > > the weeks and months following 9/11 the Spec gave vent to such a
> sustained
> > > and grotesque outpouring of American jingoism, martial ardour and
> > > patriotic mass hysteria as to (in conjunction with the corporate media
> > > continent wide) create the very conditions for the prosecution of not
> one,
> > > but two illegal and immoral wars of aggression. Two lawless wars that
> have
> > > fostered, inevitably, two lawless and brutal occupations.
> > >
> > > And yet the media now feign both surprise (as they did following the
> > > 'revelation' that Iraq harboured no WMD) and disgust at the results.
> > >
> > > It was representative then that the Spec at that time (Sept./01),
having
> > > published most of my previous article submissions, declined at this
> > > 'sensitive' moment to print an essay I submitted critiquing not only
the
> > > mass hysteria they had created, but which also foreshadowed in almost
> > > every particular the likely consequences of the opportunistic
'policies'
> > > of Bush & Co. (i.e. the trashing of civil liberties, the attempt to
cow
> > > and suppress critics of economic 'globalization', the cynical use of
> 9/11
> > > as a pretext for American military expansionism, the destabilization
of
> > > world security in a nuclear age etc.).
> > >
> > > It is further worthy of note that my friends and family were actually
> > > frightened enough given the media-inspired climate of hysteria and
> > > fear...not from foreign 'terrorists' mind you, but from state security
> > > forces...to warn me against submitting the piece!
> > >
> > > As Hermann Goering once said,
> > >
> > > "Voice or  no voice, the people can always be brought to do the
bidding
> of
> > > the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are
> being
> > > attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and
> exposing
> > > the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
> > >
> > > So when will it all end? Certainly not before the mainstream media, on
> > > which the 'people' are supposed to depend for real information, are
> > > transformed into institutions capable of delivering, on the
fundamental
> > > issues of the day, something other than mere state 'manufactured
> consent'
> > > and elitist propaganda.
> > >
> > > At the very least, not before that....
> > >
> > > Antony Black
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>