Browsed by
Category: Propaganda Methods

Rent A Crowd “Crowds on Demand” – and How Absolutely Everything is Fake

Rent A Crowd “Crowds on Demand” – and How Absolutely Everything is Fake

A local politician came out to speak to an enthusiastic audience? Could be an entirely fake audience of paid participants.[1] A local protest takes to the streets to demand ACTION over whatever – and gets extensive media coverage? Could be a fake group of paid participants. Or sometimes, it is a mix of paid actors plus others who think its an organic, grass roots event. But its fake too. There are “public relations” firms (a.k.a. propaganda firms) that specialize in…

Read More Read More

Nonsense: “the supervolcano is ready to blow and WIPE OUT life on Earth”

Nonsense: “the supervolcano is ready to blow and WIPE OUT life on Earth”

Really? YELLOWSTONE volcano has been struck by 1,400 earthquakes in recent weeks, leading to fears that the supervolcano is ready to blow and WIPE OUT life on Earth. Source: Fears that deadly Yellowstone supervolcano about to BLOW after 1400 earthquakes hit | Science | News | Express.co.uk Click the link and play the video with am ominous and scary musical sound track to really drive home the point – IT’S GOING TO BLOW AND KILL US ALL! This story does…

Read More Read More

News media creates entirely fictional cause for couple’s suicide deaths

News media creates entirely fictional cause for couple’s suicide deaths

Here is how the story appeared: A New York couple upset over their rising health care costs jumped to their deaths this week, leaving a note that they could no longer pay to treat their medical issues.   The suicide took place in New York City’s Murray Hill neighborhood early on Friday, the New York Post reported. The couple was both in their 50s, the report noted, and they were found dead after having jumped from a building between Park…

Read More Read More

Using Questionable Statistics to Drive Up Wedding Costs?

Using Questionable Statistics to Drive Up Wedding Costs?

What is the claimed average cost of a wedding in the U.S.? $35,329 in 2016, says “The Knot” (not including costs of a honeymoon trip). More on their press release. This value is *widely* distributed in the media, on social media, and in online forums. Other estimates come from Conde Nast Bridal Infobank and The Fairchild Bridal Group. How can an average wedding cost $35,329 when 62% of American have less than $1,000 in their savings account and only 10-20% have…

Read More Read More

The remarkable power of propaganda

The remarkable power of propaganda

I just scanned Twitter for items about the Affordable Care Act. I estimate 99% of the Tweets were lies, contained significant errors, left out key information, or significantly exaggerated points. This included linked news stories at mainstream news services such as the Los Angeles Times and NPR and others, which contained significant inaccuracies or left out crucial information and data that refuted the thrust of the article. How many read the ACA? Probably a number approaching zero. How many researched…

Read More Read More

Should you make political posts on Facebook? No, you should not.

Should you make political posts on Facebook? No, you should not.

This is a MUST READ item – see the link below. Should you share political posts? The first question you should ask before sharing anything to social media, political posts in particular, is “Why? “Why are you sharing this post? What do you hope to accomplish?” We sometimes think that our Facebook shares are so brilliant, insightful, and righteous that people of opposing opinions can’t help but be swayed and won over by our argument. Nothing could be further from…

Read More Read More

Most car crashes caused by cellular phone usage?

Most car crashes caused by cellular phone usage?

I saw an item on a Facebook group where the general meme was that everyone knows cellular phone usage while driving is the cause of most vehicle crashes. The data, however, paints a remarkably different picture. Cellular phone usage, per the government’s own data, is a minor causative factor in vehicle crashes. There are many causative factors in car crashes: one category of causative factors is “distracted driving”. Cellular phone usage is a subset of “distracted driving”. The U.S.government’s National…

Read More Read More

How bureaucrats use passive language to escape responsbility

How bureaucrats use passive language to escape responsbility

Long article (link below) explains how corporations and governments torture language to escape culpability. By carefully crafting the message, these organizations use propaganda to intentionally mislead the target audience – and they get away with it because it works and rarely does anyone call them out for their malfeasance and lies. What became clear to me in this exchange is that the passive voice is itself unsuited for the lexical landscape of United’s email, which itself is part of a…

Read More Read More

National public opinion surveys are propaganda messaging in disguise

National public opinion surveys are propaganda messaging in disguise

Long ago, a survey found that 75% of Americans believe violence on television leads to violence in society. The results of that survey were then used as evidence in a Congressional hearing. Left out is that this was in the 1960s, and the survey was made after several Congressional representatives made this assertion and began talking about their assertion as if it were fact. The media dutifully reprinted their words, creating a broad propaganda message that violence on TV was…

Read More Read More

Did a Congressman really say we do not need satellites because we have the Weather Channel?

Did a Congressman really say we do not need satellites because we have the Weather Channel?

The 2017 social media meme: 2017 True Story: A Congressman was at a hearing for a request for funding for GOES satellites. He asked the scientist why do we need to spend money on satellites when you can turn on the weather channel and get the weather! TL;DR Summary This quote appears in 2000 and 2007 and 2011 and has nothing to do with events in 2017. As we will see, it appears several people who claim to have been…

Read More Read More