Three Propaganda Stories
Three media “stories” this week serve as excellent examples of the propaganda arts: the Jeff Gannon (aka Jeff Geckert (aka MilitaryEscort.com)) affair, the Super Young Republican, and an insightful local “Rent or Buy” analogue for Social Security.
The most egregious of these is the Super Young Republican, 9-year-old Noah McCullough, from Texas. Noah is legitimately famous for his mastery of presidential history and trivia– five appearances on The Tonight Show last year, and he is reported to have beaten contender John Dean in a triva contest during the Democratic convention. Great kid! But propaganda is creeping into this New York Times story already, because the “triva contest” was part of a Tonight Show visit to the convention, and the “contest” took the form of a few random questions from Tonight Show staff in a hallway. But Young Mr. McCullough’s backers have used that as a “credential” to bolster the reputation of their newest propaganda tool. His handlers? Progress for America.
The Progress for America organization is a 527 “soft money” propaganda outlet which spent $45 million on Bush’s campaign, and is preparing to spend $20 million to support the Bush Social Security plan. Progress for America has hired 9-year-old Noah to travel in advance of the Presidential Tour, in what unnamed “officials” say is a “lighthearted way to underline Bush’s message.” The article concluded with the news flash that Noah plans to run for President in 2032, and he “wants Social Security addressed before then.”
“It will be bankrupt when I’m president,” he said.
The article did not say how much Noah is being paid, or where the money is coming from. Use of children in propaganda is one of the most cold-hearted of the recognized propaganda techniques. Shame on the Republican Propaganda Machine for stooping to it, and shame on Noah’s parents for allowing their son to be brainwashed and used in this manner. To the extent that opinion-for-money journalists are media whores, these people have sold their son into prostitution.
Speaking of prostitution, “just trying to make a living here” Jeff Gannon, or Geckert, or Gay-I Joe is under attack from all directions except the White House, which of course knows nothing about him. The latest attacks would have us believe that the man is completely depraved because he was a practicing homosexual who accepted money for gay-bashing during his day job. In fairness to Gannon (if any is required) his activities linked to gay pornography and prostitution do not in any way imply that he himself is a homosexual. We’ve known for years that there is a hard core of Republicans who will say anything, and do anything, for a dollar or a vote. The idea of homophobes making money off of gays is not all that hard to swallow. But if you look at the scandal closely you will see some very skilled propagandists at work.
First, there is no doubt that Gannon was planted in the White House Press Corps to serve up Dorothy Dix questions, and he was only caught because he started putting too much declarative propaganda into the questions. Here’s a simple Dorothy Dixer– “Mr. President, you’ve said you want to work with the Democrats in Congress– how will you do that?” What he actually “asked” was this:
“Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Harry Reid was talking about soup lines. And Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet in the same breath they say that Social Security is rock solid and there’s no crisis there. How are you going to work_you’ve said you are going to reach out to these people_how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?”
On the left, the reaction was fast and furious, with a lefty propagandist’s eye on a rare opportunity to expose a right-wing propaganda operation. Not least because it wasn’t Harry Reid who was talking about soup lines, it was Rush Limbaugh talking about Harry Reid! (concurrent spin story which you will have read about elsewhere). And then the media chimed in– obviously this guy is not a journalist (one of us)– presenting a rare opportunity for the media to claim that they actually have some standards. Not only does Gannon not represent a “genuine” news organization, he represents a blatant Republican gay-bashing propaganda outlet AND he’s associated with some gay porno/prostitution web sites. What gives the game away, what identifies it as very skilled propaganda, is the use of “conflicting truths.” Logic says that Gannon can’t be accused of being both pro-gay and anti-gay at the same time, but accusing him of both will win favor in two opposed camps while the media gets credit for an “expose.”
The only oddity in the affair is the lack of meaningful comment from the White House, where the story started. It wouldn’t surprise us if Rove’s office has deliberately sacrificed Gannon/Geckert/Gay-I-Joe to protect his other assetts in the White House Press Corps, or should we say Press Corpse (since it is thoroughly corrupted) or perhaps Press Corp (since it seems be a subsidiary of Propaganda R Us). Sacrifice a weed to protect the healthy plants.
Speaking of plants, the local paper runs a feature called “Speak Out” in which presumably ordinary Colorado citizens are allowed to write about local topics at greater length than is available for letters to the editor. Today’s “speaker,” one Spencer Swalm, was given about 17 column inches and a two line by three column headline for his piece “When it comes to Social Security, would you rather rent it or own it?” Inches, headlines, by-lines, page position… these are the numbers by which print journalists measure their own worth, and the bottom line here is that Swalm’s piece was given an awful lot of prominence for a casual contributor.
The centerpiece of the article was a somewhat tortured analogy involving Social Security and apartments. But you really didn’t need to read the whole thing and wade through the twisted logic to see where Swalm is coming from. In the first two sentences, he tells us that his family has been involved in residential property development for thirty years. Can you spell “Rich Republican,” boys and girls? The fact that he himself acknowledges some difficulty in equating social security accounts with apartments is an indication that he is writing with a hidden (i.e. propaganda) objective.
So the piece is conservative propaganda, in the editorial pages of a notoriously conservative newspaper. Does that make him a plant? No. He is a plant because he did not disclose the fact that he is seeking Republication nomination for a safe seat in the 2006 House election. And then there’s his day job– Swalm is an employee benefit broker, so he would be among the first to “benefit” from a privatized Social Security scheme.
–SG
What do you think? Please enter a comment below.
February 26th, 2005 at 1:57 pm
Why is it propaganda and not just lies? What’s the difference? Is it propaganda if it is true?
February 27th, 2005 at 2:59 pm
The parents of that boy should be ashamed of themselves letting him run around talking that trash.He needs to be out playing ball or video games or ewwing at girls. If he’s smart enought to have those opinions then he should be smart enough to look at the FACTS and form accurate opinions. What we have here is the typical “beauty pageant” parents that will reap the glory through their childs progress.Doing what they blindly see as necesarry to get some attention.
Shame.
February 27th, 2005 at 9:01 pm
We talked about propaganda in “Fun With Words” (11/10/2004) and we are working on a more detailed piece for publication soon, but the short answer to your question is that propaganda is a system for spreading (propagating) information that supports the proponent’s objectives or attacks opponents, AND the material that is propagated. It has nothing to do with truth or lies, or whether someone is paid to do it (legally or illegally). The best equivalent term lately is “spin,” but what we think of as spin is just one of many recognized propaganda techniques.
February 28th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
Well said! But in our view it is even more shameful that the Administration, through a 527 organization, would exploit children this way. Children have always been a useful tool for the propagandist, but in our view it is one of the most shameful of the many unethical techniques that can be employed.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:39 am
that kid should get grounded