War Propaganda

[Adrian Ţepeş]

Say what you want, but this is just laughable:

Spoiler:

And the sad thing is, a lot of people on the facebook page where I stole it from believed it as fact.

I know this kind of thing has been around for pretty much ever, but still, it just makes me feel less and less hope for human beings every time I see something like this

[MrFancypants]

A bit of propaganda is probably necessary to keep their spirits up. Otherwise they might start to wonder what good that war was if they simply pack their things and leave now.

I wonder how the Taliban really feel about US soldiers. They do probably fear them, but mostly due to their technological superiority. Wouldn't be surprised if this translates into hate more than anything.

[Tricorder]

Best war propaganda ever.

[D3matt]

If we're going to be at war we might as well try to feel good about it, I suppose. Regardless of what the truth may actually be, I want to feel proud of the country I live in. Proud to be an American and all that.

[Commissar MercZ]

I've been interested in the way this sentiment can spread through the US, even without much encouragement from the government. Save for some instances (Jessica Lynch), the US government really hasn't been doing war propaganda to the levels we saw in say WW II. Lot of news outlets have been taking care of this by themselves, as well as civil society groups, and they disseminate from there.

For example, thinking back to the run up to the Iraq War, I remember the sentiment around here also took up a strong anti-French dimension because of then President Chirac's opposition to US calls for war. This had gotten to the point that I recall in some places where they had set up shooting ranges with figures of Osama and Saddam Hussein, Jacques Chirac was also thrown up there too.

I'm willing to bet that many of them probably never heard of Chirac before the run up to Iraq, but somehow felt compelled to rally around a perceived slight from the man. This is probably compounded by the weird perception of France in the US to begin with, but still all this happened with no shove from the government.

Since you posted that little image there, it reminds me of another thing. We get a lot of these through email and social network, either as short blurbs or images, typically of a gushy nature. Be it generic stories of a veteran standing up to anti-war protestors or some liberal professor, or accounts of what's going on overseas. More often than not this involves a marine, not the army. I know that the Marines are bearing the brunt of fighting in Afghanistan, but it's almost as if the Army doesn't even exist in these stories, even those from when Iraq was in full swing.

[Mihail]

I've been interested in the way this sentiment can spread through the US, even without much encouragement from the government. Save for some instances (Jessica Lynch), the US government really hasn't been doing war propaganda to the levels we saw in say WW II

I'd say it's very much alive, just merely covert propaganda which is more effective, any time you hear an american politician talk about foreign matters which they themselves seem to know nothing about instead are feed this information by their staffs they act out a comedic screen write that Woody Allen would be jealous of or perhaps it's more appropriate to call it a greek tragedy play instead.

This disinformation is propaganda which in turn is ran by the media as truth, Perfect example of this is Colin Powell's address to the UN over Iraqi WMD's, which he later claims was the fault of the CIA feeding him "bad information", this has been done again repeated by Hilary Clinton using false information to "up" the stakes, which are covered all over every media outlet, then when the truth is heard, it's quietly mentioned then slips into the abyss if at all, eventually this propaganda allows agendas to be pushed without resistance of the populous.

Lot of news outlets have been taking care of this by themselves, as well as civil society groups, and they disseminate from there.

This is what happens when news becomes a business, they thrive on "upping" any news to a ludicrous levels to make everything and anything sound world ending, since whats better to get people to tune in? And it then turns into propaganda.

[Fortune]

Originally Posted by Adrian Ţepeş

Say what you want, but this is just laughable:

Spoiler:

And the sad thing is, a lot of people on the facebook page where I stole it from believed it as fact.

I know this kind of thing has been around for pretty much ever, but still, it just makes me feel less and less hope for human beings every time I see something like this

Kind of funny how people are viciously murdering each other, senselessly killing men, women and children, dropping bombs, developing methods of killing people with soul-less drones, and suicidally attacking one another; and its the bluffing you find to be disheartening about the human condition.

[Fortune]

That aside, I wouldn't be so surprised if this weren't true, except perhaps for the British bit.

Have you ever met a U.S. Marine? In my life I've met dozens of people in the army, and as unpatriotic as it sounds, 80% of them were loudmouths who carry themselves as if they were far more intimidating than they really are.

I've met probably about 5 Marines, and all of them are well-versed, quiet, and respectful; yet at the same time, definitely not individuals that I would want to get into a fight with. Propaganda or not, make no mistake; the average U.S. Marine is a quite a few cuts above the average soldier, and certainly has the potential to be intimidating to a relatively less trained guerilla fighter.

[Adrian Ţepeş]

I've met plenty of both, and I've known soldiers who are every bit as tough as any Marine.

Kind of funny how people are viciously murdering each other, senselessly killing men, women and children, dropping bombs, developing methods of killing people with soul-less drones, and suicidally attacking one another; and its the bluffing you find to be disheartening about the human condition

It's not that I don't find the rest disheartening, just in different ways. My main problem is not with lighthearted jokes between the branches about which one has better training. But I find posters like this that take it to such a level pretty ridiculous because they reduce war to nothing more than any other professional sport where you get to pick your favorite team. It skews the public opinion by trying to make people feel like the US military in question is a group of holy crusaders who can be matched by no one.

Obviously that's the intent, but I really don't care for it. I think it's shallow and cynical.

[Commissar MercZ]

Originally Posted by Mihail

I'd say it's very much alive, just merely covert propaganda which is more effective.

Yeah, that is what I was getting at. There is still a subtle influence, but it's not just at the levels that we saw with Vietnam and before.

It's just interesting from where I was seeing that even while we had the government in the run up to Iraq doing their dissemination on the dangers of WMDs and accusations of Iraqi collusion with al-Qaeda, I think people were already predisposed without this to side with the government regardless of what they were going after.

It's that sentiment I'm interested in- how people feel loyalty to their government, when they see that what the government does is in line with what they believe to be right, and it must be defended as such.