Open Thread - Thurs 20 April 2023: The Disinformation War
The Disinformation War
One of the current events-heists-rigamarole-stunts-etc being pulled on Americans is the war on disinformation (or information) - whatever disinformation (or information) is. I say that, because disinformation seems to vary in meaning depending upon whatever political entity is speaking. I've certainly learned a lot about how to detect and disregard disinformation (of all sorts and kinds) from the people here at Caucus 99% who bring such disinformation to our attention and discuss it, for which I'm very grateful.
About a month ago, Matt Taibbi published an interview with Jacob Siegel (the interview is locked for non-subscribers, unfortunately). who has written a very long article on the disinformation (or information), campaign called 'A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century: Thirteen ways of looking at disinformation'. The article is very long, but well worth the read! Lookout mentioned the article in the last Weekly Watch on Sunday, and Snoopydawg has been reading and commenting on the article too!
Siegel's Article image - unfair to crows or ravens but pretty nonetheless :), Click on it for another link to the article!
Siegel's prologue says in part:
The American press, once the guardian of democracy, was hollowed out to the point that it could be worn like a hand puppet by the U.S. security agencies and party operatives.
What happened to the press and to America and Americans as a whole would seem to be a tragedy but
what has taken place is not a tragedy but something closer to a crime. Disinformation is both the name of the crime and the means of covering it up; a weapon that doubles as a disguise.The crime is the information war itself, which was launched under false pretenses and by its nature destroys the essential boundaries between the public and private and between the foreign and domestic, on which peace and democracy depend. By conflating the anti-establishment politics of domestic populists with acts of war by foreign enemies, it justified turning weapons of war against Americans citizens. It turned the public arenas where social and political life take place into surveillance traps and targets for mass psychological operations. The crime is the routine violation of Americans’ rights by unelected officials who secretly control what individuals can think and say.
The article goes into this crime in depth, how we've been controlled from Russophobia to Russiagate, to the 'War on Terror', to Trump, to Hunter's Laptop (and disappearance of that in the media), to Covid and more. When you've got time, maybe a lot of time because it's long like I said, give it a look and see what you think!
Here's an interview with Siegel that Useful Idiots did (Lookout posted it as well on Sunday 
):
To add to the topic of this post, Caitlin just published (yesterday) an article about the Biden DOJ going after 4 members of a political party the government doesn't like for using their free speech rights: Biden DOJ Indicts Four Americans For "Weaponized" Free Speech. More of the same, more of the same 
Caitlin writes:
You can't have your government dictating what speech is valid and what counts as "agitprop" and "disinformation", because they'll always define those terms in ways which benefit the government, thus giving more power to the powerful and taking power away from the people.
And I think she is spot on.
So, thanks for reading and here's the open thread - and remember, everything is interesting when you're diving into it, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Welcome!
Hope your day is going great, and your upcoming weekend rocks! Yesterday, Wednesday, we had a pause in the rain so both me and my husband worked hours outside. He is getting new supports for the tomatoes going. Me, I planted currants, weeded, and more. Kinda wiped out now, but today, Thursday, it's supposed to rain again. I guess we'll get a break whether we want one or not! And if it doesn't rain, well, there's tons more to do outside!
What's up with you? How's your day going? What are you learning about the world around us? Let us know in the comments!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning...
The ministry of truth is a flawed concept if the first amendment still has meaning (which is questionable).
First Amendment
The government has become a corporate puppet of the elite, and I don't see a way out. Jimmy interviewed a veteran who suggest moving the conversation to the state level. Might be a better approach?
RFK, Jr is calling it out too.
I just hope he's given a hearing. I know TPTB will do their best to sideline him and his message.
Well thanks for the OT and ponderings on disinformation.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good videos!
I too, don't really see a way out of the government being a puppet of the elite. I just don't. People have to get more riled up, I think. But, I dunno. Can that even affect change now?
I like the idea of taking things to a state level. That will, undoubtedly, possibly break up the USA into several parts, but that's ok in a way.
As for RFK Jr, I'm cautiously approving. Been burned too many times to be all in, but I'm warily hopeful.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I always learn lots when you do!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I'm glad Christine Ahn responded
...to a propaganda piece in the NY Times trying to dress up the capitulation of South Korea's president to Japanese demands as a "reconciliation." The original piece which I read before it went back behind the paywall, was completely deceptive bs from the US illusion factory of how things are in East Asia and South Korea specifically. The title of the article was I love the country I was taught to hate. Chistine Ahn's response was published in the Times as well and was uploaded in the images in her tweet.
Unlike other NY Times articles addressing Korean issues, I didn't see this hack opinion piece getting any replay in South Korea. At least not in my headline browsing I think even the most reactionary media in South Korea could predict that this essentially pro-humiliation piece would only further enrage the South Korean public against the current administration's obsequious foreign policy. "Get over it" is the idiom Dep. Sec. State, Wendy Sherman, used in criticizing South Korea. So the column was mostly a sales job, to convince the neoliberal class in NYC and elsewhere in the US, that South Korea is coming around to seeing Japan, in particular, and East Asia in general from the perspective of the US and Japan. Newsflash- it isn't. International agreements with Japan that are extremely unpopular in South Korea only serve to destabilize the administration that signed them. In the dreamworld in which US policy makers live - the South Koreans have "gotten over it." Only they haven't.
Christine Ahn posted this retweet as well:
Expert in nuclear warfare breaks down what is necessary for de-escalation
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/04/12/exp-nuclear-expert-future-in...
Lt Gen Leaf's opinion appeared in the NY Times March 29. (I know how nuclear war is waged...).
Thanks for your focus on the disinformation war Sima. I'm going to take a longer look at all of the links you posted in between errands.
語必忠信 行必正直
How very like the US, its political classes, military,
and much of its populace to resignedly concede that, since everything else failed, we might have to give up on conquest/regime change and try peace. Sadly, of course, that position is an outlier and our politicians and pentagon are sure to think that there are still strategms we haven't used. For example, we could re-visit biological and chemical warfare, we're no doubt much better at it now than we were the first time we tried it, etc. In short, I doubt his opinion will get much traction at the higher levels here.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I sadly have to admit...
I have not paid much attention to what the US media is saying about South Korea and Japan. To read what you've posted is shocking and... I dunno, so sad too. I do know this, I was taught, as a white, now 60 year old woman, from the west coast of the USA, that South Korea has every legitimate right to distrust and dislike Japan. Gah. TPTB are manipulating history now. Go Christine Ahn!
As for nuclear war, we've got to just say NO - from General to Private, from CEO (never gonna happen) to floor sweeper. Thanks for the great comment!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
We are one humanity
But tptb don't want it that way
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Exaxctly, we are one humanity!
I don't think we can escape our animalness though. I wish we could. But we are set up to 'other' and dislike people for whatever reason. My mom always jokes, if three people are wrecked on an island, and they are exactly the same, two will join together and hate on the third for whatever reason. Maybe the third woke up one day closer to a piece of fruit than the other two. Hate the third person for that!
I also agree that TPTB won't accept it even if everyone else wants us all to just be one humanity. After all, TPTB are better, their own humanity, right? That's why they are TPTB (according to them).
I love the video you posted here. I hope we can overcome the 'divide and rule' push!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Hmmm…..
Welp it’s a good thing that Russia still ferries our astronauts to the space station. I just want to know if Bezos and Musk had to pay for any of the space information that we the people paid NASA to accumulate for decades or did they just get it? Remember a few years ago congress gave Bezos $10 million so he could take rich people on joy rides to space. Wasn’t he the richest man in America at the time? Then we got $1,400 - $600 that Biden promised us.
This flight kinda resembles what America is turning into. It kinda looks like we are going backwards from the days that we put men on the moon. Or did we….?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
The flight does resemble what ...
America is becoming, very perceptive Snoopydawg. The video made me weep a bit, in memories I think. When I was a little kid and part of the crowd screaming in joy for the astronauts to walk on the moon. How proud I was that my Dad made a super tiny bit of the moon rover. The horror when the Challenger blew up...
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Profound
He certainly nails what has happened to the corporate media since the days when they tried to hold the government accountable to the people. It’s definitely a long slog through his essay and he makes some great points. I think I enjoyed Patrick Lawrence's essay on it more just because the other is so long. You can find it in my comment link Sima posted.
I’m getting a kick out of the media hyperventilating about the journalist that Russia arrested after they have stayed silent on all the whistleblowers Obama persecuted and especially their silence on what is happening to Julian Assange! Lots of the people who wrote about what Assange posted on got rewarded and rewards for it, but they have now abandoned him! Grumble in a loud voice!
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
As soon as I saw the first story about the ...
American journalist arrested in Russia I thought about Assange. It's so hypocritical what we are doing. But then, it's government, it's the powers that be, and they always do this, don't they? And the people get hoodwinked and when they finally learn they were hookwinked, they don't care, because another 'crisis' is on the horizon.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Finally able to dive deep into the Patrick Lawrence story...
You are right, it's really, really good. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I’m glad you enjoyed it
He is one of my favorite writers and I need to remember to look at his work more often. Gah the stupid Russia gate saga is still ongoing and has infected so many people’s brains. I don’t know if the people who swallowed it will ever shuck off their brainwashing.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Good afternoon Sima. Mucho errands this am.
The Press was indeed very different in days of yore, but all the same, for every Pentagon Papers there were multiple editors and owners who worked tirelessly to cover up or fail to disclose government wrongdoing and lies. Like much else, it is all a matter of degree. Things have devolved and we have more or less let it by placidly accepting the results instead of demanding better.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hope the errands went well!
You are right, in that we have always been like this, to one degree or another. It's the way the rich or whoever, rule the rest of us, isn't it? I wonder, if we could understand other animals' languages, if it's the way the wolf pack leader controls the other wolves? Or the alpha gorilla controls the others? Or... I dunno, the queen ant controls the worker ants?
Ok, I doubt it, about the ants :).
I agree, demand better! It's what we've got to do!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
After a nuclear war, everybody will have free speech.
It looks to me like the West is heading to starting a nuclear war with either China or Russia. But agreement must be created in the populace to allow the elites and political leadership to start one in the name of various abstractions. Censorship is vital to achieve that consent from the masses.
Michael Tracy has been asutute on the building of approval for nuclear war.
And this...
These are not games like soccer or rugby
they are a mobilization of forces to do a rehearsal for an engagement
war games would better be titled 'practice' for an eventuality
A type of encouraging support for another assault against the 'enemy'
Defund the Pentagon
question everything
Defund the Pentagon!
Boy, if I put a sticker that said that on my car, around here, I'd get shot. (Live very close to a bunch of Navy bases on the Puget Sound). Maybe I'll put a sticker that says that on my roof :).
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Approval for nuclear war...
As these people insane? Go Michael Tracey!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so