NOVANEWS
by Ariadna Theokopoulos
Attenuated News—The New Propaganda
Maybe pretty posters will come back ….
In a dialog about Facebooks’ censorship, Barb Weir posted an interesting video from the Onion which facetiously claimed that Facebook is a tool of the CIA. The satire implies that such a claim is absurd.
The Onion, for those unfamiliar with it, is an online satirical publication which fulfills the same role that shows like Daily News with Jon Stewart do on American television. They target “leftists,” “progressives,” and what I would call “irreverent Democrats.” Those are diehard Democrats enthralled with their own capacity for “critical thinking,” which they prove to themselves by taking playful bites at Obama and the Democrat party.
Their self-induced ecstasy provoked by their independent thinking never gets out of hand, however. In their fast and fancy footwork they never lose balance and tread over the demarcation line by touching on such taboos as the highjacking of American foreign policy by Israel or Jewish power. No, they are not bigots!
I consider this video from the Onion, satirizing the idea that Facebook is a tool of the CIA, emblematic for what can well be a breakthrough in propaganda methods.
Goebbels, even hasbara, are so last century!
Why be secretive about your covert machinations and when rumors start circulating attempt to combat them by denial and fabrication, when you can do prophylactic propaganda? The revolutionary approach that can truly change the face of the propaganda is based on two simple rules:
- Get in front of the news by stating facts, true and unaltered, BUT
- Present them in a satirical way so that the public discounts them.
“Hey, have you heard about the one about attack on the US embassy in Lybia being a false flag operation?”
“Yeah, it cracked me up. I saw a video on Onion. Those guys are funny!”
“Did you see last night’s episode on Daily News in which Jon Stewart makes fun of Romney and Obama competing for the Jewish vote?”
“No, but I heard it’s a hoot. You know, exaggeration is the essential ingredient of comedy. Stewart is so crazy. He had me in stitches.”
Like all great ideas, this new approach to lying by telling the truth in between guffaws and one liners only makes you wonder: What took them so long?
Pre-emptive wars require pre-emptive propaganda. “The best lie is the truth” (but articulated between howls of laughter).
Inoculate disbelief and chuckles in the news and they will no longer pose the threat of a reaction or contagion.
Turn the news into an attenuated virus to which those exposed are already immunized if they stumble on facts.
Re facebook being CIA
