Social insecurity "echo chamber"
I just watched Robert Greenwald’s film clip, Koch Brothers Exposed, and was blown totally away at the Machiavellian operation of a brilliant, well-oiled, propaganda machine, making that of Hitler and Goebbels in comparision appear infantile and primitive. This is a propaganda machine well thought out, organized, and orchestrated. In fact, it's brilliant. Here's how it works.
First, the Koch Brothers and other corporatist interests fund millions of dollars to right-wing think tanks of economists and political scientists, as the Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, Mercatus Center, Reagan Foundation, et al, to write the script that these donors want to disseminate to the general public. These think tanks are sort of like screenwriters or script writers, composing and writing the dialogue that the donors wish to be heard by the American public.
Then attractive representatives of these think tanks, often economists and political scientists themselves, make guest appearances on media programs, such as Fox Business, Lawrence Kudlow's the Kudlow Report, Neil Cavuto’s Your World, and other Fox News outlets, reading their carefully crafted, orchestrated scripts in an effort to get the word out about the political changes that their donors desire.
The next step then is that the various media mouthpieces, such as Lawrence Ludlow, Britt Hume, Gretchen Carlson, et al, start repeating this script as if it’s gospel since it emanated from these so-called unbiased economic experts from these think tanks. This is the important segment missing in the Hitler-Goebbels propaganda strategy. These supposed news reporters and journalists contribute just that right touch of credibility and veracity and objectivity to the political propaganda. Robert Greenwald and Bernie Sanders refer to this ingenious phenomenon as the “echo chamber”.
Lastly, politicians receiving political contributions from these corporate interests then repeat almost word-for-word these carefully crafted scripts of what has been said over and over by the think tanks and the media personalities, appearing on talk shows such as “Hardball” (which in my opinion should now be renamed “Softball”), Fox News, CNN, et al, pushing onto the public the donors' political agenda: for example, last night on "Hardball", Texas' Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison just repeated their script on raising the Social Security age to Chris Matthews, who then exclaimed in his sycophant manner that she should run for President of the United States. Gosh.
It is important to note that both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels knew and proved that if one told a big lie and repeated it many times, that the majority of the general public would believe it. Goebbels further believed, demonstrated, and stated, that "the bigger the lie, the more it will be believed," as well as “the most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over." Now don't invoke Godwin's Law on me here: I am only comparing the techniques of propagandists, not the inhumanity of any corporatist to these Nazi demons.
And for those of you who would accuse me of being a pinko commie or socialist, here is my response: in my opinion, our government is a wholly owned subsidiary of large corporations, with our Congress and Presidents on the corporate payroll, with many receiving required campaign contributions of millions to be re-elected every couple of years. It is as guilty, if not even more so, than these corporations in the sabotaging of a free economy.
Recall that Adam Smith warned us about this conspiratorial, collusive "assemblies" of government and business, hindering free trade and a free market, in "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". Isn't it ironic that all of these right-wing so-called "capitalists" fail to quote Adam Smith on this finer point?
For those of you interested in seeing this excellent clip on the “Echo Chamber” phenomenon by the Brave New Foundation, please see, Counter the Koch Billions. Protect Social Security. Will you help Senator Sanders expose the Koch Echo Chamber? Video Transcript.
For Cenk Uygur’s interview of Robert Greenwald, the producer of this film, please see, Social distortion. Does the GOP suffer from social insecurity? Cenk Uygur June 22 2011 video transcript.
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The Barefoot Accountant—is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, operating an accounting, tax, and QuickBooks consulting firm in Berlin, Connecticut, Accountants CPA Hartford, Connecticut, LLC. Bill has instructed graduate and undergraduate courses in Accounting, Auditing, and other subjects at the University of Hartford, Central Connecticut State University, Hartford State Technical College, and Purdue University. He also taught GMAT and CPA Exam Review Classes at the Stanley H. Kaplan Educational Center and at Person-Wolinsky, and is certified to teach trade-related subjects at Connecticut Vocational Technical Schools. His articles on tax and accounting have been published in several professional journals as well as on several accounting websites. William was born and raised in New Britain, Connecticut, and served on the City's Board of Finance and Taxation as well as its City Plan Commission. Bill is a crazed animal lover, feeding birds, squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, possums, stray cats, and any two-legged or four-legged critter traversing through his yard. His backyard in Berlin, Connecticut has been certified as a habitat suitable for wildlife by the National Wildlife Federation.
Bill also writes an Accounting, QuickBooks, and Tax blog: Accounting, QuickBooks, and Taxes by the Barefoot Accountant. For entertaining articles, please see his listing at The Amazing Brighenti.
