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Propaganda

Major Propaganda Campaigns in History

Tools of Propaganda

Union of Concerned Scientists- Disinformation Playbook 2017

Here are five of the most widely used “plays” and some of the many cases where they have been used to block regulations or minimize corporate liability, often with frightening effectiveness—and disastrous repercussions on public health and safety. (example case studies for each are partial list)

1. The Fake - Conduct counterfeit science and try to pass it off as legitimate research

How Georgia-Pacific Knowingly Published Fake Science on the Safety of Asbestos 1)

Merck Manipulated the Science about the Drug Vioxx 2)

2. The Blitz - Harass scientists who speak out with results or views inconvenient for industry

GlaxoSmithKline Tried to Silence the Scientist Who Exposed the Dangers of its Drug Avandia 3)

Syngenta Harassed the Scientist Who Exposed Risks of its Herbicide Atrazine 4)

3. The Diversion - Manufacture uncertainty about science where little or none exists

How the American Chemistry Council Sowed Uncertainty about Formaldehyde Risks 5)

The Indoor Tanning Association Used Misleading Ad Campaigns to Distort Skin Cancer Science 6)

4. The Screen - Buy credibility through alliances with academia or professional societies

Purdue Pharma’s Use of Hospital, Academic Ties Helped Fuel Opioid Crisis 7)

Philip Morris Funds University Research—with Strings Attached 8)

How Coca-Cola Disguised Its Influence on Science about Sugar and Health 9)

Alcohol Industry Funds Government Study - In June 2018, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shut down a $100 million clinical trial comparing drinkers and non-drinkers after reports that NIH officials had solicited funding from the alcohol industry.10)

5. The Fix - Manipulate government officials or processes to inappropriately influence policy

Pfizer Pressured the FDA to Downplay the Risks of Its Arsenical Animal Drug 11)

How Dow Chemical Influenced the EPA to Ignore the Scientific Evidence on Chlorpyrifos 12) 13)

Drivers of Propaganda

Independent Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours [[SPI-B]] - UK

SPI-B provides behavioural science advice aimed at anticipating and helping people adhere to interventions that are recommended by medical or epidemiological experts.

SPI-B provides independent, expert behavioural science advice to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies SAGE, which in turn advises ministers and officials across government. 14)

SPI-B whistleblowers

Now recently, The Telegraph reported on revelations that members of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviour have openly admitted that their work in using psychology to influence the public Covid reaction was ‘unethical’ and ‘totalitarian.’

“Scientists on a committee that encouraged the use of fear to control people’s behaviour during the Covid pandemic have admitted its work was “unethical” and “totalitarian”. Members of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviour (SPI-B) expressed regret about the tactics in a new book about the role of psychology in the Government’s Covid-19 response.

SPI-B warned in March last year that ministers needed to increase “the perceived level of personal threat” from Covid-19 because “a substantial number of people still do not feel sufficiently personally threatened”. 15)

These can't all be mere slips of the tongue…can they?

Hollywood Propaganda

The film is called Theaters of War How the Pentagon and CIA Took Hollywood. The Director, Editor, and Narrator is Roger Stahl. The Co-Producers are Matthew Alford, Tom Secker, Sebastian Kaempf. They’ve provided an important public service.

In the film we see copies of and hear quotations from and analysis of much of what has been uncovered, and learn that thousands of pages exist that nobody has yet seen because the military has refused to produce them. Film producers sign contracts with the US military or CIA. They agree to “weave in key talking points.” While unknown quantities of this sort of thing remain unknown, we do know that nearly 3,000 films and many thousands of TV episodes have been given the Pentagon treatment, and many others have been handled by the CIA. In many film productions, the military effectively becomes a co-producer with veto power, in exchange for allowing the use of military bases, weapons, experts, and troops. The alternative is the denial of those things. 16)

US Government Fact Check Authorities

See also Fact-Checkers

Voice of America

It’s been a year since the U.S. government joined the ranks of Politifact, Factcheck.org and the Washington Post fact-checker in publishing dispassionate news analysis in the decisive ratings format: “true,” “false,” or “misleading.”

But its product—amplified in government-controlled foreign media environments through social media and video—focuses on what is now called “disinfo news.” It breaks down questionable statements put out by Russian officials on topics ranging from misidentified military weaponry to the Russian elite’s special privileges.

The impact is becoming apparent, according to Jim Fry, the veteran of commercial television news who is managing editor of Polygraph.info. “The VOA has never had a fact-check tool,” he said during an interview with Government Executive in Polygraph.info’s Washington shop. “We’re approaching it like a startup,” staffing up gradually, he said. “It’s exciting to try new things and see what works.”

Polygraph.info’s website says it serves as “a resource for verifying the increasing volume of disinformation and misinformation being distributed and shared globally.” Complimented by a Russian-language sister site called factograph.info, VOA’s digital editorial tool builds on the success of its year-old Russian-language television network Current Time TV. That 24/7 programming to counter Russian disinformation and Iranian censorship was recently praised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors as an example of how the larger BBG is now “at the forefront of National Security Strategy implementation.”

But in running Polygraph.info, which launched at the end of the Obama administration, Fry is careful to stress that “We’re U.S. government employees, but first and foremost, we are journalists.” The reporters and editors operate behind a legal “firewall” that shields them from direct influence by the sometimes politically disputatious broadcast agency’s top officials.

Hence, the zigs and zags of U.S. policy—from the Obama administration’s hopes for a “reset,” to tensions over Vladimir Putin’s expansionism, to Monday’s Trump administration expulsion of Russian diplomats—affect the BBG, but not its news operations, Fry said. BBG’s agenda “may affect our resources,” he acknowledged, but his reporting team doesn’t “counter disinformation,” as much as “cover it.”17)

National Endowment for Democracy - NED

Inside America’s meddling machine: NED, the US-funded org interfering in elections around the globe

Dozens of case studies featuring NED propaganda and CIA coups. 18)

NGO Propaganda History

Almost four years of mainstream media hype about “fake news” and “Russian meddling” propaganda has brought to the world exactly what they were intended to bring: an effective mechanism for internet and social media censorship.

In the center of this move toward global discourse control is an organization called the Poynter Institute, home to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), a body created to coordinate, promote and train dozens of fact-checkers from around the world.

The IFCN and many non-profits working in the same field are funded by the big capitalist “philanthropists” of our era, like George Soros, Pierre Omidyar, Bill Gates, and even the Koch brothers…but also by the US Department of State and a shady “aid” – in reality, political meddling – organization, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), historically linked to the CIA and regime change operations.

Google and Facebook – itself tied to the warmongering Atlantic Council and its “Digital Forensic Research Lab” – are also associated with Poynter, by funding and partnerships to fight “fake news” (including the development of an “automated” fact-checking program for the upcoming 2020).

The marriage between Poynter’s IFCN, politically inclined billionaires, the State Department – and the whitewashed public face of the Deep State – suggest that the institute is probably working in what Nelson Poynter, its founder, worked on for a key part of his life: propaganda and censorship for the US government…

Nelson Poynter was recruited by the OWI with his wife Henrietta, who worked as assistant program chief under Elmer Davis, head of the agency. She came up with the name for the “Voice of America”, the famous psychological war operation of the US government.

The radio project was established in February 1942 and soon grew to be the most important US overt propaganda arm of the Cold War.

Unlike his wife’s job, Poynter’s regarded not radio – or his previous line of work, journalism – but movies. In 1942, the OWI’s Bureau of Motion Pictures (BMP) set up office in Hollywood, naming Poynter as its head. His mission was to act as liaison between the agency and the owners of Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox, MGM and the other big studio names.19)

Corporate Funding

The two pioneering fact-checking organizations are affiliated with nonprofit groups. Based at the University of Pennsylvania, FactCheck.org was established by the nonprofit Annenberg Public Policy Center. Although it now accepts donations from the public, the private Annenberg Foundation has been its main benefactor, giving the project $87,502,844 since 2004.

Its competitor PolitiFact is a project of the Tampa Bay Times, which is owned by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies Inc., a 501©(3) nonprofit. According to its IRS filings, in 2014 Poynter had 51 employees, $4.7 million in revenue, a budget of $6.9 million, and $38.2 million in assets. Poynter’s president is Timothy A. Franklin, who joined the organization in 2014 after serving as managing editor of Bloomberg News in Washington, D.C.

Major philanthropies funding Poynter include the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation ($7,535,000 since 2003); Ford Foundation ($2,415,000 since 2000); Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation ($2,190,000 since 2009); Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation Inc. ($300,000 since 2013); Tides Foundation and Tides Center ($275,053 since 2008); Omidyar Network Fund Inc. ($150,000 since 2013); Carnegie Corp. of New York ($150,000 since 2009); and Annie E. Casey Foundation ($140,000 since 2006). Though FactCheck.org is the granddaddy of such websites, it has been eclipsed recently by PolitiFact in attention from mainstream media outlets, which use the two sites to supplement their reporting. 20)

Reuters - Trusted News Initiative

Thu Nov 25, 2021 | 9:33am EST UK data shows good safety of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy 21)

PolitiFact COVID Fact Check

Full collection of social media posts rated true -false with reporter who “fact-checked”

Examples-

“You are 17 times more likely to go to the hospital if you’re not vaccinated, 20 times more likely to die.” Jen Psaki stated on January 10, 2022 in a White House press briefing rated 100% TRUE By Madison Czopek • January 12, 2022

“Six-month Pfizer data show COVID vaccine causes more illness than it prevents.” Blog post rated 100% FALSE Pants on FIRE By Tom Kertscher • January 3, 2022

“When children are given vaccines for COVID-19, “a viral gene will be injected into your children's cells. This gene forces your child’s body to make toxic spike proteins. These proteins often cause permanent damage in children’s critical organs.” TikTik post rated 100% FALSE by By Monique Curet • January 6, 2022

“Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said “Two doses of the vaccine offers very limited protection, if any.” Instagram post rated 70% FALSE By Jill Terreri Ramos • January 14, 2022

If you have “natural immunity,” getting vaccinated against COVID-19 “is more likely to harm you severely.” Facebook post rated 100% FALSE by Ciara O'Rourke • January 7, 2022

“Fully vaccinated Australians in hospital for COVID-19 surpass unvaccinated” Bloggers rated 50% TRUE By Madison Czopek • January 14, 2022 22)

Global Fact Check Alliance

More than 80 fact checking organizations are calling on YouTube to address what they say is rampant misinformation on the platform. By Associated Press - Jan. 12, 2022

The fact checkers are all members of the International Fact Checking Network and include Rappler in the Philippines, Africa Check, Science Feedback in France and dozens of other groups.

They lambasted YouTube, saying it frames discussions about disinformation as a “false dichotomy” of deleting or not deleting content.

Displaying fact-checked information is more effective than deleting content, the fact checkers wrote. 23)

Propaganda Professionals for Hire

How PR Giant Publicis Promotes Greed, Deception on Behalf of World’s Most Powerful

The vast activities of the Publicis Groupe demonstrate how the tentacles of greed, profit and privilege connect the catastrophic agendas of the most powerful enterprises on Earth.

With headquarters in France, divisions in many countries around the world and decades of global experience in handling people, minimizing crisis and marketing products, the Publicis Groupe continually upgrades its methodologies.

Using sophisticated social psychology and incorporating the cutting edge of artificial intelligence, Publicis PR experts are masters of damage control, the manipulation of words and people, and of selling the unsellable.

Some of the largest, most prominent clients within these “solution hubs” and “partners” include-

The World Economic Forum, proponents of the so-called Great Reset. The U.S. government, including the General Services Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Institutes of Health. Phillip Morris International, makers of Marlboro cigarettes. Newsguard, a media company with intelligence community support, advising news websites on claimed objectivity. Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a politically driven service consistently attacking anyone who raises questions about vaccine efficacy or safety. Facebook and Tik-Tok. PepsiCo, producer of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay snack foods. Audi, Mercedes Benz and Toyota, Peugeot, Citroën and the Stellantis Group of automakers, including Fiat, Chrysler, Opel/Vauxhall, Maserati, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Jeep Dodge. Google. Amazon. Disney. CitiBank, Bank of America, Visa. Microsoft Corporation. Saudi Aramco, the government-owned oil company and most profitable business in the world. Monsanto, controversial producer and proponent of GMOs and pesticides,and a subsidiary of Bayer. Walmart, Rite Aid and CVS Health (owners of Target pharmacies), all of which are major sales points for COVID vaccines. GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Abbott, Allergan, Merck, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Bayer, and other pharmaceutical giants, including Purdue Pharmaceuticals, makers of Oxycontin.

Publicis’ third-largest mutual fund holder is Vanguard, an investment giant that provides capital for a broad range of companies, including those producing military weaponry and having poor environmental records. Vanguard is also the largest investor in Big Media and Big Pharma 24)

Mapping CFR Media

Swiss Policy Research 25)

In a column entitled “Ruling Class Journalists”, former Washington Post senior editor and ombudsman Richard Harwood described the Council and its members approvingly as “the nearest thing we have to a ruling establishment in the United States”.

Harwood continued: “The membership of these journalists in the Council, however they may think of themselves, is an acknowledgment of their active and important role in public affairs and of their ascension into the American ruling class. They do not merely analyze and interpret foreign policy for the United States; they help make it. () They are part of that establishment whether they like it or not, sharing most of its values and world views.”

Vaccine Side Effects One in a Million

updated April 13, 2021 26)

Marshall McLuhan

A January 18, 2022 long form article in Quillette27) cites the 1962 publication of The Gutenberg Galaxy28) by Marshall McLuhan as something of a turning point.

“McLuhan’s impact on journalism was significant. His message was that all the techniques and values of Victorian liberal journalism should be discarded. The old-fashioned search for truth, using the tools of balance, objectivity, and impartiality, no longer applied.”

And from later in the same article;

“McLuhan concludes that the informational content of a message should be disregarded because it was an illusion. Like the indistinct chant of a Latin Mass in a 14th century cathedral, it was not the individual words that had meaning, but the totality of the experience that mattered—the noise, the smell of incense, the desire to believe. What presented itself as factual content was merely a theatrical flourish, a dramatic sound effect or a puff of smoke in a magician's performance.”

US Government Propaganda Ban Removed

Early Morning Thoughts, June 14, 2019 - Highlander Juan 29)

The Horrible Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 (SMMA)

I keep forgetting to focus on this un-American act perpetrated on the American people by the US Congress, which is now largely controlled by political Zionists. Basically, the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 (SMMA) allows the US Government to treat the American people as enemies of the state – just as they would treat a foreign enemy. Does that help explain why we are having so many problems with government these days? Let me explain from a layman’s legal perspective what I am referring to here.

The SMMA started out as H. R. 5736 on May 10, 2012 for the declared purpose “To amend the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 to authorize the domestic dissemination of information and material about the United States intended primarily for foreign audiences, and for other purposes.” 30)

Interestingly enough, section 208 part (b), relating to “Domestic Distribution of Program Material” says

“Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors from engaging in any medium or form of communication, either directly or indirectly, because a United States domestic audience is or may be thereby exposed to program material, or based on a presumption of such exposure.”

The almost un-American ACLU views this as a positive step in supporting the First Amendment ‘freedom of speech.’ Really??? That’s a tough spin on the subject. I won’t go into details here, but I’ll post a link to their website article dated May 25, 2012. It may be worthwhile to note, however, that one commenter on the ACLU website has written “Taking the position that I pay for the government to lie me legally is suicide and wrong. This position of support for this by the ACLU is vile.” 31) 32)

The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, was eventually buried within the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (section 1078 (a)), passed into public law, effective on January 2, 2013, and the SMMA portion amended the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1987, allowing for materials produced by the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to be available within the United States. [Emphasis mine] 33) 34)

And hence the problem for Americans. How so, you ask? Well, let’s consider and recall all of the government spawned psyops and false flag attacks that have been made against the American people in recent years. And yes, I realize there are still Americans who believe that their own ‘crazy uncles’ are using those darned ‘military’ guns and are shooting up schools and killing the poor defenseless neighbor’s kids. That’s what the government wants us to believe and to remember, because the DC political neocons, those war mongering fools who are so willing to arm and wage military wars against the rest of the world, really want to disarm the American people. And that’s the truth.

SEC. 208. CLARIFICATION ON DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION OF PROGRAM MATERIAL
  • (a) In General- No funds authorized to be appropriated to the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors shall be used to influence public opinion in the United States. This section shall apply only to programs carried out pursuant to the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.), the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.), the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act (22 U.S.C. 1465 et seq.), and the Television Broadcasting to Cuba Act (22 U.S.C. 1465aa et seq.). This section shall not prohibit or delay the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors from providing information about its operations, policies, programs, or program material, or making such available, to the media, public, or Congress, in accordance with other applicable law.
  • (b) Rule of Construction- Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors from engaging in any medium or form of communication, either directly or indirectly, because a United States domestic audience is or may be thereby exposed to program material, or based on a presumption of such exposure.
  • Such material may be made available within the United States and disseminated, when appropriate, pursuant to sections 502 and 1005 of the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. 1462 and 1437), except that nothing in this section may be construed to authorize the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors to disseminate within the United States any program material prepared for dissemination abroad on or before the effective date of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012. [Emphasis mine]

Here is the text of 22 USC 1461-1a

  • 22 U.S. Code § 1461–1a – Clarification on domestic distribution of program material
  • Current through Pub. L. 114-38. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)
  • (a) In general
  • No funds authorized to be appropriated to the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors shall be used to influence public opinion in the United States. This section shall apply only to programs carried out pursuant to the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.), the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.), the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act (22 U.S.C. 1465 et seq.), and the Television Broadcasting to Cuba Act (22 U.S.C. 1465aa et seq.). This section shall not prohibit or delay the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors from providing information about its operations, policies, programs, or program material, or making such available, to the media, public, or Congress, in accordance with other applicable law.
  • (b) Rule of construction
  • Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors from engaging in any medium or form of communication, either directly or indirectly, because a United States domestic audience is or may be thereby exposed to program material, or based on a presumption of such exposure. Such material may be made available within the United States and disseminated, when appropriate, pursuant to sections 502 and 1005 of the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. 1462 and 1437), except that nothing in this section may be construed to authorize the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors to disseminate within the United States any program material prepared for dissemination abroad on or before the effective date of section 1078 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013.
  • © Application
  • The provisions of this section shall apply only to the Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors and to no other department or agency of the Federal Government.
  • See this link for original text 35)

“note the statute posted above covers the 12 year rule. It talks about the BBG having to provide the National Archives with materials disseminated abroad before the date the NDAA of 2013 was signed in law by the POTUS within 12 years of them being disseminated. 36)

Targeted Vaccine Propaganda - Civis Analytics

Almost a year after the first COVID-19 vaccines came to market at historic speed, nearly 34% of the eligible U.S. population (those 12 years of age and older) remains fully unvaccinated. In many communities, the number is much higher.

In stark contrast to early 2021, when a vaccine appointment was coveted by many and the primary challenge was meeting public demand, vaccination rates across the U.S. have largely plateaued. This pattern is typical of many public health outreach campaigns. An influx of early adopters eager to embrace a product or service causes uptake rates to surge, but soon adoption begins to taper. Not long after that, campaigns run into the most challenging phase; reaching the last few people.

Over the last year, Civis conducted several COVID-19 vaccine message tests to understand what message themes were most persuasive, and which might backfire. In the spring of 2021, before the Delta variant emerged in the U.S. and when vaccine mandates had not yet been implemented, we found that messages highlighting experiences that are off-limits to unvaccinated individuals (such as concerts or international travel) or emphasizing personal choice were most persuasive.

  • Personal Story” used a true story posted to social media by an Alabama physician describing unvaccinated patients under her care dying of COVID and begging to be vaccinated.
  • “Patriotism” positioned the vaccines as an example of American ingenuity, trumpeting vaccination as the ultimate expression of freedom, liberty, and country.
  • “Personal Decision” emphasized that it’s normal to have questions about the vaccine, encouraged learning more, and positioned vaccination as a person’s individual choice.
  • “Protecting Children” described the rise in COVID among children and emphasized that when adults get vaccinated, this helps protect children, especially those under 12 years of age who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.
  • “Financial Costs” reinforced that a severe case of COVID-19 can be expensive and that vaccination can help avoid financial burden.
  • The final group (the control group) saw no message.37)

Medical Freedom Activist Smears

NBC News -January 21, 2022 Among the scheduled speakers is Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist who has recently emerged as a new leader of the anti-vaccination movement after appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast in December. Malone, who is president of the Pandemic Health Alliance, the organization soliciting donations for the rally, has pushed anti-Covid vaccine talking points, including tweeting a retracted study falsely claiming Covid vaccines caused a substantial number of deaths. He has instead repeatedly advocated for the use of ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that the Food and Drug Administration does not consider an effective treatment against Covid.

Anti-vaccine groups on Telegram have also pushed local “Defeat the Mandates” rallies planned for Sunday in several cities, including Denver and Sacramento, California. Some of the events have been amplified on Telegram by members of extremist groups like the Proud Boys, with one account adding that the event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, would feature a “mask burning.”

Kolina Koltai, a postdoctoral fellow who researches the anti-vaccine movement at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, said the D.C. event was bringing together some of the most high-profile anti-vaccine activists.

“It’s a who’s who of grifters and people who made a profit off the pandemic,” she said

Though the event has been mostly marketed as opposing vaccine mandates, organizers on Facebook have been quick to promote their links with anti-vaccine organizations, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense fund, with a group of doctors who recommended and prescribed treatments such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine instead of Covid vaccines in the last year.

Aaron Simpson, a spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said in an email; “Voicing opposition to government mandates is not against Meta’s policies. What we don’t allow is content that promotes harmful false claims about the vaccines themselves and we remove those posts — including in this group. We continue to focus on promoting vaccination, and the data shows that 86% of Facebook users in the US report having been or wanting to be vaccinated against COVID-19. We’ll continue monitoring our platform and will enforce against any content that violates our policies.”38)

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