Journalism class stuff, SBVFT...

From Journalism Class
That seems like a good start for a post I'm just wasting time writing in for the hell of it. Heh. Anyway, we "examined" the top stories from last nights Channel 4 broadcast, which was kinda interesting but also textbook propoganda, especially on several topics.

First up was the Prison Abuse hearings. Conveniently no one high ranking is implicated for the "good ol American ball fryin fun". Heh. I'm stuck between my opinion that since behind the scenes it would be all to easy for the Pentagon and White House to have authorized it, and the notion that maybe it really was just a few "rotten apples". If that's the case, how many more of our service personnel over there will we have who do something like that when they have the time and the inclination?

And then there was more blasting of the FDA's crap about getting the same drugs for less from Canada, which is oh so predictable because of the lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industries in our corporate controlled government. What matters is their profits, not making people's lives easier by making things fit in price with their income.

And then there was one story, not on the matter of textbook propoganda, but more about selectivity. They covered the story of a man who happened to get stuck on the same road that a friend of his died on in a car crash -- his friend and her whole family. And they go on and on about how oh so freakin good the three family members were... and then they mention two people died in the other car but did not even mention their names. What a service to the other two victims who should be included because they were killed to.

Blah, I could go really crazy about media and propoganda and corporate and political influence and manipulation, but, no thanks. Won't do any good any how.

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"Guardian" article excerpt on Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
I found when browsing the stories on "Guardian Unlimited", and this one appeared on the Republican section for the election, titled "Why America is still fighting the battles of Mekong Delta".

...
The truth behind Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is not simple. It appears to be a classic case of a 'surrogate' attack of the kind that has long been used by both sides.

It is essentially using another group to raise the issues that the Bush campaign dare not address directly. In CIA-speak, this gives the campaign itself 'plausible deniability' for saying it has nothing to do with the issue while ensuring plenty of headlines.

- meanwhile the seemingly less controversial Moveon.org, another 527 ad, has a shit load of ads, which, comparred to the SBVFT ones, are a lot "better" in production, at least one that I checked out on the C-span website earlier this year was pretty humorous.

On the face of it, SBVFT is a collection of Vietnam veterans with a grudge against Kerry, especially over his anti-war activities when he threw away his battle ribbons.

They complain that Kerry let down Vietnam veterans after the war by criticising the conflict and detailing atrocities that took place in Vietnam.

- This would seem to be the meat of the issue, amid all the other crap mixed in such as the group members own inconsistencies on the record about the Swift Boat incident: Bitterness, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are purposely lying because of that hatred or easily bribed into it because it conforms to their negative feeling on the matter.

From the latest ad I must cite this bit of it:
KERRY:...razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan...
PAUL GALANTI: John Kerry gave the enemy for free, what I and many of my comrades, in the North Vietnamese prison camps, took torture to avoid saying. It demoralized us.
KERRY: ...crimes committed on a day to day basis...
CORDIER: He betrayed us in the past, how could we be loyal to him now?

- Read that very carefully, they seem to be mad over the fact, based on the Kerry quotes they have in the ad, that he blew the whistle on "imoral" activities being conducted by the Armed Forces in Vietnam -- namely civilian murders. I'd say it takes some balls to stand against a war when you fought in it, and saw what went on, and heard from personel over there what was going on, and tell something remotely more honest than the typical government pro-war propoganda.

It seems that they didn't like being exposed, either that or they're saying that he's a liar and that no Americans ever purposely shot any of the civilians that ended up dead and I'm just reading too much into their statements mixed with those of Kerry's 71' testimony. But to say that the military and the people in it are completely innocent and incapable of "wrong doing" is a pretty ignorant viewpoint, but common place in our society.

And... in all fairness, The Republicans needed their own prominent "527" group to counter MoveOn.org, which has been hammering Bush since around when Dean was still the Democratic frontrunner, and because the Dems have out raised them in money for that.

...And I'm always really skeptical when what is being said is advertised as the "Truth". Mainly because of how easily it could be a lie.