Back in the dark days of World War II, the
man who would become
Dr. Seuss was in the business of military propaganda . One of the characters he created was
Private Snafu.
Private Snafu was an animated depiction of a bumbling soldier in military training films, whose voice sounded suspiciously close to
Bugs Bunny'
s. Warner Bros. animation studios produced the cartoons with the talents of
Mel Blanc,
Chuck Jones, and
Bob Clampett.
Private Snafu has been discussed here
previously but now you can watch some of the original cartoons on
youtube and download them
here! (unfortunately, I am still unable to locate the awesomely-titled
"Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike")
posted by elr
on Aug 23, 2006 -
9 comments
Ava Lowery is a 15 year old master of flash-based propaganda, and burgeoning media sensation. Lowery's clips (especially
this one but also ones like
this and
this (more
here)), have been described as mere facile emotionalism. Others however regard her work as courageous and truthful. She was enlisted to express
the soul of the movement for the recent Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas. One thing's for sure: Lowery's method of story telling leaves traditional media
confused and bewildered.
posted by washburn
on Jun 29, 2006 -
113 comments
The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed. "The Bush administration invaded Iraq claiming Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger. As much of Washington knew, and the world soon learned, the charge was false. Worse, it appears to have been the cornerstone of a highly successful 'black propaganda' campaign with links to the White House."
(Via Sic Semper Tyrannis.)
posted by homunculus
on Jun 7, 2006 -
24 comments
Why We Fight, the BBC documentary from
Eugene Jarecki about the American military-industrial complex and its origins (
trailer@apple). For some reason its up in full at Google Video, so if you didn't get a chance to see it in the theaters, well, here it is! 1hr,40m - save it for later, perhaps. It's named after a
series of war propaganda newsreels, directed by Frank Capra, demonstrating the need to enter WWII. These too are
available on GV, as well as archive.org - to your surprise and delight. And for your convenience: Reels
One,
Two,
Three,
Four, Five parts
1 and
2,
Six, and
Seven
posted by BlackLeotardFront
on May 6, 2006 -
54 comments
Their view is that psyops can be directed toward global transregional audiences. My view is that that’s not possible because it directs psyops against our own friends and allies and even at our own public. ... In Mind Games, Columbia Journalism Review thoroughly examines the disintegrating lines between Public Affairs, Psy-Ops, IO, the public, and the truth. Some old friends are mentioned too: the
Lincoln Group, the
Rendon Group, the Pentagon, our own media, and others.
If truth is our greatest weapon, as Rumsfeld has said, how can the administration hope to prevail in an information war when it is not honest with itself?
posted by amberglow
on May 1, 2006 -
21 comments
Education for Death. (YouTubefilter.) Disney-produced
anti-Nazi cartoon short from 1943. Look for Hitler's Satanic horns. More weirdness from WWII: Warner Bros
Snafuperman, starring Pvt. Snafu (originally created by Dr. Seuss!), who also deals with
spies, all while jabbering away in a voice that sounds disconcertingly like that of a certain cwazy wabbit. From Archive. org -- Pvt. Snafu learns about
booby traps, in one case literally. Bugs himself joined the Air Force, and was faced with
gremlins for his trouble. Superman himself got in on the act, battling
Japoteurs. After all, during the War we were plenty worried about those canny
Japanese.
posted by Astro Zombie
on Mar 23, 2006 -
26 comments
Despotism. In 1946,
Encyclopedia Britannica and
Harold Lasswell produced an educational film about the nature of Despotism. Calls to mind contemporary examples of despotism, and (in view of Lasswell's own views on the subject) raises some interesting questions about the uses and misuses of persuasion and propaganda.
Film link via the
Prelinger Archive, previously discussed
here).
posted by washburn
on Mar 16, 2006 -
8 comments
I just watched the chilling video of a
sniper [Flash, NSFW] in Iraq on TV. It was given to Paul McGeough of the
Sydney Morning Herald and published on their site. As discussed on The ABC
Lateline programme (transcript not available at posting time but pretty much covered by the SMH). Please read the report to put the video in perspective. It's propaganda but...
posted by tellurian
on Feb 14, 2006 -
99 comments
an example of Operation Homefront? --this news report about a Reservist back from Iraq is apparently part of a new
Pentagon propaganda operation aimed at us.
...Did Diaz return to the U.S. on emergency leave with an agenda -- to offer a positive spin that could help counter growing concerns among Americans about the U.S. exit strategy? How do we know that's not his strategy, especially after he discloses that superior officers encouraged him to talk about his experiences in Iraq? ...
posted by amberglow
on Jan 4, 2006 -
91 comments
Nazi swing music from the 30s. FMU's terrific blog presents mp3s of songs by Charlie and His Orchestra, a big band assembled by Hitler's minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, to spread the Nazi message abroad even while trying to stamp out jazz and swing domestically.
"Leave it to Goebbels to take the music of The Andrews Sisters, Paul Whiteman and Irving Berlin and fill it with venomous rants against Jews, America and the British."
Vol. 1 is here. Some
history. And now I want to see
this movie about the band.
via BB
posted by CunningLinguist
on Dec 10, 2005 -
20 comments
The Rendon Group --
covert perception managers using our taxpayer money to start wars.
... the product of a clandestine operation -- part espionage, part PR campaign -- that had been set up and funded by the CIA and the Pentagon for the express purpose of selling the world a war. ... it was hired by the CIA to help "create the conditions for the removal of Hussein from power." Working under this extraordinary transfer of secret authority, Rendon assembled a group of anti-Saddam militants, personally gave them their name -- the Iraqi National Congress -- and served as their media guru and "senior adviser" as they set out to engineer an uprising against Saddam. ... Rolling Stone thoroughly documents the way we pay to be lied into war and one of the people who do it. From Noriega and Panama through to Chalabi, Miller, al-Haideri, Bush, and you.
posted by amberglow
on Nov 19, 2005 -
38 comments
British public information films. A couple of months back, there was a
post about an online exhibition of British propaganda films from WWII. Now, the UK National Archives, who appear to be slowly working their way through the decades, have posted some public information films from the 40s and 50s. BBC News
discusses the history of public information films, particularly the famous "Coughs and sneezes spread diseases" (available in Windows Media (sigh)
here).
My favourite is
this optimistic look at how the new towns developed after the war were going to be just *great*. I grew up in a new town -
Hemel Hempstead. Let's just say it
didn't quite work out that way.
posted by athenian
on Oct 24, 2005 -
2 comments
Weasel words 'Spare Don Watson, author of Death Sentences from all of these weasely, wishy-washy, and worst of all, ugly bits of management-speak that have drifted out of consulting sessions and into the social realm.' Forbes.com.....................
Your favourite
spin doctoring ?
posted by johnny7
on Sep 6, 2005 -
31 comments
CENTCOM trolls for a blogger to help with the propaganda--but he picks Jesus' General --
I am a Public Affairs Officer writing from US Central Command. I would like to inquire about the possibility of you posting a link to our web site. I see that you are covering a lot of different types of stories in a lot of countries. I would like to get some of the stories out that are happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa. ...
Gen. JC Christian, patriot, of course responds with an even better idea, and cc:s Pat Robertson.
posted by amberglow
on Aug 25, 2005 -
20 comments
Japanese Propaganda from WWII I've seen & been fascinated by a fair amount of Allied propaganda from the second World War, including an exhibit at the Smithsonian a decade back, but this is the first bit of "enemy" propaganda I can remember running across. It's a pamphlet detailing Japan's plans for a better future. Another piece, "Farewell American Soldiers" piece which was leafleted to the troops is in English and is particularly chilling.
posted by jonson
on Aug 15, 2005 -
34 comments
