It still astounds me how dangerous propaganda is just allowed to run rampant in this country

[ProfessorPlum]

Should I even be surprised any more?

I was once having an email conversation with a conservative. This was shortly after Obama's election, and coincidentally around the same time the debt and deficit suddenly had become very important to conservatives. He was complaining about the deficit and blaming it on Obama. Remember, this was right after the world global economy had collapsed from fraud in the housing market, and Bush's two mostly off-the-books wars had drained the treasury.

Anyway, I found a site that had the debt figures for all of the presidents from Carter to Obama. I calculated the amounts added to the debt under each term, being careful to use the fiscal year cutoffs for budgets that had been signed by each president. I was able to show that by year, the GOP presidents WAY outspent Carter and Clinton, and that the Bush's between them were by far the drunken sailors of spending.

He finally admitted the numbers were correct, I guess, but continued to rant about Obama's reckless spending. It was clear his anger was being fueled by Fox "news" and other right wing sources. Finally I asked him, "those people are LYING to you. Doesn't that make you angry"? It didn't, of course. He was happy to be lied to.

Conservatives and authoritarians rely on their followers not being able to tell lies from the truth, not identifying sources that constantly lie to them, believing whatever bucket of chum is served up to their gullible maws.

Which is why what happened last week was so chilling.

The president's spokesliar stood in front of a room full of reporters and said that Iran had committed "hostile actions" against "our navy vessel".

It turns out that by "Iran", he really meant rebels in Yemen. And by "our navy vessel" he meant a Saudi Arabian ship. This is the kind of lie and misdirection that starts wars under false pretense. And I think back to my emails with my conservative friend, who couldn't tell or didn't care that he was being lied to, and realize that there is very little we can do to hold up the truth.

[BSdetect]

1. Gulf of Tonkin?

Its not new lying.

Its been practiced for decades.

Attacking HRC suceeded with people parroting that she was not popular over and over.

And I call out msnbc for that as much as anyone.

Psych Ops.

[RKP5637]

2. This brand of conservatism and authoritarianism is really IMO a mental condition captivated

by those exploiting it for political gain.

[KittyWampus]

7. It's been said about 25% of populations are Authoritarian to start with... and above that

I am going to suppose there's a significant percent that is pre-disposed to that dynamic and get pushed into the "red" by Rush, Hannity, FOX, Breitbart and InfoWars.

[RKP5637]

10. Definitely! n/t

[KittyWampus]

11. This is why I play devil's advocate when topic of limiting hate speech in America comes up.

It won't happen practically speaking. But a case can be made for it.

[Chakaconcarne]

3. I believe much of it is on facebook...

I recently saw a map showing the facebook political demographic by state and the entire country was red. Furthermore it's real easy to quell any opposition; just make them disappear.

[RKP5637]

4. There is a new app coming out that will basically allow anyone to take an image of a

person and make it say anything they want and in the voice of that person being imitated. Lies, propaganda and endless false information will run rampantly across the globe.

[KittyWampus]

12. We may be reaching a point where largely unplugging from smart phones is imperative-

I just have an old fashioned flip phone and use internet when sitting at a computer.

While I get there are some advantages of having a smartphone... I think it's a double edged sword like the Roman lead pipes.

[RKP5637]

14. Best analogy I've seen, Roman lead pipes!!! n/t

[Trust Buster]

5. In a poll posted yesterday, 49% believe Tinkle Bell over the media even though the fool has

been outed for his prolific and transparent lying. What irony that, in the Information Age, Americans are more uninformed than ever before.

[ProfessorPlum]

8. seriously

we're being swamped by propaganda and lies, instead of facts. And the powers-that-be love it, because they think it will let them lower our wages a little bit. But woe to all of us when it gets out of control.

[RKP5637]

13. Many in America seem to seek out political punishment, really. They generally vote for and support

those that will serve them least. Frankly, sometimes, I think it's because many are told they are sinners and uncounciously seek punishment for their supposed sins, and plenty of politicians are willing to do that as the RW advances.

[coco22]

6. Deficits only matter when Dems are in charge.

Remember the teabaggers and republiCON's slogan "We got to cut the spending" then as soon as they take office they cut spending on poor people raise their pay and start more wars.

[ProfessorPlum]

9. yes they do

and we will certainly have more wars under Agent Orange.

[tblue37]

15. William R. Hearst's newspaper lied us into the Spanish-American War; the lie about the

Gulf of Tonkin incident got us into Vietnam; The media, with special emphasis on the New York Times, led us into both Iraq wars. (Of course, the media also smeared Hillary and elevated Trump, so that we have a madman in the WH.)

TPTB would not want to filter such lying propaganda. They need it to get their oh, so lucrative and power-boosting wars on.