Disinformation and You

Jones Marie D.

Description

They provoke you with anger because fear-filled people are easier to manipulate. The tricks, tools and tactics used to influence you and your loved ones—along with the history of propaganda—explained and explored.

We live in an age of disinformation, misinformation, and outright lies. The modern world blasts us with information, talking points, spin, advertising, and attempts to persuade. But what are we to believe and whom should we trust?

Examining the history of propaganda and disinformation in war, politics, polling, media, entertainment, cults, advertising, science, medicine, today’s media landscape, and even in our personal interactions, Disinformation and You: Identify Propaganda and Manipulation helps you spot and counter the seductive and deceptive tactics to influence individual behavior. It provides helpful suggestions and tips for identifying disinformation and fighting back against manipulation and censorship.

Engaging and useful, this book’s helpful topics include …

the money behind politics and the media

predictive programming as a form of social engineering

advertising sales tactics

how things go viral

the power of memes and hashtags to push a story or idea

censorship in the media and on social media networks

sponsored news, fake news, and the mainstream media

cult mentality and groupthink

disinformation campaigns and false flags

how conspiracy theories work

how to identify fake news and propaganda

Disinformation and You shows you the tricks used to influence your behavior. So, get on the bandwagon with the rest of us decent folk and stop listening to fools. After all, two out of three people have seen their IQ scores rise by buying this book! Really, buy this book and be smarter (in recognizing propaganda, that is). With many photos, illustrations, and other graphics, this tome is richly illustrated, and its helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness.

Pandemic Propaganda

Even during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, which swept the world in a matter of months beginning in January 2020, the hashtags started immediately, encouraging people to comply with government orders to stay at home and follow the official directives. The goal was to flatten the curve of the spread and make it easier for hospitals and medical centers to deal with the flood of patients. At first, all the hashtags mirrored the seriousness of the pandemic and how critical it was to fully support our first responders and medical personnel and stay home to keep the virus from spreading. On television, we were bombarded with public service announcements and commercials with somber piano music and wordless messages of support and hope.

Sometimes those PSAs would feature the faces of nurses and doctors, looking exhausted and spent from their days helping the sick. Other times, they would feature families and couples at home finding the “new normal,” excuse me, the #newnormal of lockdowns, quarantines, and social distancing measures.
Before long, people got restless and began asking questions and finding inconsistencies with the reports of deaths and the dates of the initial spread. They got curious as to why different doctors or medical organizations said different things, and why they were being asked to give up their freedoms and their lives when politicians continued to get their paychecks and keep their health insurance. As with any propaganda, even the kind that is meant to help save your life, people get suspicious of the repeated narrative. Some groups of people also got tired of being shamed into staying home and losing their livelihoods and businesses and being told to shut up and do what was right #forthegreatergood, and the hashtags began to reflect the growing unrest of those suffering from the economic meltdown; those wondering why Constitutional freedoms were being compromised and ignored.

#stayinsidesavelives

#alonetogether

#flattenthecurve

#thenewnormal

#saferathome

#socialdistancing

#forthegreatergood

#slowthespread

#wearamask

#openthecountry

#fightback

#knowyourrights

#letuswork

#endthelockdown

You could tell where someone stood just by the hashtags they used or followed on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. As the pandemic progressed, people responded, wearing their emotions not on their sleeves but via their hashtags. Watching the entire pandemic unfold was a great firsthand lesson in identifying propaganda, whether it be from the president, the opposing party, the CDC, the WHO, Bill Gates, the media, state governors, or anyone else with an opinion to offer. The country was once again becoming divided down the middle between those who wanted to stay quarantined to slow the spread and protect the weak, and those who demanded they be allowed to reopen their businesses or get outside and get back to normal. Those who expressed one viewpoint over another were cheered by the choir they preached to and vilified by those who had different viewpoints. Compromise and working together seemed so out of reach until cooler heads could prevail and operate with common sense. It was like watching a political election in play, and so much of the game occurred via the power of words and phrases no one had ever uttered before, including “social distancing” and “flattening the curve.” You would almost have believed everyone was an expert in virology and epidemiology by the way people repeatedly posted what they’d heard on mainstream news and social media.

Those familiar with Twitter already knew the power of a tweet and how a short selection of words could convey volumes on the social media site. Once limited to 160 characters, Twitter later expanded the standard to 240 words to allow for more expression. People tweeted their beliefs, their ideas, their values, and their political identities, and the creation of the hashtag added a whole new element to the spread of viral information. Former presidents tweeted using hashtags. Senators and celebrities did, too. President Trump was a Twitter celebrity, tweeting daily with hashtags. Soon, they were showing up more on Facebook and Instagram as another way to track and promote a message and watch it spread further on the virtual global stage.

One of the most powerful aspects of hashtags is the ability to bypass censorship. Social media blocks hashtags that promote violence, pornography, drug use, and, nowadays, anything that doesn’t correspond with the narrative being pushed by mainstream media and government. Some examples over the last few years include hashtags with anti-vaccination messages, alternative health cures for Covid-19, conspiracy theories, and other such subjects, but people find new ways to create hashtags that get around the ban. Twitter and Instagram have banned overly generic hashtags, too, that they claim are too vague and do not fill a particular purpose. What is banned is entirely up to the social media platform, but there are always new hashtag phrases that bypass those bans. An example would be banning #naturalcuresforcancer. The way around it would be changing it to #cancercuredbyscience or something that removes the “alternative” label. Another example is banning #picture because it is way too generic and using #coolpicturesofthings as a way around that ban. It is pretty simple and easy to stick to the content policies of social media while bending the rules to get your messages, and memes, across.

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction: Agendas Are Everywhere

1. What Is Propaganda?

2. A Historical Look at Propaganda

3. War Propaganda

4. World War II and the Nazi Propaganda Machine

5. The Cold War Era

6. 9-11 and Weapons of Mass Distraction

7. 21st-Century Propaganda

8. Spin, Sponsored News, Fake News, and the “Lamestream” Media

9. Tools of the Propaganda Trade

10. False Flags, PsyOps, and Conspiracy Theories

11. Mind Games: Manipulating Thought, Behavior, and Action

12. Peer Propaganda and Social Media Activism

13. Information Warfare: Fighting Back

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Political Process
• Media Studies
• Social Media
• Social Science
• COMPUTERS
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Propaganda
• Internet
• Persuasion

Informations

• Publié par: Visible Ink Press
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781578597468
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 12 Mo

Extrait

Disinformation and You
Identify Propaganda and Manipulation

CONTENTS
Author s Note
Acknowledgments
Introduction
What Is Propaganda?
A Historical Look At Propaganda
War Propaganda
The Cold War Era
9-11 and Weapons of Mass Distraction
Twenty-First Century Propaganda: Pundit Wars, Memes, and the Power of the Hashtag
Spin, Sponsored News, Fake News, and the Lamestream Media
Tools of the Propaganda Trade: The Techniques of Coercion, Persuasion, and Disinformation
False Flags, PsyOps, and Conspiracy Theories
Mind Games: Manipulating Thought, Behavior, and Action
Peer Propaganda and Social Media Activism
Information Warfare: Fighting Back against Propaganda, Disinformation, and Manipulation
Further Reading
Index
PHOTO SOURCES
Artcraft Films: p. 48 .
David Bailey: p. 93 .
Bain News Service: p. 123 .
Michel Bakni: p. 323 .
BBC Radio: p. 269 .
British Museum: p. 19 .
Noam Chomsky: p. 155 .
Cranach Digital Library: p. 25 .
Executive Office of the President of the United States: p. 204 .
James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: p. 126 .
General Artists Corporation-GAC-management: p. 72 .
Julian Gomba: p. 144 .
Harper s Weekly : p. 39 .
Library of Congress: pp. 32 , 50 , 63 , 146 .
Life Magazine : p. 250 .
Lilly Library, Indiana University Bloomington: p. 31 .
McLennan County Sheriff s Office: p. 259 .
Joseph Mercola: p. 176 .
National Archives and Records Administration: p. 215 .
National Institute of Standards and Technology: p. 214 .
Naval Historical Center: p. 53 .
Naval History and Heritage Command: p. 223 .
Pentocelo (Wikicommons): p. 14 .
Laura Poitras/Praxis Films: p. 160 .
Prologue Magazine : p. 66 .
Rameshng (Wikicommons): p. 70 .
David Shankbone: p. 112 .
Shutterstock: pp. 2, 5, 7, 21 , 36 , 42 , 46 , 79 , 82 , 86 , 89 , 98 , 101 , 105 , 106 , 108 , 110 , 118 , 127 , 130 , 132 , 135 , 138 , 152 , 159 , 162 , 165 , 170 , 172 , 174 , 177 , 179 , 181 , 183 , 184 , 190 , 191 , 196 , 197 , 199 , 202 , 212 , 218 , 228 , 233 , 240 , 242 , 245 , 247 , 253 , 255 , 258 , 263 , 268 , 270 , 274 , 277 , 280 , 286 , 290 , 295 , 301 , 304 , 309 , 315 , 319 , 321 , 324 .
Gage Skidmore: pp. 115 , 142 .
John Mathew Smith www.celebrity-photos.com : p. 96 .
Stanford University: p. 296 .
Time Inc.: p. 75 .
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow: p. 61 .
University of Missouri Archives: p. 38 .
U.S. Army: p. 208 .
U.S. Department of Defense: pp. 222 , 226 .
U.S. Information Agency: p. 69 .
The Wasp : p. 129 .
Edward Webb: p. 149 .
Nat Welch: p. 187 .
Nancy Wong: p. 186 .
Kenneth C. Zirkel: p. 305 .
Public domain: pp. 16 , 17 , 23 , 24 , 34 , 41 , 55 , 58 , 94 , 120 , 206 .
AUTHOR S NOTE
At the time of this book s completion, America (and much of the rest of the world) is still under lockdowns, and the mass media are pushing fear about rising Covid-19 cases and virus mutations. Yet, during the contentious November 2020 presidential election-itself a perfect example of propaganda and disinformation playbooks-people were told by the CDC that even if they were infected with the virus, it was okay for them to go vote in person. Meanwhile, the mass media was calling the election winners before one vote was cast, a propaganda technique called optics that is meant to push a narrative that may or may not be true to encourage voter suppression. Both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of allowing these shenanigans to continue unabated, with the media and social media fully complicit, but no one is more guilty than the American public for allowing this kind of mind manipulation to cloud the truth. No doubt, by the time this book is released there will be a host of new false flags, misdirection campaigns, fear mongering, media manipulation, and disinformation to last everyone a lifetime. The only difference? You will be able to recognize it because you read this book.
Therein lies your power.
One of the biggest challenges in writing a book about propaganda and media manipulation is that it never ends. Each new day brings more news and events filled with spin and hidden agendas, so that a book that covers the entire current history would comprise about ten volumes and have no The End point. Since authors have deadlines to get books into production, that means ending a book when the subject matter is still ongoing.
The most important thing, though, is to help readers learn to identify the uses and techniques of propaganda in the past and present so that readers can then see it unfold in the future. By the time this book is released, there will be some major new world and national developments worthy of additional chapters. But it has to be cut off somewhere.
My greatest hope is that once you read this book, you can go back a few months, or even just a few days, and be able to pinpoint what was fact, and what was not fact, and then this book will truly have done its job because no matter what is going on in the world, or who is in power at any given time, there will always be those who seek to manipulate, coerce, and control you.
Don t let them.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Roger J necke and his entire staff at Visible Ink Press for their ongoing support for my work. Having a publishing home like Visible Ink Press is priceless for an author. They are the best of the best, and it s a dream to be working with them. Kevin Hile, you are an editor worth your weight in gold ten times over. Thank you for always keeping me sharp and on point.
My agent, Lisa Hagan of Lisa Hagan Literary Agency, as always, is not just a dear, dear friend but also a guide and guardian angel in every possible way. Thank you for always being there for me and working on my behalf to get my ideas out into the world over these years.
To my mom, Milly, for always believing in me and supporting me no matter what I was doing. To my dad, John, who passed away years ago but is still a big part of my quest for truth. To my sister, Angella, who is my best pal and cheerleader, and my brother, John, and his wife, Winnie, who are always there for me. To my extended family, dear friends and colleagues, and colleagues who have become friends: Thank you for all of your love and support over the years.
To the radio hosts who have been so gracious to me when I appear on their wonderful shows and podcasts, and to my fellow writers and researchers who always generously share ideas and direction: Thank you so very much! I am so spoiled, having been treated so well in response to my books.
To anyone who has ever read or purchased one of my books or taken one out at the library, you are the best! Thank you so much, and I hope I continue to keep you curious and wanting to learn more! Without readers, writers don t flourish. We need you guys! To truth-seekers out there, I truly thank you for your ongoing dedication to spreading information, standing in truth, speaking truth to power, and being a part of a great awakening.
But most of all, to my son, Max, who is my sun, and moon, and stars. You are the light of my life and the heart of my heart, and I pray some of what I do can help bring about a brighter future for you and your friends. You have taught me so much in return, and I marvel at your intellect, curiosity, instinct for truth, and insight daily. I m so proud of you, kiddo!
Keep reading and keep buying books!
INTRODUCTION: AGENDAS ARE EVERYWHERE
Propaganda is making puppets of us. We are moved by hidden strings which the propagandist manipulates.
-Everett Dean Martin
Every living thing has an agenda. It can be as simple as survival and finding food, shelter, and water-oh, and a mate to make babies with. It can be to access goods or material items from others. It can be to find true love or that dream job or just see your grandchildren grow up happy and healthy. Individuals have agendas, and so do collective bodies such as governments, corporations, industries, and segments of society. Not everyone s agendas match up or align, and then you have to find ways to either coerce, control, or eliminate those who stand in the way of fulfilling your agenda.
Some of those ways involve the use of coercive techniques such as propaganda, which is designed to influence or even scare others into joining your individual or collective agenda. There are so many different tools and techniques involved-from persuasion to outright threats, using rhetoric and dialectics, and creating viral campaigns to lying outright enough times that those whose minds you wish to change go ahead and buy into your agenda lock, stock, and barrel. There is disinformation, misinformation, malinformation, conditioning, bias, spin, and a host of other methods by which you can make someone, even an entire nation of someones, do your bidding. Even the world.
This book will examine the long history of propaganda and disinformation and how it has influenced our historical evolution. It will also look at current events and offer examples of concepts and ideas presented in a way everyone can understand. Knowledge is power. Sort of. Knowledge is not really power unless it is utilized, so this book will also serve to educate, enlighten, and offer tools for detoxifying yourself of propaganda so that you don t continue to spread it virally and become a part of the problematic contagion instead of the solution. Bad information tends to spread faster than good. Negativity and fear are all over the mass media because that s what sells. If it bleeds, it leads. For every dozen or so bad stories that depress or sadden us, we are lucky to see one that lifts our spirits. Why is this? What is it about goodness that scares the living crap out of so many people? Or is it just the people behind the propaganda that benefit from our staying permanently entrenched in a state of fear, doubt, confusion, and uncertainty?
The use of propaganda is always accompanied by a host of other types of persuasion, tools, and techniques that are rooted i