Blog For Arizona

Propaganda on Propaganda (On Propaganda?)

I just read Open Letter To The Democratic Party: How You Could Have Had My Vote after having seen a Tucson Weekly editorial letter by a frequent correspondent of mine, and fellow Tucson Blogger, Kevin Baker.

Wow. I was impressed.

I found the "open letter" to be an ingenious piece of propaganda. I don't know if the young lady who supposedly wrote the letter actually exists (I assume not), but if she does, Rove needs to hire her immediately and pay her much more than the 30K she claims to pull down now, 'cause she's really good :)

The best propaganda not only confirms the beliefs of your own partisans, it also convinces your enemies to take actions that are harmful to their own interests. The best propaganda takes as it's subject matter your enemies greatest strengths, and tears them down, or plays to your greatest strength, while sapping the enemies power in that sphere of operations. Karl Rove is often noted for doing this masterfully. And this letter is consistent with, if not a part of, the post-election strategy of the Rove Machine. If it was not produced as part of the overall campaign, it plugs into it masterfully.

This post-election campaign, and this letter, operate on the topic of propaganda itself. Since the election, there has been a steady lamentation by Democrats trying to figure out what went wrong; this provides a wonderful window of opportunity for the best sort propaganda - that which changes the enemy's behavior to his detriment. Rove wants Democrats to surrender willingly the gains the Left have made this election season in dissemination and production of its own propaganda.

Air America Radio, Michael Moore, and other liberal propagandists are denigrated, accused of lies and hatred, and most especially of repulsing voters, and thereby of losing the election for the Democrats. This meme is now being endlessly flogged by the Right's propaganda machine, spreading into mainstream media, and, not coincidentally, is the heart of this "open letter".

By making liberals feel that the new capabilities of their propaganda machine have had deleterious effects on the election, Rove seeks to have the Left disarm unilaterally. Nowhere is it suggested that the hate-mongering liars of Right wing radio, television, and print media have hurt the Republicans, even though, objectively, their violations of common decency and journalistic ethics are infinitely greater than anything the Left currently attempts. The flacks of the Right decry the 'Bush hating.' and the supposed scorn of the Left for Christian’s values, and for the cultural traits of Southernersor 'Heartlanders'. They point to our organs of propaganda as the source of such off-putting, election-losing, opinions. Yet never is it suggested that the Republicans could expand their appeal and become a true majority party, rather than one with a hair's breadth of a mandate, by putting Rush on ameliorative, rather than recreational, meds, by shooting Sean Hannity in the head, and by locking raving harridan, Ann Coulter, in the basement of an insane asylum. The Right would improve its electoral fortunes by having Rupert Murdoch put his media properties, including Fox News, into a non-partisan receivership, don't you think?

They obviously think we're daft. And some Democrats are buying it. Left wingers are now heard to advocate for moderating the tone, dampening criticism, and reducing the harshness of Democratic rhetoric.

Fuck that.

This whole campaign - getting the Left to muzzle its most effective critics and to renounce and hound the most effective polemicists of the Left, such as the magnificent bastard Michael Moore, to nominate party leaders too pusillanimous to directly criticize and oppose the President and the GOP majority, and characterizing criticism of behavior and policy with criticism of identity - is an crafty attempt to weaken the Left still further.

posted by Michael Bryan @ 12/04/2004 03:54:00 PM