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Flying the Flag, Faking the News
Loud noises from Washington about a US pull-out from Iraq are a poor disguise for America’s determination to keep waging war. And the same sort of spin is at work in Britain
Edward Bernays, the American nephew of Sigmund Freud, is said to have invented modern propaganda. During the First World War, he was one of a group of influential liberals who mounted a secret government campaign to persuade reluctant Americans to send an army to the bloodbath in Europe. In his book Propaganda, published in 1928, Bernays wrote that the "intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society", and that the manipulators "constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country". Instead of propaganda, he coined the euphemism "public relations".
The American tobacco industry hired
Bernays to convince women that they should smoke in public. By
associating smoking with women's
liberation, he made cigarettes
"torches of freedom". In 1954, he conjured a communist menace in
Guatemala as an excuse for overthrowing the democratically elected
government, whose social reforms were threatening the United Fruit
Company's monopoly of the banana trade. He called it a "liberation".
Bernays was no rabid right-winger. He was an elitist liberal who believed that "engineering public consent" was for the greater good. This could be achieved by the creation of "false realities" which then became "news events". Here are examples of how it is done these days.
False reality The last US combat troops have left Iraq "as promised, on schedule", according to President Barack Obama. The TV news has been filled with cinematic images of the "last US soldiers", silhouetted against the dawn light, crossing the border into Kuwait.
Fact They have not left. At least 50,000 troops will continue to operate from 94 bases. American air assaults are unchanged, as are special forces' assassinations. The number of "military contractors" is 100,000 and rising. Most Iraqi oil is now under direct foreign control.
False reality BBC presenters have described the departing US troops as a "sort of victorious army" that has achieved "a remarkable change in [Iraq's] fortunes". Their commander, General David Petraeus, is a "celebrity", "charming", "savvy" and "remarkable".
Fact There is no victory of any sort. There is a catastrophic disaster, and attempts to present it as otherwise are a model of Bernays's campaign to "rebrand" the slaughter of the First World War as "necessary" and "noble". In 1980, Ronald Reagan, running for president, rebranded the invasion of Vietnam, in which up to three million people died, as a "noble cause", a theme taken up enthusiastically by Hollywood. Today's Iraq war movies have a similar purging theme: the invader as both idealist and victim.
False reality It is not known how many Iraqis have died. They are "countless", or maybe "in the tens of thousands".
Fact As a direct consequence of the Anglo-American-led invasion, a million Iraqis have died. This figure, from Opinion Research Business, follows peer-reviewed research by Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC, whose methods were secretly affirmed as "best practice" and "robust" by the Blair government's chief scientific adviser. This is rarely reported or presented to "charming" American generals. Neither is the dispossession of four million Iraqis, the malnourishment of most Iraqi children, the epidemic of mental illness, or the poisoning of the environment.
False reality The British economy has a deficit of billions which must be reduced with cuts in public services and regressive taxation, in a spirit of "we're all in this together".
Fact We are not in this together. What is remarkable about this PR triumph is that only 18 months ago, the diametric opposite filled TV screens and front pages. Then, in a state of shock, truth became unavoidable, if briefly. The Wall Street and City of London trough was on full view for the first time, along with the venality of once-celebrated snouts. Billions in public money went to inept and crooked organisations known as banks, which were spared debt liability by their Labour government sponsors.
Within a year, record profits and personal bonuses were posted and the "black hole" was no longer the responsibility of the banks, whose debt is to be paid by those not in any way responsible: the public. The received media wisdom of this "necessity" is now a chorus, from the BBC to the Sun. A masterstroke, Bernays would surely say.
False reality Ed Miliband offers a "genuine alternative" as leader of the Labour Party.
Fact Miliband, like his brother and almost all those standing for the Labour leadership, is immersed in the effluent of New Labour. As a New Labour MP and minister, he did not refuse to serve under Blair or to speak out against Labour's persistent warmongering. He now calls the invasion of Iraq a "profound mistake". Calling it a mistake insults the memory and the dead. It was a crime, of which the evidence is voluminous. He has nothing new to say about the other colonial wars, none of them mistakes. Neither has he demanded basic social justice - that those who caused the recession clear up the mess and that Britain's fabulously rich corporate minority be taxed seriously, starting with Rupert Murdoch.
The good news is that false realities often fail when the public trusts its own critical intelligence. Two classified documents recently released by WikiLeaks express the CIA's concern that the populations of European countries, which oppose their governments' war policies, are not succumbing to the usual propaganda spun through the media.
For the rulers of the world, this is a conundrum, because their unaccountable power rests on the false reality that no popular resistance works. And it does.
26 Comments so far
Show AllJohn Pilger is an international treasure. Two of his works that have served me well as tools for enlightening the people in my life are:
The War on Democracy...a documentary film which is a blistering account of the efforts of the US gov't to unseat and demonize left-leaning Hugo Chavez
His talk last year entitled Obama and Empire.....http://www.google.com/search?q=john+pilger+obama&tbo=p&tbs=vid%3A1&source=vgc&hl=en&aq=3&oq=john+pilger
>>generalcommentator wroet: "John Pilger is an international treasure."<<
Yes, thank God for people like him.
Here's another of his great works on the plight of the forgotten people of the Chagos Islands ("Diego Garcia", where a large US military base is located), in the Indian Ocean:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3667764379758632511#
>>"STEALING A NATION (John Pilger, 2004) is an extraordinary film about the plight of people of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean - secretly and brutally expelled from their homeland by British governments in the late 1960s and early 1970s, to make way for an American military base. The base, on the main island of Diego Garcia, was a launch pad for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq."<<
Mr. Bernays was hired by Woodrow Wilson to sell us W.W.1. The rest can be seen on Faux News. Mr Pilger is one of the greatest journalists of all time. He has many films on youtube.com.
"Flying the Flag, Faking the News"
That pretty much describes the situation accurately....
Listening to the President speak the other night (not to mention the so-called analysis before and after) I wondered what the hell they were talking about....Oh they were right about one thing....The result of this war of choice did indeed cause a "major transformation" with regard to the current situation in Iraq and that nations future prospects.....Every word said after that was pure...well...you know what I am trying to say....
Well the war is over and we brought freedom to the oppressed people of Iraq....President Bush was right all along...He will now go down in history as a great American visionary (At least in our history books)....You all feel safer now? No? Perhaps when we win the war in Afghanistan we can return to the great glory days in American Democracy. Yes...we will be safe.............
Forgive my sarcasm I am just tired listening to lies....
Thomas
Thank goodness for John Pilger - at last someone mentions the million or so Iraqis who died - and for what??? As well as "dispossession of four million Iraqis, the malnourishment of most Iraqi children, the epidemic of mental illness, or the poisoning of the environment."
Just imagine if the Iraq numbers were applied to the US population:
Killed in Iraq-1 million out of 27 Million = 15 million out of 300+ million US
Dispossesed - 4 million out of 27 million = 60 million out of 300+ US
BTW over 1/2 of the dispossed have had to leave Iraq permanently because most of them are mixed Sunni/Shia families - victims of the sectarian violence fomented by the war.
Would we feel better about our chances?
The numbers in Iraq don't seem right at all (unless you count death by natural causes as well).
A quick look on Wikipedia shows that Japan lost a total of 600k civilians and 2 million military. Consider that being total war with no (or minimal) Japanese POWs, firebombing of all major cities including 2 nuclear strikes. In the same context the numbers in Iraq don't make any sense at all. Yes, they make for good rating on prime time TV and CD but otherwise I would probably reduce that by at least 30%.
A quick division show that there had to be about 400 dead Iraqis every day since 2003. I mean really...
Comparing Japan to Iraq may not work so well, because in the case of Japan, most of the fighting went on outside Japan, except for the bombings near the end of the war; whereas in Iraq all of the fighting went on inside of Iraq and most of the fighting did not involve the Iraq army, which was quickly defeated.
What sort of political system do you have when those with the status of Leaders continuously lie and wherein those lies are not challenged by what is clearly a privately owned Propaganda System?
Classifying Bernays as Liberal is incorrect, IMO. clearly, he is an Authoritarian as he was against the concept of self government as well as government and corporate transparancy. Proto-Fascist is even closer to being correct, IMO.
If school systems globally were really concerned with educating their students, 1984, Animal Farm, and Manufacturing Consent would be required texts at the 9th grade level, and much time would be spent investigating and discussing them. Since this is not nearly the case anywhere on the planet, it is fair to conclude that most school systems function as Indoctrination Systems closely intertwined with the global Propaganda System. For what Pilger describes isn't just happening in the USA and UK, the filth is everywhere and spreading.
RE: Classifying Bernays as Liberal is incorrect, IMO.
Methinks your notion of "Liberal" is too rosy. In the bourgeois revolutions of 1776 and 1789, the Liberals were the revolutionaries and the Conservatives were those who supported the monarchies. Capitalism's origins are liberal, not conservative. It doesn't really matter whether they were "authoritarian" capitalists or not. Bernays was working for the interests of the capitalist ruling class, not democracy.
Liberals got us into the most deadly wars of the 20th century: Wilson (WWI), FDR (WWII), Truman (Korean War), Kennedy/Johnson (Vietnam War). Are they not Liberals? If not, then you have your very own definition of Liberal. Especially in terms of foreign policy, the differences between Liberals and Conservatives is little more than rhetorical style - not policy.
Minor corrections, Tom Larsen. It was 'conservative' (although not by today's standards) Republican President Eisenhower who first sent in both military and CIA 'advisors' to Vietnam after the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Kennedy and Johnson accelerated our direct involvement in Vietnam, but did not initiate it.
Truman did not technically 'get us into' the Korean War; the North Koreans violated a UN treaty by crossing the 38th parallel and invading South Korea in 1950. Troops from various UN nations responded by retaliating against the North's illegal invasion. If Truman has refused to respond, he would have been violating the US agreement with the other UN nations, and encouraged other despots to disregard UN treaties, something like our present situation.
But your point is taken, although I think there is a vast and obvious difference in not just rhetoric but policy between, say, FDR and Junior Bush.
Animal Farm was required reading in my public school. The "no child left behind" is to indoctrinate today's school children into mindlessness, the inability and/or not knowing to discern thoughts, including the thoughts of others, from facts or truth.Mindlessness has been institutionalized by the government, businesses, churches and gives it legitimacy. It is easily observable on TV by the day, hour, minute.
Animal Farm was required reading in my public school. The "no child left behind" is to indoctrinate today's school children into mindlessness, the inability and/or not knowing to discern thoughts, including the thoughts of others, from facts or truth.Mindlessness has been institutionalized by the government, businesses, churches and gives it legitimacy. It is easily observable on TV by the day, hour, minute.
20-something business school grads these days are not required to read "Animal Farm," "1984," "Brave New World" nor any books that used to be part of a standard liberal arts education. Most of these 'college graduates' really have no idea how our government works and think capitalism and Christianity are enshrined in the Constitution. 'Business ethics'? When they finish laughing, they'll tell you they slept through the classes. Our 'business leaders of tomorrow' are mostly lean, mean and alarmingly ignorant.
Tnx to Pilger for putting it straight.
He didn't mention:
False reality - Cannabis is harmful and dangerous to people and often lead to heroin-abuse and death.
Fact - Cannabis has been an important part of human culture for at least 7,000 years, for fiber, food and medicine. Cannabis has been safely used for its psychoactive effects for at least 2,700 years.
But popular resistance works. California is near to legalizing cannabis at last with Proposition 19, after a strange time of prohibition since 1937.
I would argue that when it comes to politicians "liberal"= authoritarian proto-fascists.
Obama and Clinton, as well as Pelosi are points to prove this.
The problem I have with liberals is best illustrated by a little story that happened when an anarchist friend of mine went to a Sierra Club meeting.
The topic of discussion was how erosion was cutting away some parkland.
It was brought up that planting trees along the eroding creekbed would help slow down the erosion.
The discussion then turned to what officials to write to have trees planted.
My anarchist friend said "why don't we just go there and plant some trees?"
The liberals in the Sierra Club gasped and looked at him with horror... then went back to discussing what officials to write to.
As long as liberals depend on politicians to get things done, they will continue to be led by authoritarian proto-fascists... or worse.
False reality BBC presenters have described the departing US troops as a "sort of victorious army" that has achieved "a remarkable change in [Iraq's] fortunes".
Like NPR, I gave up on the BBC a long time ago.
There was indeed a "remarkable change in (Iraq's) fortunes." The Amerikkkan government and its storm troopers looted Iraq's treasure and gave it to criminal bankers, contractors and oilmen.
Not long after the Amerikkkan occupation started, the Iraqis were wishing for Saddam's return. At least they had electricity and stable economic conditions when he ran things. That is much more than they have now.
I agree with Karlof1 that labeling Edward Bernays a "liberal" or an "elitist liberal" is incorrect. His substantive politics were no doubt centrist, or perhaps a bit left of centrist, for the partisan clime of the 1920's, when the KKK and the Temperance Union were significant special interest groups at the national level, but I see nothing "liberal" or "neoliberal" in running public relations interference to facilitate the overthrow of an elected, socially reform minded government in Guatemala in order to further the parochial business interests of United Fruit.
The proper parallel to draw I think is to the neocon political philosophy espoused by Leo Straus of the University of Chicago school of conservative ideology. Straus, too, argued that elites were morally entitled to lie to the masses and consciously manipulate and shape public opinion, supposedly to lead the nation in the right (!) direction, for its own good, so that the invisible hand of the marketplace could work its magical mumbo jumbo.
Bernays and Straus were both right wingers, in my book. They both espoused core values which painted an intellectual gloss upon the use of partisan demagoguery, helping to keep the noisy rabble common folk in their proper place.
Bill from Saginaw
Good points, Bill. Both Bernays and Strauss, with their self-serving and patronizing attitude that an elite should secretly guide society with either political or 'public relations' mumbo-jumbo, were indeed birds of feather, and only 'liberals' when convenient. That they spawned such neocon atrocities as Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, Frank Luntz, and Roger Ailes would probably not faze them, if they were even to admit it.
Speaking of atrocities, Bernays, who was of Jewish ancestry, was reportedly 'shocked' when he found out Joseph Goebbels used his propaganda techniques to sell Hitler and Nazism to the German people -- yeah, shocked that there was gambling going on in the club where he regularly gambled.
Ironically, Bernays, who sold women on smoking cigarettes when he worked for Lucky Strikes in the '20s, ended his career providing propaganda for John Banzhaf's rabid anti-smoking group ASH. In either case, the use of propanganda -- creating a false reality -- to sell an idea is wrong and contrary to the necessity of truthful information for true democracy.
As far as false realities, I wish Pilger had mentioned that Petraeus' vaunted 'surge' was really not much more than bribing the various Iraqi factions not to attack US troops. One warlord said they hated both al-Qaeda and the Americans, but they'd go after al-Qaeda first as long as the American money held out. But then they were coming after us, and they still will be until we leave completely.
I'll just add, may you live long, Mr. Pilger, to keep fighting the good fight. Thank you.
Chameleon when Pilager says 'As a direct consequence of the Anglo-American-led invasion, a million Iraqis have died. This figure, from Opinion Research Business, follows peer-reviewed research by Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC, whose methods were secretly affirmed as "best practice" and "robust" by the Blair government's chief scientific adviser.' He has not updated figures. They are far higher now 1.2m to 1.3m and counting......!!!
Wikipedia is a corrupted source in so many ways.
But all deaths above and beyond what was the mean prior to invasion are taken into account as excess and countable. Until the Iraq invasion these were the figures all main sources quoted (based on that method of determining casualties)for previous conflicts where other countries were involved. It was regarded and is the best most acceptable estimation of true statistical data.
IRB became popularised by the powers that be because firstly, it never included all these deaths (or claimed to) and secondly it only counted deaths it attained from certain sources that too often had an interest in manufacturing and hiding results to suit their own ends. They were in no position to determine a great many deaths and in any event their sources were too restrictive.
By all previous statistical measurements indeed over 1.2 million and counting towards 1.3m of Iraq's population lost their lives as a direct result of that invasion, while over 4m were displaced internally and abroad. Little help has been forthcoming.
If a healthy child proceeds to die for example, because its mother and father are blown to bits outside their home and it is left alone in its cot to die of dehydration, the child is included in the figures. Get it?
Countless numbers of Iraq's people were attacked and killed with air strikes for years leading up to the last invasion and Occupation. The no fly zone ramped up many attacks leading up to invasion. Sanctioned by UN Iraq also lost generations so soon after its eight year armed conflict with Iran. Figures of casualties from that conflict between Iraq and Iran were acceptable and it was the Hopkins method of determination that was good when NATO wasn't involved. Iraq from having become a very modern and advanced society has been entirely destroyed and broken asunder.
Depleted uranium kills foetuses and other living things for generations. Just the city of Fallujah alone is a prime example of a seriously poisoned city. The final total of victims may become much much higher when these poisons spread far and wide, whichever way the wind blows over hundreds and thousands of years, wherever? And to all intents and purposes, it never is going to go away. It is impossible to clean up now. Breath carefully!
But lets not forget shock and awe either! Imagine all the children in Bhagdad a city of 8m.? The explosive ordinance in that overwhelming ordinance display was equivalent in explosive power to all the bombs dropped during the entire Second World War in the European theatre. How many poor people disappeared then would you imagine? Ever think about that spell folks?
So its worthwhile to check the statistical methods applied. IRB is used for perception purposes. It gained welcomed traction by a complaint MSM as authoritive. The propaganda war is top priority.
Were IRB using those same methods during the Second World War then casualties across the board would be down an order of magnitude! Most figures applied to-day are so outrageous only the most gullible could be fooled. What about media reports that kept saying up to 1000 civilians may have lost their lives as a result of the latest invasion of Gaza? It was over 1,450. That alone tells us something! 45% higher when under media spotlight? Who cares right? What's a few hundred people!
But a well rounded 6m is written in Holocaust stone in Israel. Just as well IRB wasn't using its methods to determine how many European Jewish lost their lives during the Second World War. It might have said 500,000.
"Countless numbers of Iraq's people were attacked and killed with air strikes for years leading up to the last invasion and Occupation"
I get it now. The count started in 1990. If that is true the numbers make a lot more sense. Nobody ever mentions that.
"Today's Iraq war movies have a similar purging theme: the invader as both idealist and victim."
Hollywood on Israel: the invader as both idealist and victim.
Good article as usual by John Pilger. Hope it is widely circulated, and we are the ones who have to do that.
I wonder how effective the "false realities" have been in the public mind.
Joe