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In between posters and social media it was "Support the Troops" yellow ribbon bumper stickers.

by genwin 14y ago

twoodfin 14y ago
If you're going to call those "propaganda", could you please suggest another term we can use so people know we're talking about things like Triumph of the Will and not anodyne bumper stickers?
- genwin 14y ago
  "Support the troops" is indirect propaganda. The thinking promoted is, you should support the troops (who deserve it because they are blameless) by supporting the war, even when the war is unnecessary.
- Spooky23 14y ago
  Support the troops is hawk politician speak for... "Continue to vote for war funding, so we don't leave our soldiers in the desert."
  - oconnore 14y ago
    It was also used as insurance so you could criticize the war and then point to your car as defense against the "but I stand with the troops" nonsense and say "I do too". At least that was my perception in suburban Massachusetts.
- jellicle 14y ago
  If you don't understand that Triumph of the Will and the yellow bumper ribbons are the exact same thing, you're not understanding propaganda. It's always more difficult to examine something you're inside (yellow ribbons) than something you're outside (Nazi war movies). But they're identical. And in fact the modern PR industry was founded to sell World War I to the American public.
  - twoodfin 14y ago
    If you don't understand that Triumph of the Will and the yellow bumper ribbons are the exact same thing, you're not understanding propaganda. Uh huh. Glorifying Hitler and the Nazis in a government comissioned film is "the exact same thing" as privately expressing support for our volunteer military in a hard situation. They're "identical", even! Do you ever stop and think about the claims you're making? Are pink ribbons propaganda? How about the Jesus fish? The Darwin fish? A "make love not war" bumper sticker? How is private viewpoint A propaganda, while private viewpoint !A isn't? If you want to call every politically clever expression of a viewpoint "propaganda", you've robbed the term of its important, useful meaning.
    - jellicle 14y ago
      The Pentagon employs 27,000 people and spends almost $5 billion per year on public relations. Cite: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29040299 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29040299 So they're about twice the size of the entire New York Times company. The "Support Our Troops" campaign didn't arise spontaneously; it was invented and promoted by some of those 27,000 people.
    - genwin 14y ago
      Pink ribbons are advertising to gain money for a private organization (whether or not they do anything to help cancer victims). The Jesus fish is also advertising, promoted by private orgs looking to gain money & power. The Darwin fish is a private viewpoint. "Support the Troops" is propaganda, "Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view." It's promoted by neocons or hawks or whatever you call them, who are seeking money and power via war. From Wikipedia: Political analyst Noam Chomsky has criticized the slogan, saying, "[...] the point of public relations slogans like "Support Our Troops" is that they don't mean anything [...] that's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody is going to be against and I suppose everybody will be for, because nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. But its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something, do you support our policy? And that's the one you're not allowed to talk about."

In between posters and social media it was "Support the Troops" yellow ribbon bumper stickers.

by genwin 14y ago

In between posters and social media it was "Support the Troops" yellow ribbon bumper stickers.

If you're going to call those "propaganda", could you please suggest another term we can use so people know we're talking about things like Triumph of the Will and not anodyne bumper stickers?

genwin 14y ago
"Support the troops" is indirect propaganda. The thinking promoted is, you should support the troops (who deserve it because they are blameless) by supporting the war, even when the war is unnecessary.
Spooky23 14y ago
Support the troops is hawk politician speak for... "Continue to vote for war funding, so we don't leave our soldiers in the desert."
- oconnore 14y ago
  It was also used as insurance so you could criticize the war and then point to your car as defense against the "but I stand with the troops" nonsense and say "I do too". At least that was my perception in suburban Massachusetts.
jellicle 14y ago
If you don't understand that Triumph of the Will and the yellow bumper ribbons are the exact same thing, you're not understanding propaganda. It's always more difficult to examine something you're inside (yellow ribbons) than something you're outside (Nazi war movies). But they're identical. And in fact the modern PR industry was founded to sell World War I to the American public.
- twoodfin 14y ago
  If you don't understand that Triumph of the Will and the yellow bumper ribbons are the exact same thing, you're not understanding propaganda. Uh huh. Glorifying Hitler and the Nazis in a government comissioned film is "the exact same thing" as privately expressing support for our volunteer military in a hard situation. They're "identical", even! Do you ever stop and think about the claims you're making? Are pink ribbons propaganda? How about the Jesus fish? The Darwin fish? A "make love not war" bumper sticker? How is private viewpoint A propaganda, while private viewpoint !A isn't? If you want to call every politically clever expression of a viewpoint "propaganda", you've robbed the term of its important, useful meaning.
  - jellicle 14y ago
    The Pentagon employs 27,000 people and spends almost $5 billion per year on public relations. Cite: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29040299 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29040299 So they're about twice the size of the entire New York Times company. The "Support Our Troops" campaign didn't arise spontaneously; it was invented and promoted by some of those 27,000 people.
  - genwin 14y ago
    Pink ribbons are advertising to gain money for a private organization (whether or not they do anything to help cancer victims). The Jesus fish is also advertising, promoted by private orgs looking to gain money & power. The Darwin fish is a private viewpoint. "Support the Troops" is propaganda, "Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view." It's promoted by neocons or hawks or whatever you call them, who are seeking money and power via war. From Wikipedia: Political analyst Noam Chomsky has criticized the slogan, saying, "[...] the point of public relations slogans like "Support Our Troops" is that they don't mean anything [...] that's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody is going to be against and I suppose everybody will be for, because nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. But its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something, do you support our policy? And that's the one you're not allowed to talk about."