Propaganda Debunking
Related: About this forumThere's a hell of a lot of propaganda needing to be debunked.
astral
(2,531 posts)OswegoAtheist
(609 posts)I've been with the snopes.com message board for over a decade, and have been one of the foot soldiers/investigators for just about as long.
Oswego "but can I prove that?" Atheist
Response to OswegoAtheist (Reply #2)
Post removed
postulater
(5,075 posts)The key is to find the bunker and get them to unbunk it at the prebunk state. Saves on the debunking.
Squinch
(52,729 posts)Bunch of punks, those bunkers.
Funtatlaguy
(11,793 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)The Republicans and the oil industry are claiming that building the pipeline for Canada's shale oil will produce 85,000 U.S. jobs and that exploiting that oil will produce about 200,000 more by 2035.
Such predictions are always questionable, but in this case the claims about new jobs appear to be drastically exaggerated.
1. The API claims assume a $7 billion KXL budget, whereas the actual figure bearing on U.S. jobs is $3 billion to $4 billion;
2. TransCanada supplied data to the U.S. State Department showing no more than 2,500 to 4,650 temporary direct construction jobs over two years, and there is no substantiation for its related claim that KXL will create 20,000 direct U.S. construction and manufacturing jobs;
3. Much of the lines steel pipe has already been contracted for or manufactured. The steel came largely not from the U.S. but from India, and much of the steel for the rest the line will come from India or Russia;
4. The API claim there will be 119,000 total (direct, indirect, and induced) jobs is based on a flawed and poorly documented Perryman Group study commissioned by TransCanada that wrongly includes more than $1 billion in spending and 10,000+ person-years of employment for a part of the project in Kansas and Oklahoma that is not part of KXL and has already been built;
. . . .
There is more here:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/jobs-and-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-controversy/
zorba1010
(8 posts)AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
Just what does American Exceptionalism mean? Personally, I have no idea; however, some of my conservative friends do. They cite the ravings of Beck, Limbaugh, and politicians like Romney and Pawlenty as they rail against Obama for apologizing to countries for crimes we have committed against those countries. Never mind what we had done in the past to the American Indians, to the African Americans, to the Chinese who built our railroads, and to the Mexicans. Let's just go back to 1953 and 1954 when we backed a coup in Iran and imposed a brutal dictator on the Iranian people, which lasted for nearly 27 years. About that time we sent troops into Vietnam and called them ''advisors''. By the end of that conflict 58,000 Americans had been killed. But there also were three million Vietnamese who were killed, in their own land. Because of our actions in Laos and Cambodia, more than a couple of hundred thousand of their people also died. We backed a military junta while they killed thousands of their own people in Argentina, and led the coup against a democratically elected President, Salvador Allende, in Chile. And again, we saddled a country with a vicious dictator, Augusto Pinochet, who tortured and killed thousands of Chileans. Saddam's gassing his own people was fine with the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations, so we continued to support him until he invaded Kuwait. But let's attack Obama for exhibiting compassion and decency! "We are Americans. We don't apologize''. I write, because I am speechless.
I once admired the stupid for following leaders who were smarter than they were, but the stupid have drifted to the right and now follow the more stupid. As an example, let's take Bill O'Reilly. About two months ago, he engaged an atheist in debate on his show. As serious as a small pox epidemic, looking the atheist in the eye, O'Reilly blurted out, "Tide in, tide out!" The atheist was stunned, as was I. O'Reilly continued, ''No one can explain ocean tides." O'Reilly was right about that. No one can explain ocean tides--except every elementary school student on the face of this planet. But Bill wasn't finished. ''Who put the moon and the sun up there?'' He expected the atheist to fold under that brilliant logic. Let me put my two cents in here: I say it was the tooth fairy who put the sun and the moon in into orbit. I challenge anyone to disprove it. No one can. Think I'm crazy? Try to disprove it. You see, I am the one who must prove that the tooth fairy achieved that miraculous feat. It is not the atheist who must disprove that God created the sun and the moon; it is O'Reilly who must prove it. It was his assertion. What is terrifying is that O'Reilly is the most sane and intelligent anchor on Fox--with a huge following!
My advice to you independents is this: never, never vote for anyone who does not believe in evolution, for the evidence is everywhere--in the size of the people, in the diversity of races, and even in viruses that change to resist antibiotics. If you vote for another bible-thumper, you will get, and deserve, another George W. Bush and all the crime and incompetence that will be brought to the Presidency. These ''thumpers'' are not good people. They are afflicted with an evil sickness. Last month, my 20 year old niece sent me a video on Face Book of a young woman saying that Japan was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami because Japan is not a Christian nation. She then said to American atheists that God loved them, but if they did not go to him, they will experience a similar fate. This mentality is not uncommon with Christian Conservatives. There are millions of them who believe this drivel. If these are the people you will find in Heaven, I will take my chances with the character in the red suit who has horns and a tail. Thank you, niece, for sending me the video.
Donald Trump was running for President. He waned to see Obama's birth certificate. I want to see his, because I have never seen a head like that in my life. Look closely at Trump's head. Is that not the head of an alien? Three or four wives, bankruptcies, undeserved arrogance, and he wants to be President? I have only one more thing to say about Trump: be wary of the man who wields superlatives. If you don't know what that means, then I'm quite sure you are a conservative. Is Trump smart, or just rich? I know he's rich, but don't know much about his intellect. I do know what an intelligent person is. It is someone who can incorporate knowledge with logic. Does anyone know of a conservative who possesses both of these qualities? I doubt it. The definition of the word ''conservative'' implies stupidity. You don't believe it? Open up your dictionary--''status quo, resistance to change''. Now what else can that mean? I worry about my conservative friends when they enter a revolving door. "Resistance to change'', I think. ''How will they find their war out''.
In the last forty years we have had only one intelligent republican President--Nixon, and he was a criminal. The rest of them were either average or below average. Nixon thought Reagan was not smart enough to be President. Reagan's own aids said that he was disengaged and knew little about history. He knew just enough, though, to commit the Iran/Contra crime, and lie about it. He knew enough to invade Grenada because there were Cubans on the island, but not enough to invade Cuba where ten million Cubans lived. He knew enough to deregulate the Savings and Loan industry, opening it up to all sorts of fraud and collapsing the industry, causing one of the great stock market crashes in history. He knew enough to take advice from his wife, who took advice from astrologer Joan Quigley three times a week--in the White House! He knew enough to believe in Armageddon, which scared the hell out of his aids. Yes, he knew enough, but none of it made any sense. The conservatives made Reagan their greatest hero. I do know that conservatives ''think''. They think that reason is a dried grape. In their minds, who needs logic.
I have three conservative friends who belong to unions. Because of their membership, they have some security and pension benefits. They see what is going on in some states where republicans are trying to bust the unions, and still they vote for the right-wingers. They will receive checks from their unions when they retire, checks from social security, and they will have Medicare. One of my friends is a tea-bagger! Who do they think fought and won these benefits for them, Joe the plumber?
Allow me to return to American Exceptionalism. About forty years ago in Vietnam, Lt. William Calley led his platoon to a killing spree. They murdered old men, women, children and babies--more than five hundred of them. The only weapon the Vietnamese had was one butter knife, unsharpened. If it were not for an American helicopter captain, they would have slaughtered the rest of the village. The captain landed his helicopter between Calley's men and the villagers and ordered the butchers to lay their weapons down, or he would fire on them. The cowards laid their guns down. We did not apologize for that massacre. Not one of these men did one day in prison. Calley served three years under house arrest and then released. The American captain received hate mail and death threats from Americans! In 1988, the U.S.S. Vinscennze shot down an Iranian airliner with 290 on board--thirty of them children. The Vinscennze lied about why it shot the plane down. This happened while the airliner was taking off from its own airport. Conservatives think that we are special, and don't have to apologize. Yes, we could be the greatest country on earth again, if we can convince the neo-conservatives to migrate to Texas and the rest of the bible-belt. We'll even throw in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Until we behave in the interest of humanity, and not just our own, we will never be exceptional.
R.T.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)It covers maybe 5000 years of history of the area surrounding the Mediterranean. Just fascinating but very long (600 pages chock full of names and facts).
It really caused me to stop and understand just how brutal people have been throughout history. I am wondering whether, to rid the world of exceptionalism, we would have to change our DNA. It isn't just Europeans who believe we are exceptional. The Muslims who conquered all their neighbors, forced many nonbelievers (in their religion) and brutally massacred so many were just as bad. And then before them there was the Roman empire. Another brutal exceptionalist bunch.
I recommend the book. But it takes a long time to read it.
rampartc
(5,835 posts)sort out which ptolemy is which. just added "the middle sea" to my "to do" list. thanks.
i don't know if warfare is in all human dna, but maybe intelligence did evolve in the process of inventing new technology for subjugating neighboring tribes?
SandyLouis
(4 posts)Manifest Destiny
(139 posts)this thread is barely visible and it needs to be seen.
SheriffBob
(552 posts)" a lie can go around the world twice before the lie is exposed" I think Churchill said that or words to that effect.
toddmiller
(75 posts)At it's core propaganda is a lie. In order to lie, you need to violate the rules of informal logic. Therefore, teaching informal logic to people decreases their susceptibility to propaganda. https://www.impartial-review.com/stories/how-you-can-avoid-being-taken-in-by-misleading-persuasive-appeals
Lefty Nast
(61 posts)They don't factor in the pollution of the water, air and ground in Canada plus the spills which will occur. It is all B.S. As the old timers around here used to say: "Money talks and bullshit walks."
Maxheader
(4,396 posts)A trencher to cut the trench for the pipe.
Pipe fitters to fit the joints and weld them
up. Some quality assurance workers , doing
xray and mag inspection. Bulldozer to cover
up the pipe. They work as a team and can do
miles in a day. And when it's over they wait for
another job....
fprefect
(1 post)This is claiming that President Obama was actually in support of the NDA 1031 clauses that would allow the military the right to detain suspects indefinitely without trial. Surly this must all be some right-wing twisting of words. What do you guys think?
chknltl
(10,558 posts)Perhaps you might fix link or find a better one.
Here is a link you might try researching.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2012#section_1
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)Charming
(2 posts)What is it with the hatred of Obama?
I remember similar when Clinton was elected. Can't they just accept that they can't fix every election?
I wish we had a better method of bebunking this junk. Now - they are sending around the - Snopes is evil emails.
What really snaps my garters when I debunk some of this crap, send it back to the person who sent it to me, they will thank me but not send it to the other 273 people they sent it to.
4dsc
(5,787 posts)I get sick and tired of hearing commercials that for no other purpose appear to be propaganda from corporate America and wonder whether or not the American are that gullible not to know the difference.
SheriffBob
(552 posts)"Working Class Hero"
MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)The following is copied and pasted from someone I know on facebook.
It's quite a long list of lies and half-truths regarding the Obama administration.
Any and all help in debunking these claims would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
"To many people have accused me of being to critical of our commander in thief, Barrack Nobama . . . . so here is my compilation of his accomplishments that any American can be proud of . . . . . . :
First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then
deny he was a foreigner.
First President to have a social security number from a state he has
never lived in.
First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the
United States
First President to violate the War Powers Act. .
First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally
obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
First President to defy a Federal Judge's court order to cease
implementing the Health Care Reform Law.
First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a
third party.
First President to spend a trillion dollars on 'shovel-ready' jobs
when there was no such thing as 'shovel-ready' jobs.
First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of
companies to his union supporters.
First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act
through executive fiat.
First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the
deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S., including those
with criminal convictions.
First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of
his political appointees.
First President to terminate America's ability to put a man in space.
First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.
First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law
unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.
First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly
spoke-out on the reasons for their rate increases.
First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state
it is allowed to locate a factory.
First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath
to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN).
First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been
properly issued years ago.
First President to fire an inspector general of Ameri-Corps for
catching one of his friends in a corruption case.
First President to appoint 45 czars to replace elected officials in
his office. .
First President to golf 73 separate times in his first two and a half
years in office, 90 and counting to date.
First President to hide his medical, educational and travel records.
First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.
First President to go on multiple global 'apology tours'.
First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights
and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends paid for by
the taxpayer.
First President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his
wife.
First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year
at taxpayer expense.
First President to repeat the Holy Quran tells us the early morning
call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful
sound on earth.
First President to take a 17 day vacation.
YUP - now that's a leader tha I can be proud of (if you made it this far)"
Again, these are not my words and thoughts on Obama. Help me counter these point by point. Thanks!
chknltl
(10,558 posts)Then Google search your rebuttles. For instance, I notice there is a bit regarding President Obama's vacation time and expenses. A quick search just now turned up that he has spent far less time and cash on his vacations than did Presidents Regan or Bush. Does this person take issue with all but President Clinton who took far less vacation time than Obama or Bush or Regan?
Lefty Nast
(61 posts)Just Sayin...
white cloud
(2,567 posts)Lefty Nast
(61 posts)Some things are better laughed to death
MarvelUs
(2 posts)Snopes.com
The definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.
white cloud
(2,567 posts)factscheck.com
Urban legend.com
Tampa Politico site,
Pants on fire
wiki and all the above references,
Also there ia a new app coming out for debuking Political RWE e turds. LOL Mail this app all the freepers.
also Thanks the riech wing for making these site rich with all there hits.
Sign up for the newsletter and also mail or sign up your freepers buddies.
If you want to debunk something just cut and paste some of the unique text into you browser.....you will find a lot of these e turd come from freerepublic.com
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)jonpaulprime
(104 posts)That's a fun, sometimes fascinating site to read.
ConcernedCitizen111
(2 posts)***Here is why Biden didn't deliver the ENDING PUNCH**** Please tell Obama not to make the same mistake!!!!!!!!!!!
Mitt Romney's "job plan" is not a NEW, innovative plan. It is a RETURN to George Bush's "trickle down" policies for the wealthy. Also, a sure recipe to make us look like a South American country.
Think about it.
Romney has to make up his $5 Trillion tax cuts with tax increases -- because he wants to be "revenue neutral"
Where do those TAX hikes likely hit?
* The mortgage interest deduction will be reduced or eliminated just as home construction is coming back. This is no stimulus. It is the opposite.
* State income taxes will no longer be deductable
* Many charities will likely no longer be deductable.
These do hit the Middle Class harder.
Why does Romney say his tax cuts will help the Middle Class. Perhaps he is thinking only of the lower investment taxes (capital gains) taxes people pay. But that is only about 5% of their income.
If you add up ALL the taxes, they will likely pay far more, and the wealthy get ANOTHER big tax cut, on top of what George Bush gave them.
A sure recipe for a return to the PROBLEMS we say with George Bushs administration, and the future of our country.
This was why Clinton got a bump for Obama -- by saying this.
Why is Obama/Biden being SILENT on this now during this important time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
rampartc
(5,835 posts)but your predictions from 2012 seem quite prophetic. what romney should have made clear is that they have no intention of balancing the budget, but of transferring the wealth of the nation to their top donors and cronies.
Response to Ghost Dog (Original post)
Post removed
billy_j
(13 posts)Money more likely the love of money is the root of all evil
Iceland is putting the couurpt banksters in jail When will Democrats get the balls as well
Executives at Collapsed Iceland Bank Jailed for Fraud
By REUTERS
Published: December 28, 2012 at 12:22 PM ET
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REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Two former executives at an Icelandic bank which collapsed in the 2008 financial meltdown were sentenced to jail on Friday for fraud which led to a 53 million euro loss, in the first major trial of Icelandic bankers linked to the crisis.
All three of the small North Atlantic island's top banks collapsed in quick succession in October 2008 due to big debts incurred during a rapid overseas expansion.
Glitnir was the first to fall after the collapse of Lehman Brothers caused international credit markets to freeze up.
A Reykjavik court sentenced Glitnir's former chief executive, Larus Welding, and former head of corporate finance, Gudmundur Hjaltason, each to nine months in jail, of which six months were suspended for two years. They had denied the charges.
Prosecutors said the two approved a loan to a company which owned shares in Glitnir so that the company could in turn repay a debt to Morgan Stanley.
The decision, taken outside the regular decision-making process, meant Glitnir was too exposed to the company and cost the bank at least 53.7 million euros (43 million pounds), the prosecution said.
The sentence was less than the jail terms of at least five years demanded by Iceland's special prosecutor, who is looking into alleged wrongdoing connected to the crisis.
"We have a conviction, which is of course the main thing," prosecutor Holmsteinn Sigurdsson told reporters outside the courtroom when asked whether he was disappointed with the length of the sentence.
The special prosecutor is also looking into alleged wrongdoing linked to the collapse of the other two former top banks, Landsbanki and Kaupthing.
(Reporting by Omar Valdimarsson; Writing by Patrick Lannin in Stockholm; Editing by Pravin Char)
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)The crap and the next time a RWer tries framing this down your throat quote them the truth and watch their Lilly wilt and die in the vine.
Response to Thinkingabout (Reply #29)
Name removed Message auto-removed
zach.magee
(13 posts)Propaganda is, and always will be a part of our society... the good, the bad, and the ugly.
blueboy2727
(32 posts)I recently found out that 40% of the American public believes they did. Not sure if propaganda, but it's kind of depressing.
progree
(11,463 posts)They can't deny the existence of dinosaur fossils. So how does that fit in with God creating everything in 6 days about 6000 years ago? Easy, just say that humans and dinosaurs coexisted.
Simple. QED.
(sarcasm thingy)
blueboy2727
(32 posts)but 40%? Hence "depressing."
Chimeradog
(83 posts)in Niger...as per crooks from 2001.....
I was happy to see H'wood's propaganda ("American Sniper" by Eastwood which is yet more disinfo, and ZERO accountability for the frauds who started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, were snubbed at Oscars ceremony last night. I have not watched the Oscars in years, but it gave me a semblance of hope that maybe some Americans are no longer buying the pap and propaganda that some with an agenda crank out to justify illegal wars for billionaires and big oil.
Sean Penn: kudos...can you write a film someday about accountability in the US .....people need to start speaking out against injustice.
OP love ur handle similar to me.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Welcome to DU Chimeradog.
Thank you
Good to be here
donkey:
chuckingrocks
(2 posts)Hi all,
The link above is to my blog post, but here's a handy questionnaire to have people take if they don't know much about politics.
1) Agree or Disagree: Corporations are not people and money is not speech.
2) Agree of Disagree: Every American citizen aged 18 years and older has a right to vote and should be able to do so, regardless of race, class, gender, or their political beliefs.
3) Agree or Disagree: We should raise the minimum wage to at least $10/hr.
4) Agree or Disagree: People who make money on investments should pay the same tax rate as people who are payed a wage or earn a salary.
5) Agree or Disagree: Wealthy Americans pay too little in taxes.
6) Agree or Disagree: Companies should not get subsidies or be able to avoid taxes by shipping jobs or profits overseas.
7) Agree or Disagree: Congress should not cut Social Security benefits or Medicare.
8) Agree or Disagree: The federal government should help the poor with programs like Food Stamps, WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), and Medicaid.
9) Agree or disagree: The U.S. government should use taxpayer money to significantly invest in infrastructureroads, bridges, harbors, airports, railways, etc.
10) Agree or Disagree: The federal government should help cut the cost of college and lower interest rates on Americans with student loans.
11) Agree or Disagree: Using diplomacy to prevent countries like Iran from getting nuclear weapons is preferable to war.
12) Agree or Disagree: We spend enough or too much on our military.
13) Agree or Disagree: In light of recent mass murders and gun violence, there should be more restrictions on firearms.
14) Agree or Disagree: There should be a separation between church and state.
15) Agree or Disagree: Everyone has the right to marry the person they love, regardless of sexual orientation.
16) Agree or Disagree: African Americans have been unfairly targeted by some police officers and police departments.
17) Agree or Disagree: Abortion is a private decision that should be made by a woman, consulting her family and/or doctor.
18) Agree or Disagree: We should not deport undocumented immigrants and their children; instead, Congress should pass immigration reform that strengthens border security, makes sure undocumented immigrants are paying taxes, and offers a fair, but strict path to citizenship.
19) Agree or Disagree: The U.S. government should ensure all citizens have access to affordable health care, and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is a step in the right direction.
20) Agree or Disagree: The U.S. government should take reasonable steps to address and combat climate change.
So heres the deal: right now, in terms of policy, most Democrats in office would agree with all 20 statements, whereas most Republican politicians would disagree. Clearly, the divide between the two parties in terms of ideology and policy is vast.
Also, I framed the statements this way on purpose. Whereas Democrats tend to be for, or in favor of new proposals and policies (like many listed above), Republicans tend to oppose change.
ParanoidFactoid
(17 posts)Russian military troll farms
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/russia-internet-trolls-and-donald-trump-2016-7?r=US&IR=T
Bretton Garcia
(970 posts)LYING DONALD IS AT WORK, OVERTIME Another day, another broken promise, another lie, from LYING DONALD. To try to distract us all from his Russian and health care problems, Trump has released a whole new series of outrageous acts. In the campaign, Trump said he would "absolutely" support gays, etc. But once again, Trump lied, or missiles a promise he would not keep. As today he said there would be no trans-gender persons in his military. And if you're a conservative, who thinks Donald is just lying to Liberals, and that's OK? Stay tuned.
This latest about face is just one of a thousand broken promises from Lying Trump. Who either lies. Or is too stupid to know most of his promises ate unreliable. And by the way, working guys? You might hope that it's OK; that LYING DONALD only lies to liberals. But that's not true; he lies constantly to everybody. Even his core conservative supporters.
Not content with his endless stream of lies and unrealistic promises so far, Trump issued yet another huge lie yesterday in Youngstown or environs. Looking around at the rust belt around him, he said "Don't sell your house." Since he said, "It's all coming back."
Really, Donald? You're going to rebuild America's entire industrial base? Or even just Youngstown?
Finally we will be showing here, at length, that basically nothing but shit comes out of Donald's Trumpeting mouth, folks.
And so we here propose a new talking toy. Called "LYING DONALD." Or Lying Trump. Or something similar. It will be programmed to issue many statements from Trump. But then immediately issue his reversal.
Preferably, optionally, the head of "Lying Donald" will face one way, when making his first statement. But then? His head will change direction, or even rotate 180° Or 360, when issuing his opposite remark. Preferably far right to far left. Or straight ahead to, owl like, looking directly back.
All tight reserved. Inquiries Dr. GPG.
To fight advertising and propaganda, opposition jokes, counterprogramming etc., are very useful.
cgralow
(24 posts)... I just ask the propagandist why they are so obviously spreading propaganda. I've never received an answer.