February 17

"My audience is God."

--New basketball sensation Jeremy Lin; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Takeaways from Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s Visit to the U.S. - Dean Cheng, blog.heritage.org: "The new Defense Strategic Guidance, which outlines U.S. military priorities, gives no indication of what resources will be shifted to Asia. Indeed, in a period when the defense budget is facing enormous cuts, there is not ... even a hint that Asia-related expenditures will be 'fenced off.'

Meanwhile, in its public diplomacy, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been busy reassuring European allies that the U.S. was not drawing down its commitment. Panetta even went so far as to claim that Europe is the 'security partner of choice for military operations and diplomacy around the world.' Senior Administration officials have also stated that the United States would remain committed to the Middle East and would not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons." Uncaptioned image from article

US Ambassador visits Pacific Institute of Education in Manukau - Press Release, BEST Pacific Education: "The inaugural visit by US Ambassador, David Huebner to the Best Pacific Institute of Education campus in Manukau is further endorsement of the great work the organisation is doing in tertiary education for Pasifika communities. Ambassador Huebner met with students from the business school and Youth Academy and the organisation’s staff team. He spoke with several of the employment and career consultants at the campus who have made outstanding strides in placing 70.4% students in to jobs in 2011 at the completion of their studies. ... A focus of Ambassador Huebner’s mission in New Zealand is to connect with Pasifika communities. His visit to the Manukau campus was very much aligned with that goal. 'Diplomacy in the 21st century is as much about building connections between people as between governments. One of my priorities is to focus our public diplomacy efforts on links with New Zealand’s Pasifika communities – and in particular Pasifika youth – because the youth of today are the problem-solvers, innovators, and leaders of tomorrow. I enjoyed meeting with the staff at Best Pacific Institute of Education, and particularly the students: they were engaged, upbeat, and ready to take what they are learning out into the workplace. With a strong academic and vocational foundation, I’m sure the young people can make a real contribution in their communities and be a credit to their families' says Ambassador Huebner."

State Department Promotes Debunked ‘Fracking’ Propaganda - Lachlan Markay, blog.heritage.org: "The State Department is promoting a widely-debunked film about natural gas development as part of an effort at 'smart power diplomacy'

The film, 'Gasland,' is widely credited with spreading hysteria about the practice of hydraulic fracturing, a natural gas mining technique under fire from environmentalists nationwide. The film purports to show the dangers of 'fracking,' but many of its key findings – including the iconic image of flames spewing from a kitchen faucet – have been shown to be wildly misleading. State announced the event in a news release last week: ['] The American Film Showcase builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of 'smart power diplomacy,' which embraces the use of a full range of diplomatic tools – in this case film – to bring people together and foster greater understanding.['] Comprised of 29 American films, the Showcase represents work of high artistic quality, illustrates diverse viewpoints, and reflects contemporary American society and culture. In addition to presenting the films to overseas audiences, the filmmakers and film experts will also conduct lectures, workshops, master classes on a variety of topics including filmmaking, storytelling, cinematography, marketing, distribution and funding, animation, digital technology, and emergent media, among others. Gasland is one of 19 documentaries to be shown. The film makes numerous factual misstatements, such as its claim that the natural gas industry is exempt from the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. It routinely misrepresents the fracking process, its impacts on the environment, and government regulators’ views on the practice." Image from article

Building bridges through student diplomacy - Rich Moniak, juneauempire.com: “The one most important thing I learned and appreciate about the U.S. and want my country to follow is that America accepts differences. It finds similarities and respects differences, which I think the whole world needs to learn.” … former YES exchange student [.] In the eyes of the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 revealed that public diplomacy efforts with predominantly Muslims countries had been neglected for many years. Soon afterwards they helped establish the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange Study (YES) program. Its goal is to promote mutual understanding and respect between U.S. citizens and the Muslim population around the world. In essence, YES is sowing the seeds of friendships so our children can create a more peaceful world. In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of the local coordinators for four YES students attending Thunder Mountain High School this year. Our role is to provide assistance and support to the students and their host families in Juneau. I receive a monthly stipend of $50 from AYUSA, one of several nonprofits that administer State Department grants for the YES program. I am also a host parent for a Muslim student from Turkey. Before this year I had never been involved in a student exchange program. And I never imagined they could have a significant impact on international politics. But I’ve come to see such thinking is shortsighted. While I certainly don’t expect these students to immediately usher in an era of world peace, I do believe they and their TMHS classmates might be better equipped to practice international diplomacy than many of today’s political leaders."

Party Line vs. Congressional Hearings - BBG Watcher, Free Media on Line: "[There] is the need for overseeing congressional committees to hold comprehensive hearings on the future of U.S. international broadcasting, and do it BEFORE

any legislation is able to move through Congress that would simply rubber stamp the BBG’s flim flam strategic plan." Image from

Bahrain: Land of Pearls and Hospitality - Michael McLean, exchangediplomacy.com: "One night over winter break, an email popped into my inbox about an all expenses paid educational trip to Bahrain. A Bahraini MPA student studying at Maxwell was kind enough to distribute this call for applications from the Good Word Society, a Bahraini NGO that focuses on social development. Lucky enough to be selected for this program, I traveled to Bahrain the first week of classes this spring semester with two other Public Diplomacy students and an MPA student. None of us knew what to expect, this trip was rather last minute and we had had little to no interaction with the organizers prior to arriving in Bahrain. We were pleasantly surprised by the hospitality and openness of our hosts. Over the course of this ten day trip, we had the opportunity to not only get to know our amazing Bahraini hosts (all volunteers), but also the other participants - 25 men and women from all over the world.

The trip, or 'Discover Bahrain' as our organizers had labeled it, was designed to show Bahrain through the eyes of the Bahraini people. We were busy non-stop the entire ten days, and it seemed like we saw every inch of this tiny island in the Persian (Bahrainis prefer Arab) Gulf. We attended lectures and tours at many governmental and non-governmental organizations, from Parliament to the Arabian Gulf University. ... Michael McLean is a first-year Public Diplomacy student (MA International Relations and MS Public Relations) in the Maxwell and Newhouse schools. ... Upon graduating from the Public Diplomacy Program, Michael plans on joining the Foreign Service." Uncaptioned image from article

Syria’s Armenians: Between a Rock and a Hard Place - themiddleeastonline.com.au: "Despite high tensions and increasing violence, the Syrian-Armenian community [in Syria] strives to navigate a neutral course. It has refrained from taking an official and public position, although members continuously voice their willingness to stand by the government—regardless of who holds power—for the sake of peace and stability, said T.N. [a Syrian Armenian from Aleppo]. Historian Ara Sanjian believes there is nothing the Syrian Armenians can do

in this internal conflict. 'They only need to save their heads, and hope that the lightning won’t strike them too hard' . ... According to Sanjian, the U.S. is pursuing its own, as well as Israel’s, interests in the region. 'There’s the issue of Israel finally relaxing; for that to happen, Iran must weaken, Hezbollah must weaken. These things are more important to the U.S., and if they can evoke the cause of democracy in the process, that’s a bonus for them in public diplomacy. The West, they say, wants democracy. Well, if that is its major objective, why don’t they want the same in Bahrain?” Uncaptioned image from article

US, Iran inching toward talks - M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times: "[T]here are, after all, enough folks in Washington who haven't lost their sanity through all these months of shadow-boxing and grandstanding in the US-Iran standoff. Alongside, in a third cluster, Tehran, too, has resorted to a bit of public diplomacy to project its interest in constructively engaging the US. Prominent among these have been three articles penned by Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who held a key position in Iran's nuclear negotiating team until six years ago (besides serving as Iran's ambassador to Germany for seven years.)"

Key to the Solution, Part of the Problem: Germany needs better public diplomacy within the EU - Almut Möller, dgap.org: There is no way out of the debt crisis without Germany. But for many partners in the European Union, Berlin is part of the problem. Not too long ago, it was said that Germany wasn’t leading – and now: it’s not leading right. Berlin is perceived as cracking the whip on regulation with little sympathy for the hardship of the countries in crisis. The federal government has to take this development seriously, as it threatens to shrink its scope for action. ... Germany is perceived as dominant, arrogant, and uncompromising. ... The Federal Republic will continue to be confronted with growing anti-German rhetoric. Rules and procedures are only one part of the problem. Berlin must finally develop a convincing public diplomacy toward the EU countries and citizens most affected by the crisis. And it must have a better feel for the fact that statements directed

at a German voting constituency will eventually find their way to Athens, Lisbon, or Dublin. ... Above all, it is important to increase visibility in affected partner countries and to show more understanding for the difficult situation faced not only by the population but also government officials and members of parliaments. Although German embassies are aware of the necessity of public diplomacy in the course of the debt crisis, this duty requires a much stronger visibility, for instance through visits by top-ranking German politicians." Via MA on twitter. Image from article

A country on a roll, or rather a wave - "[T]he South Koreans, proud of their achievements and eager to tell the world, are doing everything they can ... [in] 'soft' power. Chinese success is more talked about. But China is such an unusually large and atypical country that other Asians are not sure that the Chinese model, if it really exists, is readily exportable. Japan, sadly, has lost its lustre. Midsized South Korea, however, fits the bill nicely. ... To meet soaring demand for knowledge

about South Korea, a new department of public diplomacy was set up two years ago by the Korea Foundation, a government quango. This runs an 'Intellectual Exchanges' programme and a 'Next Generation Leaders' programme, catering mainly for visiting government ministers and bureaucrats. ... [T]he chances are that South Korea’s political example will rub off, too. South Korean officials might be helped by the wild popularity of Korean pop and television dramas and soap operas in the rest of Asia, part of the 'Korean wave'. In one of Phnom Penh’s more fashionable parks, the young gather most evenings to rehearse their Korean-pop dance moves and sing Korean songs. Eventually people may start to get the real message of the links between the country’s prosperity, openness, relative political freedom and lively—if nakedly commercial—popular culture." Uncaptioned image from article

Nation branding - Aga, coastalasiaunrevealed.blogspot.com: "I have already mentioned about Korean Nation Branding efforts and how they impress me. In more developed countries than Korea comprehensive nation advertising and public diplomacy took much longer time or is not that well organized [.]This entry of the blog has been featured on Arirang TV in Today's Blog program, Trend Zone. ... Part of it is Korean Wave which currently hits Japan, China and other Asian countries. Korean boysbands and girlsbands, so called K-pop music to which you may find links in the video corner is just an example. Korean dramas with Winter Sonata leading among them, singer BoA and many others.

This year Seoul was choosen as one of the must-visit cities by UNESCO as a result of long term action of the Metropolitan Government. Maybe it was this little creature, Haechi, which was designed as a Seoul brand based on a fictional good spirit, symbol of the city, which caused it? Who knows..." Image from article, with comment: "The restaurant which name is Pulhyanggi serves all sorts of Korean food for very sophisticated set of clients who usually go there for business negotiations and incentives."

How can semiotics shape public diplomacy? - commissionmasters.com:

"John asks… Public diplomacy is the attempt of the government to shape the international political debate. Part of this is in finding the right signifiers that can be sealed in their meaning in a way that will appeal to a broad audience. Semiotics suggests that signifiers are both contextual and connotative, right? But does semiotics contain a theory of what drives these connotations, and if so, is it possible to use semiotics as an analytical tool by which to predict what signs will best appeal within a specific cultural context both now and in the future? I know it’s a bit of an odd question, and I’m just dabbling in my knowledge of semiotics, but hopefully someone out there can set me on a straight path. Thanks for any help, TJ [.] admin answers: As far as shaping public diplomacy, people do that, not the tools they use, whether it is semiotics, body language or words. I believe so much attention is paid to words and not enough it spent studying the bulk of communication other than words, it is time for more attention to communication that is not just the words. Some purist Semioticians contend that the signs are the true object of the study of Semiotics, not communication. A master communicator would use semiotics and crafted words to communicate most effectively. I’m thinking the most recent affect [sic] that is a result of semiotics was the pointing that Bill Clinton did. Remember when he thrust out his hand to point, he used his thumb. His handlers told him that using a finger made the pictures of him seem more intimidating, but the thumb looked more like a thumbs up and more congenial." John image from entry.

EU Ambassador calls on EALA speaker/Rallies support for the integration process - ivorian.net: "Ambassador Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi who was appointed the Head of the EU Delegation to Tanzania in December 2011 presented his Letters of Credence to President Jakaya M. Kikwete on January 10th 2012. His mandate covers overall representation of the EU and leading Member States on EU matters; political dialogue with Tanzania and EAC authorities; management of development assistance; trade relations; and public diplomacy with the host country."

Breitbart, Fleischman, Wilcox and Breiter on Republican Primaries and the News Media - CCLP Staff, USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy: "This article was written by Sarah Myers, Master of Public Diplomacy '13."

RELATED ITEMS

How to handle China's Xi Jinping: The U.S. visit of Beijing's leader-designate offers an opportunity to try gauging his intentions. But the real work must be to find common ground - Timothy Garton Ash, latimes.com:  To craft a new Pax Pacifica is therefore the great strategic challenge of our time.The U.S. and China must be prepared to get into a conversation about the international order. Each country must remain true to its own values but work to see where there is common ground — and where adjustment, compromise or simply agreeing to disagree are viable.

This may fail, but it would be criminal folly not to attempt it.So Xi and President Obama should plan a joint summer retreat on the coast of Australia, guided by Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. Full-blown, beer-chugging mateship between the Chinese and Americans may be too much to expect, but it is essential for them to open a frank, strategic conversation about global values and the foundations of international order. Image from article, with caption: Xi Jinping, vice president of China, speaks during a luncheon of the U.S.-China Business Council in Washington, D.C.

A new China, a new test for the U.S.: America has to play the long game and get China policy right, not just for this month or year but for this decade and century. We are interdependent and stuck with one another - Nina Hachigian, latimes.com: China's leaders do not see their nation as the unstoppable giant that Americans do. They see potential chaos around every corner. As the United States ramps up in Asia, it needs to continue to assure China that America welcomes its prosperity. While the U.S. pushes and prods China to follow international rules, especially when it comes to trade and human rights, it should continue to seek to expand cooperation in other areas and strengthen underutilized channels such as military-to-military, student exchanges and tourism.

China is serious about its direction. Why aren’t we about ours? - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: For decades to come, the United States and China will be the world’s two biggest economic powers. We’re stuck with each other, like it or not.

In Russia, Putin allies sharpen anti-American attacks ahead of elections - Kathy Lally, Washington Post: A nasty spate of anti-Americanism set off by Vladimir V. Putin has grown into waves of attacks aimed at the new American ambassador and Russian opposition leaders, raising questions about the future of U.S.-Russian relations. The attacks started just before the December parliamentary elections and have intensified as the March 4 presidential vote approaches. Although widely viewed as aimed primarily at a domestic audience, they have grown shriller and more aggressive, provoking debate about whether Russia is deliberately giving a cold shoulder to President Obama’s effort to promote more productive relations. A main target of the attacks is Michael McFaul, the new ambassador, a longtime democracy advocate and Russia expert who as a top aide to Obama has been an architect of what the White House calls a “reset" with Moscow. The anti-American campaign bears trademark Soviet and KGB thinking, reflecting the mindset of many of the high-level officials appointed by Putin as well as their efforts to protect their power and privileges from the gathering opposition.

McFaul has avoided commenting publicly but has responded by using Twitter and his blog to speak directly to the Russian people. After a columnist on the government RT television Web site proclaimed that Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright had ordered McFaul to groom revolutionaries in Russia — and that McFaul had sent prominent blogger Alexei Navalny to Yale as part of that project — McFaul tweeted that it was a lie. Paul Hollander, a sociologist and expert on anti-Americanism, described the tactics as old-style Soviet propaganda that still resonates because as the remaining superpower America is easy to resent. “Putin probably doesn’t believe it himself,” he said, “but probably many Russians do.”  Image from

Egypt's cold shoulder: A sudden new wave of anti-Americanism is thriving in Cairo - David Schenker, latimes.com: As 16 U.S. citizens await trial in Egypt for accepting foreign financing to promote democracy, for the first time in more than 30 years there is a serious debate in Washington about whether to end the $1.3-billion annual military assistance to Cairo. There's no debate in Egypt, however. More than 70% of Egyptians, according to a recent Gallup poll, no longer want U.S. funding. The investigation of the NGOs is a symptom rather than the root of the bilateral crisis. Notwithstanding the parliamentary elections, Egypt today is dominated by a coalition of military authoritarians and aspiring theocrats that views Washington with great suspicion.Although a solution might be found for this particular controversy -- with or without U.S. foreign assistance -- this bilateral dynamic assures that the next crisis is not far off.

Iran Versus Everyone: The Islamic Republic's belligerence threatens more than Israel - Review and Outlook, Wall Street Journal: It is in nobody's interest, least of all America's, to see a regional war erupt in the Middle East. It is even less in America's interests to back our allies in Jerusalem into a corner where they feel they have no choice other than to fight, as they did in 1967. An Iran that seeks to murder diplomats across the globe is a threat to global security. The U.S. has an even larger interest than Israel in stopping it.

U.S., EU optimistic for Iran nuke talks - Guy Taylor, The Washington Times: .S. and European leaders expressed optimism Friday that direct talks with Iran about its nuclear program could restart in the near future. “There is a potential possibility that Iran may be ready to start talks,” Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top official for foreign affairs and security policy, said at the State Department. “I’m cautious and optimistic at the same time for this.” Her remarks come two days after Iranian leaders sent a letter to Mrs. Ashton indicating a willingness to restart nuclear talks with the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

Tensions with Iran raise U.S. safety concerns - Eileen Sullivan and Alicaia A. Caldwell, staradvertiser.com: The government is worried that Iran will consider a terror attack on American soil, but it has no specific or credible threat about such a plot. Police from Los Angeles to New York City said they were anxious about the risks, even as a senior U.S. intelligence official reassured Congress that it was unlikely Iran would attack. Law enforcement officials are keeping an eye out for potential Iranian operatives or anyone with links to the country’s proxy terrorist group, Hezbollah, as tensions escalate amid bombings overseas and tough talk from Iran’s government about its nuclear energy program. Los Angeles, which has one of the largest Iranian communities outside Iran, has moved potential Iranian threats to the top of its intelligence briefings over the past few weeks.

The New York Police Department said it assumes Iran would attack the city, with its especially large Jewish population. Image from article, with caption: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., displays a photo of an Iranian missile emblazoned with anti-Israel propaganda as he and a bi-partisan group of senators join in supporting President Obama's sanctions against Iran for pursuing nuclear weapons, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday. From left to right are Graham, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del

War Propaganda's Triumph: U.S. Public Opinion on Iran - Ben Schreiner, globalresearch.ca: A recent series of polls gauging U.S. public opinion on Iran and its nuclear program shed light on the enduring strength of the American propaganda machine. According to a recent YouGov survey, an astounding 64% of Americans currently believe Iran is most likely enriching uranium “to build a nuclear weapon.” Of course, despite the media distortions and deceits to the contrary, no evidence exists that they are. In fact, intelligence estimates from both the U.S. and Israel conclude Iran has not yet decided on whether to pursue a nuclear weapons program. Yet, when YouGov speculated, “Suppose a number of countries decided to take action against Iran in order to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon,” 44% of Americans stated they would support bombing Iran’s nuclear installations. A total of 70% also supported increasing economic sanctions.

Sean Ali Stone Laments US Propaganda Campaign against Islam - english.farsnews.com: TEHRAN (FNA)- Sean Ali Stone, the son of the renowned Oscar-winning US director Oliver Stone, who converted to Islam earlier this week lamented that the US educational system has been seeking to assimilate Islam to dictatorship. "At school, when I was studying history, they presented the history of Islam in the framework of dictatorship," Sean Ali Stone

said at a press conference here at FNA on Friday. He pointed to his personal experience about Islam, and said "When I was with Muslims, I read (the holy) Quran and accepted Islam as a religion of equality and brotherhood." Sean Stone converted to Islam in a ceremony in the Central Iranian city of Isfahan on February 14. Sean Stone became a Shiite Muslim and chose the Muslim name of Ali as announced at the ceremony held in the Iranian historical city of Isfahan. Sean Ali Stone image from article

Stop being defensive - Ahmed Quraishi: thenews.com.pk: Since 2002, the United States has probably produced more anti-Pakistan propaganda than our traditional rival India has in decades.

Syrians Unleash the Power of Creative Dissent: Taking on Assad's thugs with dark humor, moxie and trickery - David Feith, Wall Street Journal: Defiance -- especially of the nonviolent variet y -- is nearly never enough. It won't be in Syria, and almost certainly won't be in Iran. And while Havel did help engineer a successful "Velvet Revolution" in his own country, many different internal and external forces combined to bring down the Soviet empire. So it will eventually be in Syria and Iran—sooner, if the West helps those who have taken the dangerous leap into creative dissent.

Enrollment for free culture course ends Feb. 29 - af.mil: Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. (AFNS) -- Registration for the spring "Introduction to Culture" course, an online self-paced undergraduate course that helps enlisted Airmen improve their cross-cultural competence, ends Feb. 29. The course explores subjects such as elements of culture, family, gender, religion, belief systems, sports and other cultural domains. It also helps Airmen operationalize this knowledge through cross-cultural communication, relations and conflict resolution. Three hundred seats remain for this general education course.

Cashing in on 'Linsanity' tourism - Laura Bly, USA Today: From "Lin and tonics" and "Lintinis" at Manhattan watering holes to Taiwanese tours featuring hard-to-get Knicks tickets at Madison Square Garden, some enterprising tourism promoters are hoping to turn NBA phenomenon Jeremy Lin's fairy tale success into an economic slam dunk.

The Taiwanese-American, Harvard-educated point guard's meteoric rise to fame started Feb. 4, when he came off the bench (and his brother's spare couch) to score 25 points and seven assists against the New Jersey Nets. His formerly struggling team has won seven straight games, and the onetime bench warmer has become the Big Apple's favorite Linderella story.In this Feb. 10, 2012 file photo, New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin reacts after scoring during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers, in New York. Lin image from article

How did everyone miss Jeremy Lin? - Jeff Zillgitt, USA Today: In two weeks, Lin not only became a trending topic on social media (from virtually no Twitter followers to more than 380,000) and a star for the NBA and the Knicks, he also became an overnight role model for Asians throughout the world.

The Battle for China's Soul [Review of Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom By Stephen Platt] - Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Wall Street Journal: In the early 1860s, a violent fight raged to determine the fate of a vast country. An insurrection had split it in two, leaving much of the southern half governed by men who claimed to be the leaders of a new state but were dismissed by their foes as illegitimate "rebels," outlaws who had given themselves fancy titles. American readers might naturally assume that this description refers to our Civil War. In fact, I had in mind an Asian conflict, which may be little known to Americans today but which was far bloodier than the struggle that pitted Grant against Lee (tens of millions dead, compared with under a million). The insurgents with fancy titles in this case were the self-proclaimed "Kings" of the Taiping Uprising, a movement that at its apogee held sway over a territory roughly the size of Italy. At strategic points, Mr. Platt underscores the historical links between the American and Chinese conflagrations, reminding the reader of

intersections between a pair of conflicts that have typically been treated separately. We learn of gunboats bound for America that change direction to head toward Asia and of international trade being affected by the simultaneous disruption of the flow of cotton from the South and the flow of tea from China. Many observers of the time saw the wars as analogous: To the Scottish member of Parliament Alexander Dunlop, Mr. Platt writes, "the parallels between the Confederacy and the Taiping were as plain as day." Those parallels should not be taken too far, however. Image from article, with caption: Painting of Chinese government forces attacking a Taiping stronghold at Tientsin (now Tianjin) in northern China.

The New York Times: America's Unofficial Propaganda Ministry - Stephen Lendman, mwcnews.net: For over a century, The Times played America's lead role disseminating state/corporate propaganda duplicitously. Its daily diet features managed, not real, news, information and analysis. Readers don't get what they pay for. They're cheated on what matters most. What it reports, America's media regurgitate. Readers and viewers are left misinformed and uninformed in the dark.

Brainwashing in Communism and in Democracy - Frank Li and Derryl Hermanutz, econintersect.com: 1. What is brainwashing? Brainwashing, or “mind control,” refers to a process in which a group or individual systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s), often to the detriment of the person being manipulated. 3. Brainwashing in democracy Brainwashing in democracy is not as obvious as in communism. So it’s time to have a serious discussion about it.  3.1 “Crystallizing public opinion" In 1922, Walter Lippmann published his book "Public Opinion", which offered an incisive psychological and sociological examination of the emotional, irrational, herd-conformity factors that contribute to people's opinions. In 1923, Edward Bernays

(pictured right) published his book "Crystallizing Public Opinion", in which he argues that “crystallizing public opinion” is essential to a democratic government of large-scale nations: to "govern" a vastly disparate people, you have to unify their minds. Bernays criticized Lippmann for knowing the public mind so well, but failing to use that knowledge to manipulate the mind. Bernays spent a long career creating the opinion-making machinery, which would provide the “news” that would become the “history” of the 20th century. The engineered perceptions, not reality, provide the carefully crafted contents of people’s “public opinions”. “Creating a media event,” Bernays counsels his clients, “is something that disrupts the normal flow of public attention. I will show you how to craft that event to direct public opinion along the channels that serve your purposes." America's media reports on a stage-managed theater, which they believe to be “events”. The events are carefully crafted by PR counsels, like Bernays, to generate exactly the media "take" that results. The media buys the illusion, and then does the work of selling it to the public. When interviewed in 1990, Bernays, then nearly 100 years old, told Stuart Ewen (who wrote the introduction to a recent reprinting of “Crystallizing Public Opinion”), "We, PR counsels, have had no direct contact with the mass media for about 50 years. The job of a PR counsel is to instruct a client on how to take actions that just interrupt the continuity of life in some way to bring about the desired media response.” It is the media whose opinions are manipulated in the first place. They believe they are reporting and editorializing on “news”. But “news” is the creation of media events that induce the desired public opinions, first in the media, then in the masses. To the delight of the reigning power structure, most people assume the Enlightenment ideal that people form their opinions from evidence and hold those opinions "rationally", subject to alteration when contrary evidence comes to light. In fact, almost all people are selectively fed their opinions by "authorities", or the media, and they cling to their “opinions” with blind devotion rather than base them tentatively on rational evidence. Ask them to justify their opinions and you will get a defensive rant, simply regurgitating the “opinion” that has been fed to them; they will often act not unlike an angry monkey jumping around threateningly. You’ll likely not get a cool rational explanation of the evidence and logic that supports belief in one conclusion and weakens belief in alternate conclusions. Beliefs are held as “opinions”, not “hard knowledge”, though people usually believe that they “know” things rather than recognizing that they merely “believe” them. Most individual’s opinions, and all public herd opinions, are held emotionally, not intellectually or analytically, so public opinion is created by manipulating people's emotions and instincts, not their rational minds. In his 1928 book, Propaganda, Bernays writes of Lippmann's predecessors Wilfred Trotter and Gustave Le Bon: "Trotter and Le Bon concluded that the group mind does not think in the strict sense of the word. In place of thought it has impulses, habits and emotions. In making up its mind, its first impulse is to follow the example of a trusted leader. This is one of the most firmly established principles of mass psychology." As Ewen writes, Bernays correctly gathered from Le Bon, Trotter, Lippmann etc. that, "Without a thorough comprehension of the unconscious and instinctual triggers that stimulate human behavior, the work of the PR counsel would be impossible." Insofar as the masses have “reasons” for believing what they believe, they arrive at those reasons after the fact, to justify their beliefs; often they don’t think up the reasons! Talk radio and other professional partisans think up and sell prepackaged “reasons”. The masses’ beliefs are not built up deductively from careful examination and coherent compilation of evidence. Often, the reasons they give have nothing to do with the real reason they have the beliefs they have. They were told what to believe, showed what to believe, and they form their “opinions” in that way. Bernays image from article

Revolutions re-examined: History’s most radical changes through art and photography - Aline Sara, nowlebanon.com:  From NYC’s Occupy Wall Street protests to the fiery streets of Homs, angry protesters in Athens to student demonstrations in Santiago de Chile, upheaval continues to unfold across the globe, especially the Arab world, leaving the region’s future shrouded in mystery. It is in this light that the Beirut Art Center (BAC) holds its latest exhibition, Revolution vs. Revolution, to explore the concept of revolution in the broadest sense of the term: radical social and political change over relatively short periods of time. Painting the rise and fall of history’s most significant movements and regimes through the work of 13 different international artists, Revolution vs. Revolution is on display until March 30. As encapsulated by its title, the exhibition “aims to invoke previous revolutions in confrontation with both their present realities and the current changes gripping our region,” through a variety

of different mediums. These include anything from photographs of Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution to collages reflecting the use of art as propaganda under Lenin’s Soviet Russia, and from short films exploring Marxism’s relevance today to a series of images documenting South Africa’s apartheid. The works play on both time and space: the art is at times contemporary of the artists’ epoch, while at others presents a retrospective look at history. Image from exhibit, Lenin -- The Brain of the Working Class? from

MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

"For all its technological sophistication and hefty price tag, modern medicine may be doing more to complicate the end of life than to prolong or improve it."

--Craig Bowron, a hospital-based internist in Minneapolis.

"The Beach Boys reunited at the Grammys. They’re headed out on tour for their 50th anniversary. Now when they sing about surfing, they mean surfing the Internet for discounted prostate medication."

–Conan

IMAGE

From: Fallout shelter ads - Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing