8 replies to this topic

[jugoso]

In a little-noticed addition to a $642 billion defense bill, bipartisan legislators are proposing getting rid of two previous acts, the Smith-Mundt Act and Foreign Relations Authorization Act, aimed at forbidding the State Department and Pentagon from unleashing misinformation campaigns on its own citizens,  allowing "U.S. propaganda intended to influence foreign audiences to be used on the domestic population." The Pentagon already spends about $4 billion a year to sway public opinion, particularly on unpopular issues like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.commondre...er/2012/05/21-0


   “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

    “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”
And:
    “Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
Joseph Goebbels, MiniProp for Hitler’s Third Reich
1897-1945
   "Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same for any country."
    Herman Goering to Gustave Gilbert at Nuremberg, 18 April, 1946

[Mr. Smith]

I didn't know they had keyboards in Goebbels time.

[jugoso]

Framling, on 22 May 2012 - 12:41 AM, said:

I didn't know they had keyboards in Goebbels time.

Those Nazis had it all!!
http://thinkexist.co...ich/383183.html

[Mr. Smith]

jugoso, on 22 May 2012 - 01:23 AM, said:

Those Nazis had it all!!
http://thinkexist.co...ich/383183.html

You're right!   I'm an 80's kid, typewriters were for secrataries and writers.

[lightly]

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
Joseph Goebbels

... Probably a nearly meaningless point for me to bring up...  But , i think Goebbels was referring to a Musical Keyboard?
  I've never heard of anyone   playing  a typewriter.

[FLOMBIE]

Thank you, lightly!

[Bama13]

lightly, on 22 May 2012 - 11:22 AM, said:

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
Joseph Goebbels

... Probably a nearly meaningless point for me to bring up...  But , i think Goebbels was referring to a Musical Keyboard?
  I've never heard of anyone   playing  a typewriter.

I have heard someone refered to as "being able to play a typewriter like it was a piano". But you are correct in what Herr Doktor Goebbels was saying.

[jugoso]

Too funny, I automatically thought about computer keyboards too. Thanks Lightly!!

Aside from the quote, is no one concerned that the government is trying to get permission to deliberately misinform their population (lie to them) again? With pretty much NO media coverage in a real "back-door" fashion. I know, I know, they already do, but repealing these acts would really give a green light to outright lie to their citizens with no repercussions

The latest defense authorization bill passed Friday afternoon in the House without much attention until Michael Hastings over at Buzzfeed noticed something out of the ordinary in the procedural legislation: an amendement that would overturn the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 and Foreign Relations Authorization Act in 1987; legislation that protects U.S. audiences from our own government's propaganda and misinformation campaigns. The authors of the bill, Texas Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry and Washington Democrat Rep. Adam Smith say that in this age of social media our government needs to be flexible in combating, for example, Al Qaeda's propaganda that lands on U.S. shores and in front of U.S. citizens via the internet. Critics contend that with the repeal of this legislation whatever administration is in power would now be enabled to disseminate false and biased information to American citizens.


There are three key restrictions on the U.S. State Department in the Smith–Mundt Act.
The first and most well-known restriction was originally a prohibition on domestic dissemination of materials intended for foreign audiences by the State Department
http://en.wikipedia....ith–Mundt_Act



In a move to push forward legislation to change the Smith-Mundt Act, The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 has been included as part of an en-bloc amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013:

Thornberry (R-TX): Amendment No. 114—Amends the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (known as the Smith-Mundt Act) and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1986 and 1987 to clarify the authorities of the Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors to prepare, disseminate and use public diplomacy information abroad and to strike the current ban on domestic dissemination of such material. The amendment would clarify that the Smith-Mundt Act’s provisions related to public diplomacy information do not apply to other federal departments or agencies (including the DoD).
http://americansecur...ng-smith-mundt/
Do Americans not know, not care, or think it not important or that it is necessary in todays age of technology??
I find it unsettling but I´m not American

[lightly]

I love clarity      . . Thanks for another enlightening thread jugoso.  
I think the bill stinks!  If it's against the law for a citizen to lie to government,  then more certainly the opposite should apply•     We all know the reason$  this bill is even being considered!