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Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumHow to do hasbara properly
Here are examples of CRAP hasbarah
Denouncing newspapers and other publications for petty, nit-picky, irrelevant things. Most everything you see from Honest Reporting and the other self-appointed media watchdogs falls into this category. They moan about word choice. (usually because the watchdog, himself, doesn't know what the word in question actually means) They scream Kristelnacht because a fact or detail was left out, or gripe about "moral equivalence" when two things are mentioned in the same paragraph. (Did I just create an equivalence between Kristenacht and moral? I did use both words in the same sentence.)
Now occasionally media outlets do make serious errors, and I don't include the response to those types of errors in this category, but let's be honest: those types of errors are very far and few between, and usually corrections are issued immediately.
Offering a knee-jerk denial to every Palestinian claim of injustice. Can we be honest, please, here among ourselves? Sometimes the IDF and the police and other authorities make mistakes. Sometimes they commit outright crimes. I don't say any of this happens frequently, but it does happen. The abject denial of this reality by hasbrahniks makes all of us look stupid.
Also, the claim that every child shot by the IDF was a dangerous "terrorist" is not helpful. Better to just tell the truth, and admit the facts. This is how you win credibility.
Tin-foil hat interpretations of CCTV videos
Occasionally, IDF crimes or mistakes are captured on video. Now, I agree that a video doesn't tell the whole story, and that occasionally important information is missing. I also agree that the difference between a "mistake" and a "crime" is not easily spotted. Making both of these points is legitimate and are NOT examples of crap hasbarah.
What is unacceptable, however, is the practice of denying what the video clearly shows, after subjecting it to the full-on Zapruder film analysis. For example, CNN published a video that clearly showed an Israeli in uniform firing the bullet that hit Nadeem Nawara. One self-appointed hasbrahnik preposterously argued that the video actually showed a soldier firing a rubber bullet, and concluded that Nawara had to have been killed in the ambulance by other Palestinians. Don't do that. You look like an idiot, and no one with any sense is convinced.
http://dovbear.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/how-to-do-hasbrah-properly.html
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How to do hasbara properly (Original Post)
shaayecanaan
Nov 2014
OP
King_David
(14,851 posts)1. He had nothing to write on his vanity blog?
Wasn't the most interesting article I ever read.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)4. Your replies, on the other hand, are always endlessly fascinating (nt)
King_David
(14,851 posts)6. Thank you
It's good that we agree on some things.
Response to shaayecanaan (Original post)
grossproffit This message was self-deleted by its author.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)3. Not bad advice really.
Although it is important to remember that propaganda is often not intended for ones enemies, but for ones friends, and in that case reasoned debate is not what is wanted, but rather one wants to re-confirm previously held views.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)5. Absolutely...
cable news wouldn't exist if people didn't like being told what they want to hear.