But ABC is part of the liberal media! A lesson in propaganda tactics

Quick quiz, who would win in a popularity contest among American citizens:

George Clooney or Ann Coulter?

Sean Penn or Sean Hannity?

Susan Sarandon or Rush Limbaugh?

Danny Glover or Pat Buchanan?

I am not even going to tell you the answers because if you do not already know that means you are a freeper who has your head so far up your ass that your shoulders are tearing those cheeks wide open.

It is a fact that most Americans love Hollywood movies. It is a fact that many of the best actors out there are on the left end of the political spectrum, and this does not seem to bother most Americans one bit.

While some of the freepers out there may not know this, I can guarantee that Karl Rove does know just how popular Hollywood is but he keeps attacking it anyways. Why is this? Answering this question is key to understanding the ABC situation and why the right-wing media is able to keep attacking “liberal-media bias”.

The truth is that the right-wing wants Hollywood to be dominated by the left. Why? Because ultimately the Hollywood actors have very little influence in the political world aside from the few sound bytes that the right-wing corporations allow them to put out.

When they attack the celebrities they know they are attacking American icons, but they also know they are reinforcing the myth of the liberal media. They can tell us that most the people in the media today are liberals, when in fact the people who have the real influence in the media are not liberal at all. It is the not the celebrities but the boardroom executives who ultimately get to decide what goes on the air. Yet these boardroom executives are unknown to most Americans, thus they are able to control what we see and hear without people even realizing what their agenda is.

Just look at what was recently written on the Path to 9/11 blog recently by David Cunningham, “The team of filmmakers, actors and executives responsible for this movie have a wide range of political perspectives. I would say that most of those perspectives (which is the vast majority in Hollywood) would be considered "liberal" or "left".”

Do you see what he is doing? He is using the fact that most Hollywood actors are liberal to suggest that there is no way his film could have any right-wing bias. This is what the right-wing media does, they divert our attention to people who are required to follow a script which usually does not have a political agenda in order to get us to forget about the people who do express their agenda openly over our airwaves.

When was the last time you heard Tim Robbins give a speech on politics on a major network? You may have heard sound bytes, but I highly doubt you heard any more than that recently. He can not give a speech on political issues on a major network, instead the only clips of him we see talking about politics are the ones that Bill O’Reilly wants us to see.

Look what the media did to the Dixie Chicks when they spoke out, the media absolutely railed on them and used them as examples to “prove” the media was liberal. By focusing on the celebrities the right-wing is able to divert the attention away from the right-wingers who dominate the “news” and are able to push their agenda openly, and they get us to focus on the politics of people who are only given limited chances to express their opinions.

That is the nature of propaganda, and that is why the myth of the liberal media still exists.

...to which I would add that the myth is prevalent because it has been effectively reinforced through endless repetition. A lie will be believed if it is endlessly repeated, a classic brainwashing technique. You have to give the Right Wing's Mighty Wurlitzer some credit, they find a message and they repeat it ad nauseum, through multiple media (which as you point out they control.)

It is a branding strategy pure and simple, not that different from the Maytag repairman being the "loneliest" or "don't squeeze the Charmin. It's marketing 101...

If our side was to repeat the truth over and over, just like the Republicans repeat their lies over and over we would make some major headway. The left has always been about well thought out arguments over repetition, and in many ways this is a very good thing. At the same time however we do need more repetition in order to truly drive our points home. That is why you will notice that in many of my posts I do repeat myself a lot, because it is important to really place emphasis on certain key points.

The media reinforces the myth that it is "liberal" by allowing some famous liberals airtime, therefore the media is "liberal".

It really does keep the myth of the liberal media alive.

k and r