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True or False: The History Channel is increasingly becoming Foxified,- an adjunct of the Bush PsyOp

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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 07:53 AM
Original message
Poll question: True or False: The History Channel is increasingly becoming Foxified,- an adjunct of the Bush PsyOp
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 08:35 AM by tom_paine
Oh, it's subtle, and not Sean Hannity-ish, at all. HC must preserve the mistaken perception that it is an unbiased purveyor of history, which it probably was, and I would guess a Change of Ownership occurred sometime after the Bush Coup of 2000, and if someone knows for sure, I would greatly appreciate knowing.

What are these Bushevik propaganda points that are now being drummed into the middle-managers and CEOs of the world as "historical truth"? Here are just a few:

George Washington was just like Bush. He, too, had his "moment on the aircraft carrier".
The invasion of Tripoli was just like the invasion of Iraq.
James Madison was just like Bush. The War of 1812 was just like Iraq.
Lincoln was just like Bush. He had to make hard decisions.
US Grant fought a post Civil-War "War on Terror" against The Terrorist Wing of the Democratic Party, the KKK.

And on and on and on, believe you me, this list is but a small sampling.

Most pervasive is the creeping sensation that an increasing number of things, particularly when speaking of great Americans of the past, is framed and referenced around Bushian Terms. I can only say that, once you notice it, it is a less in-your-face version of worshipful Nazis doing their jobs but thinking at every moment, how they can honor Der Fuhrer in their daily work.

Like most Bushevik Propaganda, it is subtle...you have to be looking for it. Once you do, you will see the same growing horror that will cause you to recollect the first time you noticed the MSM was turning to garbage, nonsense and lies, I suspect.

Also, increasingly, Bushevik Commentators are appearing in their American History Specials. It isn't quite as bad as Ann Coulter hosts the History Channel Special "FDR: Traitor or Jew-Spy?", but it's inching closer every year.

Now, as I said this is not to say that the History Channel is ham-fisted and Fox-like. It is not. Considering that seizing the History Channel, due to the demographic that watches it (mostly white, middle-aged guy - the demographic the Busheviks continue to fool at a higher rate than anyone else) is a way to reinforce Bushevik propaganda and the False Reality Bubble to a new level.

It is the beginning of the Orwellian/Soviet washing of history, and right now what will one day be a hurricane is but a whispering in the trees.

But, as a White Guy myself, I still cannot resist watching the History Channel, and also because, as I said, the pro-Bushevism is hardly constant, although I have casught sdome whiffs of Bush-Fuhrer Worship even creeping into the International and Ancient History segments, such as the recent ones of new Egyptology discoveries, where the early Egyptian Pharaohs were described in overtly Bushian NewSpeak (the specifics escape me, I wish I could remember fully, but they were definitely there).

But to also allows me to closely study this single facet of the a mega-faceted propaganda program.

Here it is, as I see it:

1) The motive for seizing and rewriting history through the History Channel by the Bushies, as well as the benefit to them (another propaganda point in their Thousand Points of Lies that make up the False Reality Bubble of the Bushies), again I reiterate, to not only the demographic which controls the most power and money, middle-aged and above white guys, but also happens to be the ONLY demographic in this whole empire which still believes in Herr Bushler at 60% levels.

2) As I said, it is subtle, but pervasive, though it mostly shows up in American History specials, that EVERYTHING is couched in Bushevik framing terms, and usually with an anti-Democratic spin that sometimes has the characteristics of other Bushevik Propaganda, audacious in that it is transmitting, sometimes, absolutely inaccurate historical readings OVER THE HISTORY CHANNEL.

But of course, the only object of Bushevik Propaganda is to serve the interest of the Royal Bushies and THE PARTY, which it increasingly does.

So, is the History Channel falling into the chasm of Nazi-like Bushie Lies and Infoganda?
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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 07:55 AM
Response to Original message
1. As always, follow the money:
A&E Television Networks is a media company that owns several TV networks on cable and satellite. The company is jointly owned by The Walt Disney Company (37.5%), The Hearst Corporation (37.5%), and NBC Universal (25%). AETN's networks include:

A&E Network
The History Channel
The Biography Channel
History International
The History Channel en Español
Military History Channel
Crime & Investigation Network

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%26E_Television_Networks


IMHO, It is the Disney connection that is shoving these guys over the cliff like that....

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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 07:55 AM
Response to Original message
2. duplicate n/t
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 07:57 AM by tom_paine
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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 07:56 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. lol.. I already did. . (3 cups of coffee this morning)
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 07:59 AM
Response to Original message
4. Jeez Louise ,..you make it hard to reply when you delete the thing
SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Aug-25-07 05:57 AM

Response to Original message

4. MOST of the cable specialty channels have been gobbled up.

Years ago we GOt cable to get Nat'l Geographic, A&E, The Learning Channel & the History channel...Over time, they have all morphed into truly weird channels..

The Learning Channel is now all about how hideous decorating choices have overrun the UK..No more "Connections", or science shows or literatre discussions.. A&E used to have concerts & art shows..now we get reruns of Law & Order..

History channel is "How we whipped Hitler channel" altenating with "True Stories about Jesus"..
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 08:12 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. Sorry, I forgot to make it a poll the first time.
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 08:15 AM by tom_paine
:hi: SoCalDem, how fare you in these days if Middle Transition to Tyranny (will we get a 'rest' in 2008 and will the Bushies, for the sake of letting their victims (the Imperial Subjects of Amerika, that's us) rest and refresh for the next bout of stealing and mayhem, or will they just go straight to it?

In truth, the morphings of a TV station from one format to another are not disturbing to me inthe least, even though I agree it is weird.

But that is a far cry from a channel with direct access to the historical rewriting circuits of the White Guy Demographic (who, I must reiterate even while I am one, have shown to be the stupidest and least resistant to Bushie Propaganda off all Americans), who most of them view HC unskeptically.

Even I used to back in the days when America was free and the History Channle probably had non-Bushie owners.

If it was on the History Channel, it happened. Not "it probably happened", but "it happened".

How many White Guys are right now, sitting at home with their skepticism turned off, thinking, just as I did in 1999, If it was on the History Channel, it happened..

Millions, no doubt. They are the Tony Sopranos and the Jack Welch's, but also the truck drivers and accountants and bakers and regular guys who are just now beginning to wake up and notice that something is going horribly WAY wrong.

If some of them have cosncience's that are stirring, for some reason, watching HC specials about past American Presidents seems to put them at ease wiuth what the Royal Bushies have done.

They can't explain it, they just feel...better.

And THAT is how gestalt-based propaganda, or the Bush Party False Reality Bubble weaves it's thorough lies. With thousands of tiny facets, each consisting of one History Channel, correctly placed, editin perceptions, rewriting reality, just as that Unnamed Bushie (probably Rove) said "(Bushies) create reality."
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formercia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 08:28 AM
Response to Original message
6. I had an argument a couple of years ago about this

With a psychologist about how the History Channel was using selective memory and bias in their content. I guess they're getting more obvious.
I noticed in some of the content that I had first-hand information on, they had distorted the facts and omitted material which would have changed the perception of events. It's called 'Perception Management' ie Propaganda.
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 08:33 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. Yes, omission is the second leg of Bushevik Gestalt-based Propaganda
Before Bushler and his minions, I had absolutely no idea how powerful the omission of a single fact could be to "perception management" and to herding people towards the conclusion desired by their Royal Bushie Masters.

Now I have seen it in action for seven, really closer to twelve years though I have only noticed for seven, I reamin continually astonsihed at the progress psychology, PR and advertising has made in understanding the human mind.

Like any tools, it can be used for all. Like all tools humans seem to grasp, we have used this newe knowledge for the geratest of ills, no less than the re-enslavement of Amrica and ultimately all humanity, I believe, though not necessarily all by the Bushies, but by them and a small group of those like them internationally.

But a single fact, apparently if it is well-chosen using psychological/PR methods, can literally turn reality upside-down while giving the 'pluaisble deniability' of "We didn't lie...technically."

Which the Bushies do plenty of anyway, don't get me wrong.
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formercia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 10:30 AM
Response to Reply #7
17. I worked with a PhD candidate who was studying under a Holocaust
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 10:39 AM by formercia
survivor. His prof noticed, while in the camps, the way the Nazis used well known behavior modification techniques to control the prisoners. He secretly took notes and tried to publish a paper on the subject after the War but the 'Government' got wind of it, classified it Secret and confiscated all of his notes.
It stands to reason the Germans would have used the service of Psychologists and Psychiatrists in this endeavor, since Germany was flush with candidates who were willing to promote the Nazi cause. Many of them later found service in the US in the fight over Communism.

it's the same old gang with the same old threadbare causes.

Many of the boys are Doctors, Attorneys, Psychiatrists and Psychologists. It's all part of the trade.

Life in the Ivy League Mafia.


Public Relations=Perception Management=Propaganda.
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formercia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 02:23 PM
Response to Reply #7
40. I agree with your point of this being an International collaboration.
Some long for the old days and the old ways

when men were men and women were chattel

and everyone knew their place.

A station in life meant just that.

One did not question authority

to do so meant the gallows.

and if you took the King's Shilling


you did the Kings bidding.
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Bennyboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 08:37 AM
Response to Original message
8. I read a quote in TV Guide from Frank Zappa
back in the early 90's and he nailed it. He said he watched the History Channel (said it was his favorite) but by the end of every program it would always end up praising the American military and extoll the virtues of more and bigger weapons.

I looked for the quote, but can't find it. i used to have it on my fridge. Like ususal, FZ nails it.
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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 12:32 PM
Response to Reply #8
36. Is this it?
"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre."

~ Frank Zappa, 1977

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Bennyboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-26-07 02:32 PM
Response to Reply #36
60. Nope, the quote mentions the History Channel specfically...
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GTurck Donating Member (569 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 08:40 AM
Response to Original message
9. Most are old reruns too
I have noticed how many of the airings are very old reruns of pseudo-religious/alien invasion programs. How many times must they air "Nostradamus"? Leonard Nimoy must be making a fortune from this. The other side is the emphasis on WWII and (what I don't watch so have no real experience about) dogfights over Germany, the Pacific or Viet Nam. Action; action; and more video action but no substance. The editing of what is new is frenetic and difficult to organize as information.
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KharmaTrain Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 08:44 AM
Response to Original message
10. The De-Evolution Of The History Channel
A decade ago, I couldn't get enough of the channel. Be it another World War II show or some off-beat look at the history of the Hot Dog...it was pretty straight up...ideal TV for us geeks who didn't groan when the teacher brought in the movie projector. I noticed it began to change as the channel started to get more popular...the instruction was replaced by personality and controversy. There was R. Lee Ermy and his glorification of blowing things up...and a steady stream of Iraq programs making it seem like we won this "war"...waiving the flag early and often. I started watching History Channel International...where most of the fun History Channel shows have gone. Even though lately, I've noticed a lot of religious-based shows on that channel...some would say a Psy-Ops game here framing the Christian vs. Islamic battles.

I've entered the HD world and enjoy watching shows on PBS, Discovery and National Geographic. History Channel is becoming to History what MTV became to Music.
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tinrobot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 08:49 AM
Response to Original message
11. I refuse to watch any war shows on History Channel
I don't support war, and I don't watch anything involving war or weapons of war.

But I suspect you're correct because History Channel has way too many military shows.
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Neecy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 09:07 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. that's exactly right...
The History Channel almost exclusively defines our history though war. They never have any programming about the social history of our country - the labor movement, the women's movement, civil rights etc. - just war, war, war with bizarre religious programming thrown into the mix.

I've seen some of what the OP discusses on THC. They seldom mention FDR without some kind of snark and in fact treat most Democrats badly. Remember the infamous segment they ran about LBJ being behind the murder of John Kennedy...false flag operation if there ever was one, just junk history.

PBS does a much, much better job. The documentaries are high quality and they deal with many issues not related to war.
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:59 AM
Response to Reply #12
28. Actually, they do: Plausible Deniability
They ARE few and far between, and they are NEVER shown when anyone is watching.

However, you can indeed find them at 5:00am weekdays or 2:30 am Sunday nights.

Remember, this is Amerika, NOT Nazi Germany. I am not sure, even when we hit bottom, that we will have the kind of uniform media the Nazis and Soviets had.

OUR Totalitarian Scum are much too advanced in PR/advertisign/propaganda tto ever make that mistake again, too many people are aware of that model.
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tinrobot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 12:07 PM
Response to Reply #12
29. They do show the history of junk food on occasion.
But I digress...
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treestar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:04 AM
Response to Reply #11
20. Ever notice how "history" in the US seems to mean "history of war?"
I was in a bookstore years ago and a shelf marked "history" contained mostly volumes on wars.

Even in school, our American history classes were organized around the wars. Revolutionary, Civil, Spanish-American, WWI and WWII. We never got as far as WWII - the school year would run out first.
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La Coliniere Donating Member (581 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:23 AM
Response to Reply #20
22. We call it
the Warno Channel.
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JohnyCanuck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 09:25 AM
Response to Original message
13. Why the History Channel is the way it is. Who owns it?
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 09:26 AM by JohnyCanuck
I posted this comment in the Fisk/911 thread but thought I would repost it here as well. Check out a table showing media ownership here:

http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/communications/tv/mediacontrol.html

Note that the History Channel is owned by NBC (also HC is partly owned by Hearst and Disney) and NBC is owned by GE. GE of course is a huge "defense" contractor and kingpin in the MIC and thereby profits tremendously from war, and we all know (at least many DUers should know) the historic connection between Hearst and sensationalistic, warmongering, "Yellow Journalism."


Yellow Journalism


The American press, however, had no doubts about who was responsible for sinking the Maine. It was the cowardly Spanish, they cried. William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal even published pictures. They showed how Spanish saboteurs had fastened an underwater mine to the Maine and had detonated it from shore.

As one of the few sources of public information, newspapers had reached unprecedented influence and importance. Journalistic giants, such as Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer of the World, viciously competed for the reader's attention. They were determined to reach a daily circulation of a million people, and they didn't mind fabricating stories in order to reach their goal.

SNIP

A minor revolt in Cuba against the Spanish colonial government provided a colorful topic. For months now the papers had been painting in lurid detail the horrors of Cuban life under oppressive Spanish rule. The Spanish had confined many Cubans to concentration camps. The press called them "death camps." Wild stories with screaming headlines -- Spanish Cannibalism, Inhuman Torture, Amazon Warriors Fight For Rebels -- flooded the newsstands. Newspapers sent hundreds of reporters, artists, and photographers south to recount Spanish atrocities. The correspondents, including such notables as author Stephen Crane and artist Frederick Remington, found little to report on when they arrived.

"There is no war," Remington wrote to his boss. "Request to be recalled."

remington's boss, William Randolph Hearst, sent a cable in reply: "Please remain. You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war." Hearst was true to his word. For weeks after the Maine disaster, the Journal devoted more than eight pages a day to the story. Not to be outdone, other papers followed Hearst's lead. Hundreds of editorials demanded that the Maine and American honor be avenged. Many Americans agreed. Soon a rallying cry could be heard everywhere -- in the papers, on the streets, and in the halls of Congress: "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain."

http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/remember.html


Edited for clarity /JC
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 09:45 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. Nice post. Good info. Thanks.
I am going to sit down and read it soon.
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 10:23 AM
Response to Original message
15. Hmmm. Yes 84%. No. 16%. Could the naysayers please explain themselves?
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 10:24 AM by tom_paine
It isn't often any DU poll short of "Does Joe Liebermann suck ass?" gets that kind of agreement.

So, it makes me doubly curious to hear what the poeople who disagree, particularly the 9% who INSIST with CERTAINTY that such cannot be happening.

So much so they will not even LOOK to see if what I am saying is true.

Please defend your position with reason and logic, people. Don't just vote and slink away...
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havocmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 10:29 AM
Response to Original message
16. To the Greatest Page with ya. Get this topic out there around water coolers
Been muttering to myself about this for a couple years now.
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Pierzin Donating Member (710 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 10:57 AM
Response to Original message
18. They are owned by GE, that tells you everything you need
to know.
I used to love the History Channel. Wow, that's great, but really, how many shows about Hitler can we really watch? Did you really want to know this or that? For years now they have regurgitated every little factoid about WWII, gag, ok it's over??
But of course they love to have shows on military hardware, so GE can show off all their wares!

But really, they are worshiping the idiot emperor??? OMG now that is a new low. How on the world?
I just dont get it! I think I am going to retch at the mere thought!
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tabasco Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:00 AM
Response to Original message
19. Doubleplusgood Brother!
We have always been at war with Eastasia!
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BadgerLaw2010 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:09 AM
Response to Original message
21. Um, War of 1812 is not exactly pro-Bush to have associated with Iraq.
Most potentially disasterous war the United States has ever fought.
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:55 AM
Response to Reply #21
27. You may see it that way, but watch the special and tell me if you do not see it
It's useless to speculate until you see for yourself and judge for yourself as to whether or not I exaggerate.

The special, I believe, came out within the last three years, maybe the last one, and was called simply, I believe, "The War of 1812".

Whatever the actual historic spin (and I am not sure I agree with you fully, it was also the war of some moments of tremendous American valor and victory, also, such as the Battle of Ft. McHenry and New Orleans.

And moments of heroic resolve when the White House was evacuted in 1814, both by Madison and Mrs. madison, and believe you me they were almost all connected the Bush by means of language and analogy.

"Anti-war democrats" is at best an oversimplification, not to mention the way they were talked about, no doubt written by Freepy-types, to again, analogize to the War in Iraq.

Watch the American History specials on the history channel, and this one in particular.

Then come back and tell me what you think.
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BadgerLaw2010 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #27
32. I watched the HC's miniseries.1812 was presented as the incompetent disaster it was.
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 12:25 PM by BadgerLaw2010
How is that favorable to Bush to compare Iraq to it? You start a war that makes no strategic sense on bad and false pretense, fight it fairly badly, and get your ass beat.

I don't know which HC special you watched, but their flagship 1812 program was harshly critical of American "thinking" or lack thereof in this event.
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ToeBot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:48 AM
Response to Original message
23. I thought they had gotten better, at least they've been offering a more varied schedule,
But that may make it all the more insidious, subtle. They haven't rerun the show where Karl Rove tries to paint George Bush as the next incarnation of Teddy Roosevelt, talk about ham-fisted.
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Richard Steele Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
24. Yes. They're slowly becoming the "reframing History" Channel. nm
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Prophet 451 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:53 AM
Response to Original message
25. I hadn't noticed
but now you mention it...

Actually, I migrated mainly to the Discovery Civilisations channel after I got sick of the History Channel during one of their periodic "all-Hitler, all-the-time" bouts.
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notadmblnd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:55 AM
Response to Original message
26. I stopped watching the History channel when they went
All war, all the time. So it's been 6 years at least.
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YellowRubberDuckie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 12:11 PM
Response to Original message
30. I watch the History channel and History International all the time...
Honestly, I've never noticed this. Of course, I'm not looking for it. I have seen some stuff that makes me go, oh, the GOP is not going to like this though. I've never noticed a bias. Sorry.
Duckie
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Individualist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 12:15 PM
Response to Original message
31. Tonight's schedule includes 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction
There's no doubt about how the History Channel will spin that one.
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Zomby Woof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 12:23 PM
Response to Reply #31
35. Whos' to say who's spinning?
The conspiracy nuts have their own spin, with NO evidence to back up their assertions. Their arguments are distilled as "it could be true, so IT IS!" "Harrumph!"
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catmandu57 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 12:19 PM
Response to Original message
33. I rarely watch hc now
when i do i'm usually turning the channel in the first few minutes, war and religion over and over and over. I tried watching their special on hippies, but it was so slanted to the right even going as far as showing a clip of ed meese spouting off, that just attuned my bullshit radar. it's not that they were saying what I didn't want to hear, it's just that they were so bloody wrong.
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Zomby Woof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 12:20 PM
Response to Original message
34. I watch the History Channel
It has its hits and misses. I have sometimes witnessed what you describe, but I have also seen plenty which strikes much more fairness and balance than Fox Noise could ever hope to pretend, so I would say your analysis is only 50% accurate, at best.

I have seen plenty of programming which is NOT subservient, or in any way, deferential to Bush or his apologists. The recent feature on William Sherman wasn't afraid to show his dark side, especially the way with African-Americans were treated during his Georgia campaign. It as no whitewashing.

Television is a business, and ratings are always what matter. With 28% approval, the History Channel would not commit ratings suicide by being a mouthpiece for Bush.

I have found that some of the more rabid DUers see bias and propaganda where they want to, whether pro or con (like the absurd threads which popped up when the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy debuted after 9-11, claiming it was a brilliant anti-Bush documentary). :eyes:

I also see plenty of threads night after night where some hysteric exclaims "OMG! Turn on MSNBC/CNN/HBO! They're just WHORING/SLAMMING Bush/Rove/Cheney/Condi!" So I tune in, and find that it isn't nearly as extreme as one could hope.

Disclosure: I subscribe to the History Channel Magazine, and the latest isue had an article extolling TR, FDR, and Eleanor Roosevelt, because they championed reform and weren't afraid to go against their class upbringing. Surely, I can see the letters now denouncing the magazine for being leftist propaganda. They recently had an article highlighting the African American Baseball Museum in KC, and it was unblinking in assessing America's prevalent racism. I read no bias against the Post Office (a favorite right-wing target) in their recent cover story on the Pony Express. The editorial by its publisher recently mocked those who put large flag decals on their cars ("I am more patriotic than you are!") and he decried the misuse of the flag that way.

Of course, the magazine, like the broadcasts, has its share of military showcasing - but I scoured them, and NONE reveal any kind of latent Bush-loving.

Methinks you, like 90% of GD, protesteth too much. Like my good friend GOPisEvil says, "Not everything is politics!"
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 10:36 PM
Response to Reply #34
44. Sherman was not a Bushie, he was an American, like Lincoln, so Neoconfedcons usually dislike them
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 10:36 PM by tom_paine
both.

It is always possible that you are correct and that it is nothing.

However, the increasing use of Bushevik commentators, who are SO NICE to make sure we get the "facts" of history (with a heaping helping of Bushie Spin, Omissions, and Half-Truths), is a fact.

I wish I could remember his name, one white haired (but still 40-ish) Bushie from National Review keeps popping up repeatedly now on any new shows that have to do with American History is one who pops readily to mind. There are a couple others that have begun to appear more frequently. Because of this, I don't watch it nearly as often as I used to.

Finally, it would seem that, by a large margin, the consensus agrees with me that there is something amiss there. Not that popularity equals correctness always, but it does seem a very large majority of people see this...not just me.
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Gonzo Gardener Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 01:40 PM
Response to Original message
37. TRUE but, subtle? um...no.
HC spews overt propaganda. Don't just look at the content in some HC shows. Look at the timing... when certain shows air.

HC was beating the drums hard in the ramp up to the Iraq war by airing specific shows/specials that were very complimentary to the neocon agenda.

I can't specify to the date or show that opened my eyes to this blatant manipulation but, I do remember the feelings of repulsion. I wanted to pull my brain out of my head and give it a good scrubbing!





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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 10:44 PM
Response to Reply #37
45. Welcome to DU, Green Meanie, and that's a very good point about the timing
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 10:44 PM by tom_paine
I forgot to bring that up. Yes, their choice of programming is VERY in sync with The Mighty Wurlitzer, and it is blatant.

you said:

HC was beating the drums hard in the ramp up to the Iraq war by airing specific shows/specials that were very complimentary to the neocon agenda.

That is very true, and any time Bushie wanted to scare people and try to bump his flagging approval ratings up and other synergistic Bushie-HC program scheduling has been seen.

I wish I had made notes at the time, I easily could have, but I am in the position of trying to relate things I do not fully remember anymore. But when you speak about these Bushie-HC synergies it reminds me of similar thought I had months ago, and I WISH I could tell you what it was, because it was blatant. I mean, as if Karl Rove himself was writing the HC scheduling.

Suddenly, something changed, and the scheduling returned to "normal" so rapidly that I couldn;t help but notice the blatant Bush-History Channel symmatry.

I know that sucks, because I can't recall specifics, but you'll have to take my word for it.

I forgot about the Bushie-HC scheduling when I wrote the OP, but thank you for bringing it up, because the scheduling synergy is equally as propagandistic and important than the individual specials that have been Prudenized (Google it if you have never heard this term before) and Bushified.
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Bill McBlueState Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 01:48 PM
Response to Original message
38. How many people actually watch the History Channel?
I never do. The only people I know who watch it tend to be TV addicts in general.

If it's like other basic cable channels, hardly anyone actually watches it. Certainly not as many people as watch the networks. Seems like if you're running a propaganda campaign, a basic cable channel isn't the place to do it.
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 10:59 PM
Response to Reply #38
47. And Middle Aged White CEOs and Managers
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 11:01 PM by tom_paine
You know how the Bushies almost always disenfranchise African-Americans?

Because of all groups, African-Americans vote something like 90% Democratic, far above any other group.

Let me help you peer into the mind of Loyal Bushie Monsters (then I will shower): If you are going to most efficiently target Democratic Voters, disenfranchise the group who most proportionally votes FOR Democrats, so that the target group to be disenfranchise will "lose" the maximum amount of Democratic votes, while also disenfranchising the smallest amount of Republic votes.

Well, the History Channel, the converse is true. If Bushies wish to rewrite history like the Nazis did, and they do, then for them the idea is to seize something which will most efficiently deliver Orwellian Madness STRAIGHT TO THOSE IN POWER.

Like or not, Middle-Aged and Old White Guys are that group. I reiterate that this group continues to be the most Nazi-like, given our 60% support for Bushler RIGHT NOW (check the polls under "White Guys" to see if I am lying about this most stupidest of demographics, and apparently the weakest-minded when it comes to resisting Nazi/Bushie propaganda).

So, if you want to deliver lies to White Guys sitting in front of the TV with their weak minds open fully and with no skepticism...USE THE HISTORY CHANNEL.

Really, it's brilliant. Biggest bang for the buck. Who gives a shit what the proles think anyway. The Bushies TARGET their efforts.

One more thing, I do not view this as a backroom conspiracy where the plns are all laid out. No, this "conspiracy" follows the well-worn pattern of Bushie infiltration, intimidation and destrcution of our laughable Mainstream Media.

No, every Bushie knows what to do without having to meet in a smoke filled room every week. Hire other Bushies. Make work unpleasant for Liberals until they leave. Loyal Bushies only promote Loyal Bushies. Evetually, only Loyal Bushies are left, although I doubt it is yet that bad at HC.

Give it a decade.

You ask a legitimate question. I answered it. This is highly targeted propaganda aimed at the Powerful and the rest of the Stupid White Guys. (60% of us!) Also, because of the lack of skepticism directed at the HC by viewers ("If the HISTORY Channel says it happened, it happened.") makes it even more ideal to wash brains, so to speak.
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AX10 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 01:52 PM
Response to Original message
39. The "History" Channel is too interested in the modern world...
to be the "History" channel.
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tinrobot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 02:25 PM
Response to Reply #39
41. Except Modern Marvels
Tonight on Modern Marvels...

"The Wheel"

"Fire"

"Sticks"
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-26-07 07:41 AM
Response to Reply #41
55. There are a lot of exceptions. Even now, 2/3rds of HC specials are not Bushified
But it most definitely is in place when it comes to specials about:

1) American History
2) Strong Leaders (only the "good guys", not those Bushie REALLY deserves comparison to, Pinochet, Marcos, and Baby Doc)

And as I said, I have now even seen it creeping ever so slowly into Ancient History specials and others. Just bit by bit and not bad, now.

But on American History and especially about Strong Leaders and Great Men from our history, many are couched in this softly Fuhrer-worshiping Bushspeak.

I have said it before and I will say it again, the Imperial Subjects of Amerika are the most media-savvy consumers ever. Propaganda that convinces US that Black is White and Up is Down, by necessity, must be far more subtle to be successful against such a sophisticated target group of victims.

And that is why, until a generation or more, I prophesy, our trek towards the New Totalitarianism will NEVER be overt enough that one event could collectively shake the Subjects awake to our dire predicament.

It will always float around the edges of our vision. Is it real? Am I dreaming it? Is this really happening?

But it has happened before. Read it and weep.

http://www.thirdreich.net/Thought_They_Were_Free.html
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 02:26 PM
Response to Original message
42. From the begining the AHA has called it
where history becomes a lie
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Neecy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 03:04 PM
Response to Original message
43. If you really want wretched neocon propaganda...
Watch the Discovery Times channel. They show lots of "Saddam as Devil" programming and endless pro-CIA stuff. It must be the Judy Miller branch of the NYT co-producing it.
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MisterP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 10:56 PM
Response to Original message
46. hell, in 2002 they had an ad campaign with Washington and * next to each other
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 10:57 PM by MisterP
--the Father of the Country and I Samuel 5: 9-12, 6:1-18--reading "Before one George W. could defend freedom, another George W. had to invent it."
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:03 PM
Response to Reply #46
48. Are you shitting me?!? Thank God I missed that one.
I'd have needed to buy a new TV, and I do not think I am exaggerating.

Thank you for YET ANOTHER example that THIS IS REAL!
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MisterP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:37 PM
Original message
it was in "U.S. Noose & World Report"--and may just've been something on Washington ALONE
with a gratuitous Farty reference added to stir up the red-meat John Leo crowd
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MisterP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:37 PM
Response to Reply #48
51. it was in "U.S. Noose & World Report"--and may just've been something on Washington ALONE
with a gratuitous Farty reference added to stir up the red-meat John Leo crowd
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-26-07 07:26 AM
Response to Reply #51
53. That is even worse. Breathtakingly grotesque.
I like the way you put that

with a gratuitous Farty reference added to stir up the red-meat John Leo crowd.

Eight years ago, I would have nodded to that very simple reason. Occasm's Razor and all that But that was before I saw carpet of rolling thunder that is the Bushevik Orwellian-Style Reclamation and Restructuring of Language to think something like that anymore.

On rare occasions, we see how deep and forward-thinking these perverted advertising men (for that is all the Bushies are, in the end, it is their one area of expertis and excellence that isn't illegal) are when they scheme to propagandize Amerika or steal elections.

A far cry from when they do stuff reluctantly, like try to save dorwning poor people or the Democratic city of New Orleans.

But as history shows, the rule of Occam's Razor does brek down, when individuals are presented with a Totalitarian Regime, which by it's very definition and nature, is a conspiracy to violate the Will of the People and everything the Founding Fathers stood for.

I wish I had never seen these days, wish I am sorry to say in 10 years will probably look like the Blessed Happy Good Old Days, though I pray it is not the case for our nation.


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barb162 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:07 PM
Response to Original message
49. I have watched only a few things on that channel
and what I saw was very scholarly and had nothing to do with Bush (since one was on a topic about 200+ years ago and the other was about a topic from about 2,000 years ago).
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Mind_your_head Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:18 PM
Response to Original message
50. I don't have cable so I don't watch the history channel, or animal planet....
Edited on Sat Aug-25-07 11:41 PM by Mind_your_head
or a few of the other 'good'(?) shows out there.

However, I DID sit next to a lobbyist on a recent flight....and we had a very interesting discussion. Long into our conversation she stated, "You believe what you believe b/c you DON'T WATCH TV".

I considered that 'quite a compliment'.

Peace,
M_Y_H

on edit: don't watch it.....not too many people do ---- if you're a history 'geek' you already know a lot of it anyways. There was NOTHING prior to Y2K :sarcasm: ~ that's when we all "bought into the 'grid' "
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bullwinkle428 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-25-07 11:38 PM
Response to Original message
52. Yes...I totally agree. I was watching their "reality show", Ice Road Truckers,
and one of the story lines in one particular show illustrated the case of one of the truck drivers who had suffered an injury and needed to be airlifted to a hospital after being unable to drive. They stated that he was then burdened with the debt of a $12,000 hospital bill. Keep in mind, this took place in CANADA, and the driver in question was Canadian, so it's logical to assume that national health care would have covered all expenses.

Of course, on the show's discussion board located on the History Channel website, people immediately started questioning this, and the Fox News-watching sheeple took it as an opportunity to say things like, "ZOMG...soshalized medisin sux, and so does Mikeal Moor!" Eventually, the thread started racking up lots of posts before it was mysteriously deleted! Later, the driver in question posted on the site, and made a brief statement that insurance had indeed covered all of his medical expenses, and could not make any comment beyond that.

To me, it struck me as producers playing fast and loose with the truth. Whether it was an effort to simply add melodrama, or to push the Fox-esque agenda with its willing viewers, is a matter of debate. However, after watching this whole thing play out, I felt suspiciously like they were "catapulting the propaganda"!
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tom_paine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-26-07 07:31 AM
Response to Reply #52
54. Yup. Like all those Faux "News" "mistakes" like identifying Foley as a Dem
or calling Obama Osama in one of their banners
or misidentifying the crooked Jefferson as Conyers

etc. etc. ETC.

Yah. All of 'em...TERRIBLE MISTAKES.

Oh yes, make no mistake. The Middle Putsch is on now. Propaganda is spreading into every corner of our lives as the False Bushevik Reality Bubble tightens once again, it's strength undiminished , in spite of the fact that it has been caught lying (to say the very least) again and again and AGAIN.

Oh, and don't forget the increasing incidence of VIPR teams, and the ultra-Soviet Behavior Detection Officer.
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AwakeAtLast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-26-07 08:06 AM
Response to Original message
56. AND 9/11 WAS NOT AN INSIDE JOB!!!
They are really hammering that point. They have shown a two hour show "debunking" 9/11 theories twice in the past week.

"Nothing to see here, folks!" :eyes:
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Junkdrawer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-26-07 08:16 AM
Response to Reply #56
57. And they've have several shows hyping bin Laden and lying...
about his "escape" from Tora Bora.

Something Bad This Way Comes... :scared:
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AwakeAtLast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-26-07 08:46 AM
Response to Reply #57
58. Can't wait for a show about "Great countries who have only one religion"
I'm sure it's just around the corner. x(
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Bennyboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-26-07 02:34 PM
Response to Reply #56
61. I just wish someone ahd the BALLS to Rebunk the 9-11 "inside job"
Theories.
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Wiccan Warrior Donating Member (388 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-26-07 08:54 AM
Response to Original message
59. It's more like the Hitler channel ......of history. n/t
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