Obama’s Path From Critic to Overseer of Spying

Re:Obama’s Path From Critic to Overseer of Spying by ambler0 on Thursday January 16, 2014 @10:53AM (#7070035)

To be fair, the American people are and have been the most heavily propagandized people on Earth. I sympathize with your desire to tell people to step up and take personal responsibility, but the truth is that many people can't even think straight. Look at how many people consistently vote against their own interests, identify with their oppressors, etc.

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Re:Obama’s Path From Critic to Overseer of Spying by aaronem on Thursday January 16, 2014 @11:39AM (#7070391)

> the American people are and have been the most heavily propagandized people on Earth

You have heard of North Korea, I hope?

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Re:Obama’s Path From Critic to Overseer of Spying by ambler0 on Thursday January 16, 2014 @05:53PM (#7073074)

Your point is well taken. However, propaganda in America is much more insidious than propaganda in North Korea. Don't get me wrong, North Korea is a brutal place and I thank my lucky stars I was born here and not there.

In America, there is always the illusion of a raging debate, which causes people to identify with the views they are presented. In places like North Korea, the propaganda is much more heavy-handed and if you step out of line you are punished much more severely. This causes people to pay lip service to the official views, but not necessarily to believe it in their hearts. In America, stepping out of line is tolerated - to a degree.

EDIT: So perhaps what I should have said originally is not that America is the most heavily propagandized population, but that Americans are the victims of the most sophisticated propaganda machine.

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Re:Obama’s Path From Critic to Overseer of Spying by aaronem on Friday January 17, 2014 @08:46AM (#7075689)

Well, I'm certainly not inclined to argue with that.

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Re:Obama’s Path From Critic to Overseer of Spying by TelmoMenezes on Thursday January 16, 2014 @12:03PM (#7070619)

Can you spot the irony?

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Re:Obama’s Path From Critic to Overseer of Spying by aaronem on Thursday January 16, 2014 @12:20PM (#7070774)

I can spot a few different things at which you might be aiming the word "irony", but I'm not sure at which one of them, if any, you actually are.

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