(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
Control
[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Sunday, July 14, 2002
A Shorthand Analysis of Pejman Pundit:
"Propagandists usually attempt to influence individuals while leading each one to behave "as though his response were his own decision." Mass communication tools extend the propagandist's reach and make it possible to shape the attitudes of many individuals simultaneously. Because propagandists attempt to "do the other fellow's thinking for him," they prefer indirect messages to overt, logical arguments. During the war, the CPI accomplished this by making calculated emotional appeals, by demonizing Germany, by linking the war to the goals of various social groups, and, when necessary, by lying outright."
From an earlier exchange between Pejman and Myself:
Pejman you are such a propaganda tool, my Tech Central Station colleague (har har the third time, what, no congrats for me? I might be writing more stuff down there you never know. I'll be the crazy guy who thinks DDT is bad...), why don't you just admit that you're a front, perhaps self elected or paid off, who knows but your links trend that way. It's an overwhelming trend in fact. It's like Ari or Karl has a blog or something it's pathetic. You know, I haven'teven looked at your site today but you're either ignore the bombing that happened today or you'll whitewash and.or rationalize it...That's what I would do if I was a republican partisan and you often do it...I mean, this isn't even a close call. Of course what you do is a kind of propaganda., fess up for God's sake...It's like admitting that the background of your site is green. It's obvious....come on..."
So Pejman responds by saying this:
"Actually, the background of my site is black. I see that you are as visually impaired as you are cognitively impaired. Medical science could help, you know.
And I love the fact that you call me a "propaganda tool" when all I do is express my opinions the way you do yours. Thanks for the laugh, Phil. You're always good for inadvertent comic relief."
This is actually terribly false. I'm not a propaganda tool for the Democratic Party. The Dems under DLC leadership aren't really much different from the Republicans. I sympathized with the Nader run. I agree with much of the Green platform that I've seen. I did vote for Gore because I thought he had the best chance of winning. I also thought that he was better for the country, at least he can talk coherently. So, you are not expressing opinions like I do. For better or worse, I'm more complicated than that. (Also, one of us is colorblind. That background there is green, not black.)
Here's a shorthand I'll be using when I get tired of responding to Pejman's parade of lies, innuendo and putdowns.
1. Straight RNC Propaganda. (And its subset: Rationalizing Republican Evil At Every Turn or that Bush he's a smart fella despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary...)
2. Straight Anti-Dem Party Propaganda.
3. Pro Israel at any cost
Propaganda.
4. Damn Arafat Propaganda.
5. Wacky Personal Stuff no one cares about.
6. Attack Iraq and/or Foment Rebellion in Iran. (The latter is a relatively new meme.)
7. Anti warblogger watch spin. Here Pejman usually resorts to name calling and declaring victory without evidence of such--in this respect he does resemble the resident in Chief.
8. Crazy Right Wing Stuff (Global Warming doesn't exist, no separation between church and state, Scalia is soooo cool...etc.,)
9: Daily Smears Against Leftists like Rall, Chomsky and Mike Moore. Sometimes includes Dem officials or Europeans on a slow day.
10. Pejman "I don't really understand modern humor or modern Art." Yousefzadeh
11. The Great and Glorious Capitalist System
12: The Saudi Conundrum: where an introspective Pej wonders why we support those Saudi scoundrels, even as we work with those Chinese scoundrels, Pakistani coup leader scoundels, work to unseat democratically elected leaders in Venezuela in order to install scoundrels, create a puppet government in Afghanistan..etc. posted by Philip Shropshire12:43 PM
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The Watchers
WBW: Keeping track of the war exhortations of the warbloggers.
