About two weeks ago, AJ and I met at FuBar for a beer.* At some point the conversation moved to media and politics and stuff, and I mentioned that I usually read Foxnews.com first each day, before later hitting CNN and BBC.** AJ took mild, Tsing-Dao induced exception to my practice, maintaining that Foxnews is not news, it is propaganda. Maybe so, I said, but I still want to see what the right is saying on any given topic before I hit Apostropher and the like, otherwise I'll be just like every other partisan who actively brainwashes his/herself to reinforce views that he/she already holds. Had I watched the movie OutFoxxed? No, and I don't intend to. Daily reading of Fox tells me all I need to know about who they are and what they are trying to do. And I won't read The Guardian under any circumstances.- Is it not just a lefty version of the same thing?***
So I didn't think too much about that conversation again until I was in Taipei for the big chess tourney, and saw these for sale****
Now THAT'S propaganda! None of this mewling, war-on-Christmas, Islamofascists-hate-our-freedom, homocide-bomber crap. I bought the two above, and I might even have them framed. Michael Turton, if you bring your camera Wed. night, you can probably get better pics than these- I suck at all things photographic.
* Or maybe eight or nine beers. I ended up getting home around 2:00AM that night, and was three hours late for work the next day. Thanks AJ.
** Not technically true. Primary daily news source is Fark.
*** George Monbiot writes for the Guardian, and he might even be a bigger dick than Bill O'Reilly. But maybe not.
**** At a sidewalk vendor across from the main entrance to Tai Da.
***** Asterisk, asterisk, asterisk, asterisk, asterisk!
2 comments:
A: Your Welcome.
B: It's not my fault!
C: I never used the word propaganda, I said it was bullshit. (I think, there were a few beers.)
D: Your not watching/reading it to expand your political horizons, only your political arguments.
E: Thank you for remembering my mildness...
F: Nice posters! Quite the score, i'm jealous.
G: Propaganda has evolved into a higher art form than the political cartoon...
There was a great propaganda cartoon I saw in my Chinese politics class: It had some peasants, workers, etc. helping push a broken apple cart. Then there was a party leader exhorting them on with a hand outstretched towards the cart but not quite touching it.
Apparently, "back in the day" this was a very clever and subtle criticism of the Communist Party...now personally, that dude had some balllzzzzz. I've googled repeatedly to try and find the cartoon but with no luck.
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