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izabsmiling · ‎22-03-2014

Environment editor Sandi Keane exposes the shadowy world of PR, where astroturfing and propaganda is used to coerce the public into sacrificing their own interests for those of big corporations.

. Experienced PR practitioners now coerce you through astroturfing and other socially engineered forms of brainwashing to sacrifice your interests for those of their clients – especially those with the biggest war chest – the fossil fuel industry.

Indeed, it was the rise of citizens groups in the US opposing action on global warming that ledGreenpeace to discover that these so-called grassroots uprisings were organised and funded by the fossil fuel lobby.

Public opinion is a precious commodity. It’s what elects governments and governments can deliver profit and power to those whose largesse it enjoys.Americans pay more for healthcare than any other Western nation, but the Hands Off My Healthcare campaign duped credulous Americans into believing Obama’s healthcare reform was a socialist plot. It was funded by “free marketeer” mining billionaires — the Koch Brothers.

Today’s PR supremos are making serious money out of commodifying public opinion, manipulating it and touting it to this ready market. PR spin is gradually replacing old fashioned journalism as the number of mainstream journalists dwindles, according to a 2010 report by the Pew Centre of Journalism.

The onslaught of suasion in the last few years has been unrivalled in tricking or swaying people to do the unthinkable:

To put corporate interests before their own!

http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/deception-is-our-product,3942

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aX2kMAfJggU

Manipulating the mind used to be the weapon of choice of totalitarian regimes. But the last decade has seen an unprecedented rise in corporate funded propaganda in our so-called “beacons of democracy”, USA and Australia.

Modern age PR illusionists, today’s digital age snake oil salesmen, are reeling you in by evermore shameful and unethical means. They display no regard for possible tragic consequences. The most despicable are the climate skeptic spinmeisters, whose crowning achievement may well be the end of the planet.

Following our last story “Deception is our Product” posted on February 7, Indy Oz has compiled “A Practical Guide to Trickery & Fakery in the Digital Age” to help you sort the shill from the sham and spin from the scam.

In the humbug peddler’s SHAM BAG, you’ll find:

Phony Grassroots Groups or Astroturfers

as well as

Multiple Fake IDs - using Persona Management Software, Avatars, Shills, Sockpuppets, Fake Blogs (Flogs) and Trolls.

Of these, the most effective at manipulating public opinion is the

Phony Grassroots Groups or Astroturfers

http://www.independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/how-to-spot-an-astroturfer-or-an...

izabsmiling · ‎23-03-2014

there is such a thing as phony

and there is such a thing as genuine

izabsmiling · ‎23-03-2014

Democracy or plutocracy

I know which I prefer

*crikey*mate* · ‎23-03-2014

I thought we got rid of Pluto.

Some people can go their whole lives and never really live for a single minute.

izabsmiling · ‎23-03-2014

NLP techinques are worth being aware of too

*crikey*mate* · ‎23-03-2014

I don't think they had very much to do with our exclusion of Pluto

Some people can go their whole lives and never really live for a single minute.

icyfroth · ‎23-03-2014

@izabsmiling wrote:
there is such a thing as phony
and there is such a thing as genuine

and it's often difficult to tell which is which

izabsmiling · ‎23-03-2014

@icyfroth wrote:
@izabsmiling wrote:
there is such a thing as phony
and there is such a thing as genuine

and it's often difficult to tell which is which

that's right ..we need to really do our homework

izabsmiling · ‎23-03-2014

Tony Abbott’s speeches being airbrushed from history – or is it is lies being airbrushed from history? – and his ‘excuse’ for the back flip on school funding highlights what could best be described as a classic case of ‘gaslighting’ (as pointed out by one of The AIMN’s readers):

“We are going to keep the promise that we actually made, not the promise that some people thought that we made, or the promise that some people might have liked us to make”.

From Wikipedia: “Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory, perception and sanity”. With the amount of message control we are being fed that certainly appears to be a technique of the Abbott Government.

Eric Hoffer once said “Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves”. With the growing reach of the fifth estate, it is becoming harder to control the message and there is little excuse for self-deception. However, we should remember that:

“If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.”
- Thomas Sowell.

We need to put message control into the control of the right people.

http://theaimn.com/2013/12/03/message-control/