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...
