an appeal to liberals, progressives and independents

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I'm about to ask a favor of all of you. This isn't something I've ever done previously but I believe we are at an acutely important point in history and the path that is about to be chosen, in the US election, is critical for everyone.

I've linked two items on several threads today, the first is the documentary "Outfoxed" on the history, personalities and functioning of the Fox network, particularly Fox news, and the second is an essay by recently retired Harper's editor Lewis Lapham titled "The Tentacles of Rage" which has as its subject the formation and structure of the new conservative movement and how it has come to dominate and narrow political discourse such that no term better describes what we are being fed so commonly and ubiquitously than 'propaganda'.

My entreaty is that you will take the time to watch the first, then read the second, and then forward both links to everyone on your email lists.

Barack Obama has just delivered what I and many others consider the most mature, thoughtful and important political speech of our lifetimes. But a serious, pervasive and almost entirely disingenuous propaganda campaign is now underway to smear both the speech and the candidate. It is entirely possible that this attack will render Obama unelectable which is exactly its intent.

It is also entirely possible that a parallel propaganda campaign against Clinton will achieve the same final result.

The stakes are too high, far too high, for us to remain passive, apathetic and acquiescent now. Another Republican adminsitration, threatening a wider theater of war, threatening a further disparity between the rich and poor, threatening further and deeper assaults on privacy and civil rights, and threatening further corruption of the mechanics of democratic governance in America could very well effectively end the American democratic experiment.

I beseech you all.

The links are:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6737097743434902428

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Republican-Propaganda1sep04.htm

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Thanks, BLatham, I had missed that one. Man can write...

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Indeed he can. And smart as a whip.

(Now, don't forget my request here)

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BM but British.

Godspeed BL.

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McTag wrote:

BM but British.

Godspeed BL.

BM but Australian. :wink:

Not much use to you, sorry. But will read it anyway.

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I used to never miss his column, at least the years I was subscribing. I was subscribing in 2004, so something might have been going on that month.. Lost track since I moved. And yes, BL, I'll send these to the two people I send stuff to.

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That's a good way to put people off the message (abusing email address lists for yet more dumb mass emails) as people already have enough frustration managing their inboxes.

It's likely to irritate anyone who isn't already sold on the message and many of those wouldn't appreciate the medium as well (when people send me mass email, of any sort, I block all further email from them).

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BM.........

....and I will do no such thing.

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Robert Gentel wrote:

That's a good way to put people off the message (abusing email address lists for yet more dumb mass emails) as people already have enough frustration managing their inboxes.

It's likely to irritate anyone who isn't already sold on the message and many of those wouldn't appreciate the medium as well (when people send me mass email, of any sort, I block all further email from them).

Whether it is or isn't a good way for AMERICANS to put people off the message, I think it certainly a good way for foreigners to do so, so I shall leave it alone.

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For many people it's more than just rude or obnoxious. It costs them money. Email, by its nature, is postage paid by sender and receiver.

For example, a user with an expensive data plan who gets email on a cellphone may not appreciate that very much.

Marketing that irritates is, as a general rule, relatively bad marketing.

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Well, my two recipients won't be put off. I strongly agree in general though re the mass mailing thing.

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We can have the chap talk to Paul Viguerie. Or alternately, dig up statistics on how many americans now believe that Obama is a muslim. Or we can merely laud him for stating the rather obvious. As I stated, it isn't something I've done before and we all know why one ought to be hesitant and prudent in the matter.

I have about 80 people on my email list, spread all about the world and the political spectrum. Within 6 hours, I had already received a number of really wonderful responses. One from the son of a couple who've been friends since grade school who is doing a doctorate now at Oxford on Malcolm X. He figures I'm an optimist. Or another from a school chum who's made the big bucks as an oil company exec in Alberta. Another from an artist living in the Gulf Islands off Vancouver. And quite a few other so far. It's all quite delicious.

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Just watched 15 minutes of the Fox video. So what else is new? Fox is a joke. The problem is that some people take it seriously.

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phoenix

Let me try to convince you to watch it all. There are important points made (and important accounts from many previous Fox employees) throughout the documentary.

But the problem is not simply that Fox is 'a joke'. The problem is much wider and more seriously dangerous to a functioning democracy that that.

love ya

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an appeal to liberals, progressives and independents

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