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Entries Tagged as 'propaganda'

Martin Luther King, Jr., Glenn Beck, and the “Ground Zero Mosque” #blogboost

August 28th, 2010 · View Comments · Democracy, Diversity, Peace and War, Protests and Crackdowns, Shel's Personal Life, censorship, propaganda

I think Beck and Palin are despicable. I also think they have every right to hold their gathering of the lunatic fringe. And I’m aware that I’ve taken plenty of stands over my career for which others would paint me as “lunatic fringe.” Some of them are now mainstream, such as aiming for zero waste, repurposing rooftop space into food and energy collectors, and getting the heck off fossil and nuclear power sources—but they sure weren’t 30 or 40 years ago. I would not have granted then, and don’t grant now, the right of others to tell me how to think, and I don’t claim that same privilege against others whom I disagree with. The right to try to convince them, certainly—but NEVER to dictate what is or is not acceptable thought.

I remember holding a lone protest in front of the local courthouse when the U.S. bombed Lybia. The first day, I got a lot of middle fingers and angry shouts.

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Government Thugs…Or Right-Wing Crazies

August 10th, 2010 · View Comments · Diversity, Ethics in Government, General Commentary, Politics, censorship, propaganda

The ruling that e-readers are out of compliance with ADA is the typical heavy-handed over-response of large government entities. No malfeasance, just bureaucratic inability to see past a one-size-fits-all solution.

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Faked Photos: Is There No End to BP’s Stupidity?

August 2nd, 2010 · View Comments · Business Ethics, Transparency vs. Secrecy, propaganda

Just when you thought, oh, the well is capped and Tony Hayward’s gone, maybe we can get back to normal—comes this little bit of news, courtesy of my colleague Chris MacDonald, a business ethics guy in Canada: BP faked a photo of its Houston command center to make it look busier and more determined than [...]

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One Small Victory Against Ulgtraright Hatemongering

July 22nd, 2010 · View Comments · Diversity, Ethics in Government, Media Ethics, Politics, language, propaganda

Right-wing bloviators spewing bile and calling it “news” have been a fixture on the political scene for quite a few years now. And they’ve had influence far beyond the numbers of “true believers.” While it’s hard to understand why anyone would pay attention to these mouthy masters of misrepresentation (take that, Spiro Agnew!), we see [...]

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Good Marketing Is Good Business (Guest Post by Jim Kukral)

July 6th, 2010 · View Comments · Advertising, Copywriting, Marketing Techniques and Philosophies, language, propaganda

Note From Shel Horowitz, Owner of this Blog: I’m posting this not because I agree with everything Jim says, but because I don’t. I’m not going to tell you which parts I agree with and which I’d argue with, at least not yet. I’d like you to have your say first, and when I return [...]

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Limbaugh’s Lies on Environment and Safety

May 12th, 2010 · View Comments · Business Ethics, Media Ethics, Social and Economic Justice, propaganda

It’s really hard to imagine that anyone could take seriously the nonsense—make that the total falsehoods—spewed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. It would make for good humor, except that people believe these shameless harlots who have dedicated their lives to the service of corporate greed and gratuitous attacks on progressives (or [...]

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The Teabagger Anti-Socialist Purity Pledge

March 27th, 2010 · View Comments · Abundance and Prosperity, Ethics: General, General Commentary, Politics, propaganda

I’ve long wondered why the people who so strenuously object to socialized medicine have no problem with other socialized services, such as police and fire protection (on the government monopoly model) and education (the “public option”/private competition model). This bit of satire makes the point better than I could. I was hoping to be able [...]

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Manipulative Biofuel-Industry “Survey” Guaranteed to Create Biased Results

March 22nd, 2010 · View Comments · Energy & Sustainability, Ethics: General, Marketing Techniques and Philosophies, Politics, Transparency vs. Secrecy, propaganda

I am totally sure this so-called survey will be used to trumpet the citizens of Massachusetts’ supposed stance in favor of biofuels and against the proposed law. While the law’s definitions could be sharpened, I actually feel that eliminating nuclear power and large-scale wood-burning biomass plants from being counted in the progress toward a Green economy is a GOOD thing.

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An Open Letter to Glenn Beck

March 15th, 2010 · View Comments · Social and Economic Justice, propaganda

Glen Beck has always represented a weird and radical extremism, but I never expected that even he would go so far as to diss Jesus’ own legacy, calling for congregants to leave churches that talk about social justice. Here’s the brief note I wrote to him: Dear Mr. Beck: When I heard your call to [...]

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Media is Complicit in Accepting Tiger Woods’ Scripted, Unquestioned Apology

February 19th, 2010 · View Comments · Media Ethics, Transparency vs. Secrecy, media-general, propaganda

My friend Peter Shankman solicited comments from PR practitioners about Tiger Woods’ apology scheduled for later today, and the fact that reporters will not have access to him during the event; they’ll actually be in another building. This drew lots of comments on Tiger but basically none other than Peter about how the media will [...]

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