Amadeus Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 In the news: Pentagon rolls out stealth PR WASHINGTON — A $300 million Pentagon psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source, one of the military officials in charge of the program says. Run by psychological warfare experts at the U.S. Special Operations Command, the media campaign is being designed to counter terrorist ideology and sway foreign audiences to support American policies. The military wants to fight the information war against al-Qaeda through newspapers, websites, radio, television and "novelty items" such as T-shirts and bumper stickers. The program will operate throughout the world, including in allied nations and in countries where the United States is not involved in armed conflict. Expect full-page adverts in pro-Blair papers and "novelty bumper stickers" on a car near you soon I hope they don't go local, though: "Isle of Man Roadwatch, brought to you by the friendly people at the Pentagon - remember: It's not us who's evil - it's them!..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster2005 Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 In the news: Pentagon rolls out stealth PR WASHINGTON — A $300 million Pentagon psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source, one of the military officials in charge of the program says. Expect full-page adverts in pro-Blair papers and "novelty bumper stickers" on a car near you soon I hope they don't go local, though: "Isle of Man Roadwatch, brought to you by the friendly people at the Pentagon - remember: It's not us who's evil - it's them!..." They've already started in Iraq. Apparently for the past month the US have been feeding the TV networks positive news about the US and paying the news networks for it too. If they want us to like Unlce Sam then stop invading foreign countries, stop heavily subsidising your farmers at the expense of those in the third world (however the EU is more guilty of this) and stop killing us with your bloody SUV fumes and start to give a shit. Then we'll like you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 Its not just on the propoganda front that the US is trying to change itself. I thought this was an interesting article from the Economist Magazine on how the US army are trying to understand how blowing everyone up doesn‘t always mean you win! American Military Tactics: How to do better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theintelligentthug Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 this stuff has been going on for years. you think america is really that big? russia? all the maps you look at have been manipulated to make the country of origin look bigger or smaller to suit whosoever they sell it to. this isnt a new thing by any stretch of the imagination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster2005 Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 this stuff has been going on for years. you think america is really that big? russia? all the maps you look at have been manipulated to make the country of origin look bigger or smaller to suit whosoever they sell it to. this isnt a new thing by any stretch of the imagination. The USA doesn't look too big on most standard maps but it's true that countries closer to the poles are exageratted depending on your viewpoint. A few years ago the National Geographic published a nice big map showing all the countries in their true perspective so that, for instance Scandinavia no longer looker bigger than India when India is really a lot bigger in area... I don't remember the name of the style of map though as my cat destoyed it. Russia really is huge though. Some 9,000,000 km2 I believe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 through ... websites They'e already doing it here. Cheesemonster's Avatar is already sponsored by them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty Posted December 16, 2005 Share Posted December 16, 2005 Its not just on the propoganda front that the US is trying to change itself. I thought this was an interesting article from the Economist Magazine on how the US army are trying to understand how blowing everyone up doesn‘t always mean you win! American Military Tactics: How to do better. Jesus!! What a frightening article - some of the bits in there kind of sums up what I think the US feels about the rest of the outside (real) world!!!! A clutch of Vietnam-veterans with missing limbs, splashed with fake blood, make terrific bomb victims. Two Hollywood companies have been hired to improve the army's flashes and bangs, and to give acting classes to the role-players. The article linked doesn't give me any hope of progress in the mess that has been made of Iraq, but if each Brigade in training per month has gone from $2m to $9m, then someone is making some money from it, which after all that's what war is all about!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blixo Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 So, just who is Christian Bailey? A 30-year-old Oxford graduate with no public relations experience has been handed a $100m contract by the Pentagon - to plant false stories in Iraqi papers. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11328.htm http://www.lincolngroup.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButterflyMaiden Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 ......the US army are trying to understand how blowing everyone up doesn‘t always mean you win! Unlesss, of course, sufficient human beings are "blown up". It would be interesting to elicit the opinions of Mr & Mrs Nagasaki on your thesis ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 There was a documentary on TV recently, which I misssed, but was told about it at work which revealed some very scarey stats about the US. I can't recount the stats, but basically they underlined the protectionist, isolationist character of the average US citizen (how few actually held passports, how few had travelled outside of their state, let alone the US as a whole etc.) This national characteristic is probably borne from the huge immigration to the States from countries where particular sectors were being persecuted or economically fettered, leading the settlers to want to protect and defend their new freedom by turning their back on the world that had excluded them. Possibly why the States is not truly part of the global community, except when it feels there may be a threat to it, either physically or economically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster2005 Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 There was a documentary on TV recently, which I misssed, but was told about it at work which revealed some very scarey stats about the US. I can't recount the stats, but basically they underlined the protectionist, isolationist character of the average US citizen (how few actually held passports, how few had travelled outside of their state, let alone the US as a whole etc.) Try asking an average American to name more than 2 European countries let alone all 25 EU nations - that said, some British people probably can't even name all 25 EU states. Confuse an American by telling them that it's 10 degrees - they really can't understand celcius and find it hard to accept that 20 degrees can be warm. Then try the same with grammes and kilograms. Try debating the Iraq War or debating how their country is uncivilized, warmongering or too right wing - Americans don't seem to know how to debate in my experience and quickly resort to shouting and crying. What other ways are there to confuse an American? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 Celsius? I don't understand that until it's converted to Fahrenheit! As for grammes, kilograms, metres and litres - all foreign muck that enables people to avoid having to use mental arithmetic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster2005 Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 Celsius? I don't understand that until it's converted to Fahrenheit! As for grammes, kilograms, metres and litres - all foreign muck that enables people to avoid having to use mental arithmetic! I've never understood Fahrenheit - what's the point? Water freezes as 32f and boils at something like 220f - what the hell? At least with celcius we're able to appreciate how hot or cold it really is. As for grammes, kilogrammes, millilitres and litres, metres and kilometres - that's much better. What the hell is an ounce, stone and ton for god sakes? Much better to have a universal system where people can use the same system everywhere. I only know that an ounce is 28 grammes because for some reason dealers still use the imperial system. As for metres and all - kids are taught in these units at school but then on the streets we still use the prehistoric yard and mile measurements. Metric all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 Celsius? I don't understand that until it's converted to Fahrenheit! As for grammes, kilograms, metres and litres - all foreign muck that enables people to avoid having to use mental arithmetic! I've never understood Fahrenheit - what's the point? Water freezes as 32f and boils at something like 220f - what the hell? At least with celcius we're able to appreciate how hot or cold it really is. As for grammes, kilogrammes, millilitres and litres, metres and kilometres - that's much better. What the hell is an ounce, stone and ton for god sakes? Much better to have a universal system where people can use the same system everywhere. I only know that an ounce is 28 grammes because for some reason dealers still use the imperial system. As for metres and all - kids are taught in these units at school but then on the streets we still use the prehistoric yard and mile measurements. Metric all the way. I think this discussion should be in a different thread - probably in 'general chat.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain jiggyflaps Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 What other ways are there to confuse an American? Ask them to spell something correctly Metric all the way. Pah I spit on you stinking half arsed metric system, SI units or nothing. All temperatures measured in Kelvin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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