New Bill Legalizes Government Propaganda and Disinformation on American Citizens.

*Source: The Vigilant Citizen

The next defense authorization bill to be proposed by the American congress contains a not-so-publicized amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on American citizens. The bill would indeed nullify an existing law that (supposedly) protects U.S. audiences from misinformation campaigns conducted by its own government. In other words, Americans could now be subjected to the hardcore, massively manipulative and disinformation-filled propaganda that is usually reserved for foreign countries such as Iraq. Yes, the American public is the new “enemy” to brainwash and the internet will be an important battlefield.

Readers of this site might ask: “Since when Americans were NOT subjected to propaganda?”. That is a true assessment. Most of the articles on this site effectively describe how mass media products are filled with propaganda and disinformation that is communicated to the American public. The new bill would however legalize the process, making it official and out in the open. While propaganda in the United States was always somewhat covert and disguised as something else, the new bill apparently seeks to form an actual Orwellian Ministry of Truth, where propaganda is just part of daily business. If you believe that mass media is full of BS now…there’s apparently a lot more of it coming our way soon.

Here’s an article on the “propaganda” bill.

Congressmen Seek To Lift Propaganda Ban

Propaganda that was supposed to target foreigners could now be aimed at Americans, reversing a longstanding policy. “Disconcerting and dangerous,” says Shank.

An amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on American audiences is being inserted into the latest defense authorization bill, BuzzFeed has learned.

The amendment would “strike the current ban on domestic dissemination” of propaganda material produced by the State Department and the independent Broadcasting Board of Governors, according to the summary of the law at the House Rules Committee’s official website.

The tweak to the bill would essentially neutralize two previous acts—the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 and Foreign Relations Authorization Act in 1987—that had been passed to protect U.S. audiences from our own government’s misinformation campaigns.

The bi-partisan amendment is sponsored by Rep. Mac Thornberry from Texas and Rep. Adam Smith from Washington State.

In a little noticed press release earlier in the week — buried beneath the other high-profile issues in the $642 billion defense bill, including indefinite detention and a prohibition on gay marriage at military installations — Thornberry warned that in the Internet age, the current law “ties the hands of America’s diplomatic officials, military, and others by inhibiting our ability to effectively communicate in a credible way.”

The bill’s supporters say the informational material used overseas to influence foreign audiences is too good to not use at home, and that new techniques are needed to help fight Al-Qaeda, a borderless enemy whose own propaganda reaches Americans online.

Critics of the bill say there are ways to keep America safe without turning the massive information operations apparatus within the federal government against American citizens.

“Clearly there are ways to modernize for the information age without wiping out the distinction between domestic and foreign audiences,” says Michael Shank, Vice President at the Institute for Economics and Peace in Washington D.C. “That Reps Adam Smith and Mac Thornberry want to roll back protections put in place by previously-serving Senators – who, in their wisdom, ensured limits to taxpayer–funded propaganda promulgated by the US government – is disconcerting and dangerous.”

“I just don’t want to see something this significant – whatever the pros and cons – go through without anyone noticing,”
“ says one source on the Hill, who is disturbed by the law. According to this source, the law would allow “U.S. propaganda intended to influence foreign audiences to be used on the domestic population.”

The new law would give sweeping powers to the government to push television, radio, newspaper, and social media onto the U.S. public. “It removes the protection for Americans,” says a Pentagon official who is concerned about the law. “It removes oversight from the people who want to put out this information. There are no checks and balances. No one knows if the information is accurate, partially accurate, or entirely false.”

According to this official, “senior public affairs” officers within the Department of Defense want to “get rid” of Smith-Mundt and other restrictions because it prevents information activities designed to prop up unpopular policies—like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Critics of the bill point out that there was rigorous debate when Smith Mundt passed, and the fact that this is so “under the radar,” as the Pentagon official puts it, is troubling.

The Pentagon spends some $4 billion a year to sway public opinion already, and it was recently revealed by USA Today the DoD spent $202 million on information operations in Iraq and Afghanistan last year.

In an apparent retaliation to the USA Today investigation, the two reporters working on the story appear to have been targeted by Pentagon contractors, who created fake Facebook pages and Twitter accounts in an attempt to discredit them.

(In fact, a second amendment to the authorization bill — in reaction to the USA Today report — seeks cuts to the Pentagon’s propaganda budget overseas, while this amendment will make it easier for the propaganda to spread at home.)

The evaporation of Smith-Mundt and other provisions to safeguard U.S. citizens against government propaganda campaigns is part of a larger trend within the diplomatic and military establishment.

In December, the Pentagon used software to monitor the Twitter debate over Bradley Manning’s pre-trial hearing; another program being developed by the Pentagon would design software to create “sock puppets” on social media outlets; and, last year, General William Caldwell, deployed an information operations team under his command that had been trained in psychological operations to influence visiting American politicians to Kabul.

A U.S. Army whistleblower, Lieutenant Col. Daniel Davis, noted recently in his scathing 84-page unclassified report on Afghanistan that there remains a strong desire within the defense establishment “to enable Public Affairs officers to influence American public opinion when they deem it necessary to “protect a key friendly center of gravity, to wit US national will,” he wrote, quoting a well-regarded general.

The defense bill passed the House Friday afternoon.

CORRECTION: The amendment under consideration would not apply to the Department of Defense, though the it is attached to a defense authorization bill.

- Source: Buzzfeed

Katy Perry’s ‘Part of Me’: Using Music Videos to Recruit New Soldiers

*Source: The Vigilant Citizen

In her music video ‘Part of Me’, Katy Perry ditches her wigs and latex dresses to put on a Marines uniform. While some might find this style change “refreshing”, the video for ‘Part of Me’ has a very specific agenda: To entice young people to enlist in the military. We’ll look at how ‘Part of Me’ is a three-minute long advertisement to recruit new soldiers for the U.S. military.

Katy Perry is usually known for wearing blue wigs and sexy dresses, but she gives it all up in Part of Me. Yup, watch out terrorists, Katy Perry is an army girl now. While “pop culture observers” welcomed Katy Perry’s image change, qualifying it as “refreshing”, most missed an important fact: In Part of Me, Katy Perry is used to push yet another agenda of the elite – the recruitment of young people into the military. If we look at it objectively, Part of Me is, in fact, a three-and-half-minute long “Join the Military” advertisement disguised as a music video. It contains all of the components found in regular TV ads for the Marines and any other army-related ads: cool high-tech war machines, excitement and action, being “All You Can Be” and so forth. But most importantly, it presents the military and, by extension, war, as the perfect escape from the bummers of regular life.

The video was shot at an actual U.S. Marine base, using actual Marines, which means that the video is truly a “sponsored message” from the Marines. By appealing to young people using singers they look up to and themes they can relate to, the U.S. military is looking to address an important issue: Getting more young people to enlist. There is indeed a growing need for fresh blood in the military as the U.S. government and other Western countries are putting intense pressure on so-called “Axis of Evil” regional powers such as Iran and Syria. The numerous military expeditions of the past few years (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya), and increasing calls to bring home enlisted soldiers who have done multiple tours of duty means that as the U.S. prepares for upcoming conflicts, new soldiers are needed to enlist and be shipped abroad. Instead of paying for a 30-second TV commercial, military marketing specialists probably realized that they could get better results by investing in the music video of a star that is popular with teenagers. While regular “Be All You can Be” TV commercials were effective in the past, today’s young generation watches less TV and more YouTube. So why not use pop stars who getting hundreds of millions of YouTube views and who are already used to push other aspects of the elite’s agenda?

Not a New Concept

A 1917 Uncle Sam poster used to recruit soldiers during WWI

Governments have always used the most advanced forms of mass media advertising to entice citizens to enlist in the armed forces. During World War I, the face of Uncle Sam was plastered all over the United States in order to recruit new soldiers. However, as the years went by, and television made its appearance, posters of the bearded fellow pointing at you with a stern look somewhat lost its effectiveness.

During the 1950s, although mandatory drafts were in full force, the military still looked for opportunities for good PR. When Elvis Presley, the hottest and most controversial artist of the time, joined the army as a regular soldier, the press was given “full access”, and were even allowed take pictures of him in his drawers while getting weighed in.

Elvis' career as a soldier was highly publicized, as countless pictures of him flooded mass media.

Elvis’ immense charm, charisma and popularity gave the army great visibility, successfully enticing young people of the rebellious “Rock’n'Roll” generation to be interested in the military.

Since the 1950s, marketing techniques have improved in both efficiency and sophistication. In fact, today, the best advertisement often parades itself as no advertisement – in the advertising industry, messages are known to be received more effectively when indirectly reaching an audience that believes it is being entertained. To achieve this, celebrities and pop stars are often used as vehicles to reach the minds of young people with specific messages without them even realizing it. Katy Perry’s Part of Me is an example of this technique, as nowhere in the video does it state that it is an advertisement for the U.S. military. Perry’s video was simply used by the military to reach its target audience–teenagers approaching the age of enlistmen–but the whole thing appears as if it was a “creative” decision of Katy Perry the Artist.

Watching Part of Me immediately reminded me of the Simpsons episode were Bart and his friends were chosen by a producer to form a boy band. The group’s hit single was Yvan Eht Nioj, which was “Join the Navy” in reverse. It was later discovered that Bart Simpson’s group was used by the Navy to push subliminal messages to young people in order to get them to become soldiers.

Party Posse's music video featured the group doing cool army things in Iraq such as driving dunebuggeys and flying jet fighters.

While Perry’s video relies on overt imagery rather than subliminal messages (as far as I know), Part of Me is based on the same agenda as portrayed in the Simpsons: To reach teenagers using the great appeal of pop stars. Let’s look at the most important scenes of the video.

Part of Me

The video begins with a concept most teenagers can relate to: Heartbreak. Katy catches her boyfriend kissing another woman. so she barges in and breaks up with him.

Katy walks away from her douchebag boyfriend. Although the video is basically a commercial for the United States military, it begins with a relationship-related scene in order to make the video relatable and to give it an emotional element.

Katy then drives to a gas station. She is very mad, confused and impulsive, so she obeys to the first advertisement she encounters. I bet marketers would love to have more people like Katy.

When Katy reads this actual US Marines sticker, she is immediately sold.

When facing heartbreak, some people might try to feel better with a chocolate fudge sundae or maybe a nice walk around the block. But in Katy’s case, she joins the US industrial-military complex and gets trained to fight guerrilla warfare abroad. Don’t get me wrong, I have respect for soldiers in the military, but I think a life-changing decision like joining the Marines should not be made in a moment of emotional frenzy.

Nevertheless, Katy makes this decision, cutting her hair in a boyish fashion and trading her Blackberry for a Marines uniform.

Katy is now the property of the U.S. military complex.

The rest of the video is very similar to armed forces commercials seen on TV where big guns, big machines and scenes of hardcore combat training are presented in a dynamic matter to appeal to young people who are bored with their lives. The lyrics of the song are cleverly mixed with the images of the video to make the advertisement even more effective. For instance, when Perry sings “I just wanna throw my phone away, Find out who is really there for me”, she is seen with her fellow soldiers, implying that her Marines buddies will never let her down.

Katy burns a letter from her boyfriend (representing her old life) while hanging out with her Marines buddy. He's REALLY there for her. Camaraderie between soldiers is an important selling point to help recruit personnel and is heavily promoted in this video.

When Katy sings: “I fell deep and you let me drown, But that was then and this is now … Now look at me”, she is shown firing a rifle as if it was a great accomplishment. Yep, look at her:

Katy is now in a military base, shooting a rifle and will most likely be shipped to a warzone in the near future. Take THAT cheating boyfriend, that'll show you!

During the bridge of the song, Katy sings “Now look at me, I’m sparkling, A firework, a dancing flame, You won’t ever put me out again, I’m glowing, oh woah oh”. During that time she is shown patrolling a mock Middle-Eastern village, used for real-life military training for guerrilla warfare simulations. This is another clever association between the song’s lyrics and the images in the video, provoking a positive association between the two.

Katy, you say you're "sparkling" but you're being trained to fight guerrilla warfare in the Middle East, which is known to be extremely bloody, violent and often involve civilian casualties. So, yeah, I'm not sure that "sparkling" is the best word to describe your situation.

Later in the video, the positive and uplifting words of the chorus are mixed with all-out war scenes involving soldiers running, tanks rolling and helicopters flying. There’s definitely some cognitive dissonance here because, in case some people don’t know, war is NEVER positive nor uplifting. It is ALWAYS terrible, violent and horrifying. However, in order to recruit new soldiers, advertisers need to make the whole “military experience” appear wonderful.

Katy is now caught up in the business of war, where death, mutilation, horror and trauma can get in the way of conquering Third World countries for resources and power. But hey, at least Katy's douchebag boyfriend isn't there!

So, in short, discovering that her boyfriend is cheating on her has Katy Perry enlist in the Marines, to be trained for combat, and, ultimately, be used as cannon fodder in conflicts she likely doesn’t fully understand. The elite seems to be looking for lost youth to fight their wars. Was Part of Me an Illuminati-sponsored message to find new recruits for its armed branch, the U.S. military-industrial complex?

A single eye above the trigger of a gun indicates that this military-themed video is a product of the elite's agenda ... who happen to have a bunch of wars planned in the coming years.

In Conclusion

Watching a bit of “international news” is enough to make one realize that there is currently a lot of pressure on “bad” countries such as Syria, Iran and Uganda, and that public opinion is being prepped for new military conflicts. The prospect of future wars, along with the countless existing warzones around the world, are generating a great need for new soldiers military in the U.S. and other Western countries. Since military drafts are no longer an option, new and innovative ways are being used to reach the army’s target audience (teenagers) and to get them interested in enlisting in armed forces. Katy Perry’s Part of Me is an obvious Marines recruitment advertisement disguised as a music video, with the Marine’s “cool” weaponry, intensive training and soldier camaraderie all presented in a dynamic and appealing matter. The military and war are presented as ideal escapes from life’s bummers, like a cheating boyfriend, and geared to appeal to a generation of bored teenagers. But is war really the perfect way to forget about a bad relationship? Go ask a war veteran.