God On Our Side

Is God on the side of the US? This song is about overcoming the propaganda we all have been taught. 

Propaganda

While this song never got the airplay it deserved, or any at all, It fits into the theme of this week on propaganda. Yes, the lead singer is a family member. The song was originally done in one take, freestyle. 

Framing

Framing is a technique of propaganda: 

Framing is a psychological and sociological concept that has many applications and has been the subject of a great deal of research and experimentation. But in the public arena – particularly in current events and politics – it essentially means establishing guidelines that influence how the public perceives a particular topic – or even what topic the public perceives. 

I often talk about framing when I use the term templates—how we look at the world. 

Television, by deciding which video clip to show, can frame any issue to predetermine the desired conclusion in the viewer. To look at this more in depth, look at an older blog post of mine—Good Television. 

In general it works this way. If you have two clips of the Occupy Wall Street protestors, one where the person is calm and coherent, and another where a crazy is defecating on a police car, which one you use will be predetermined by the producer’s view of the protests. 

If you start to watch for this you will notice its constant use in news. It does not matter if you are watching Faux News or PMSNBC, they all do it. (Note that I just used a propaganda technique called “name calling,” which I will talk about on Friday.) 

Here is a report from RT America in which they interview 3-time Emmy award winner Amber Lyon. The clip begins talking about how the Iranians are being framed, in both senses of the word, by the choice of what parts of a speech to air. 

For some reason the information that Bahrain is paying CNN to air positive stories about Bahrain is not being talked about on Mainstream News. Only alternative news sources will talk about it. 

CNN is being paid to frame stories. While you can see framing, this kind of framing you can never see. You cannot see what they decide not to show. This is framing at its worse. The more varied your news consumption habits, the less you will be decieved. 

Propaganda Techniques

This propaganda piece is of course propaganda. But it is a good place to start if you want to think about propaganda. 

They’re Magically Delicious

The idea behind this commercial is to relive one’s youth through cereal consumption. Do we really care that now it is “whole” wheat? It is still a huge sugar load that will eventually zap your energy when your blood sugar level crashes. The reason that so many dietitians advocate many meals a day, or substantial snacks, is that eating products like this lead to sugar highs and crashes. You need a snack at 11 and 3 to keep up your sugar level in the blood. But if you have meals higher in protein and fat, the meal stays with you. 

Experiment on yourself. Have a high cereal/carbohydrate breakfast and see how hungry you feel at 11. Then the next day have a higher fat breakfast like eggs with meat and see how you feel at 11. Most people will be less hungry. 

Why do the cereal companies want you to eat their product? Obviously they make money. 

Cereal	Per Box	Per Ounce
Quaker Oatmeal	2.19	12.2
Grape-Nuts	3.49	14.5
Pop-Tarts	2.19	15.6
Raisin Bran	3.43	17.2
Quaker Natural	5.29	18.0
Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran	2.99	18.7
Corn Flakes	3.39	18.8
Wheaties	3.99	22.2
Shredded Wheat	3.69	24.6
Cocoa Puffs	3.69	24.6
Froot Loops	3.69	24.6
Cheerios	3.79	25.3
Frosted Flakes	3.79	25.3
Corn Pops	4.07	27.1
Kix	4.99	27.7
Rice Krispies	3.79	28.1
Cinnamon Toast Crunch	4.25	30.4
Special K	3.79	31.6

http://www.amyx.org/wazfag/cereal.htm

Here is what the author of this chart had to say about boxed cereal costs:

Normally one would not eat these colors. How do the prices of cereal compare to other foods, like meat?  Well, whole chicken, at $1.29 per pound, is 8.1 cents per ounce; chuck roast, bone in, is 12.4 (both cheaper than Raisin Bran); New York steak is 40.6 cents per ounce; and top round (London broil) is 24.3.  I suppose we might expect a higher quality cut of meat to be more expensive than breakfast cereal, but it could come as a shock to learn that for the same price you pay for Cocoa Puffs or Froot Loops, you could be eating London broil.  Either that, or you can’t compare Raisin Bran and roast beef.

While these figures are from 1999, I doubt that the relative comparison has changed much. 

Try a little experiment the next time you go to the grocery store. Take a calculator, or use your phone and take the price of the boxed cereal and divide by the ounces—then multiple by 16. That is the price per pound. Then go to the meat department and compare. 

I did this in the mountain community where I live. The Lucky Charms cost $6.66 a pound. Hmm. 

The most expensive cuts of meat were 8 to 12 dollars per pound. Perfectly fine sirloin was $4.99, and you could get 2 pounds of chicken for $6. Or one could get 2 1/2 dozen eggs instead of one pound of that cereal. Lucky Charms were not a good value. 

No, this post is not about health, although I will tag it as health. I will also tag it as what this post is really about—propaganda. 

Whenever you see an ad, for anything, they are trying to persuade you to buy a product. Advertising is expensive. Only brands with high profit margins are going to be advertised by the manufacturer. (Of course there are ads by retailers that advertise a product at a cheap price to get you into the store. You can do well if you take an ad, buy those items in the ad that you need, and then leave the store. The store will lose money. Do this to every store and then shop for those items not on sale that you still need.)

Quit watching ad-supported entertainment as much as you can. It is not free, it costs you more than paying for your entertainment. You may think you are not being influenced, but you are. This is a part of leaving Babylon the Great. 

I will talk about propaganda this week. Tomorrow I will have an old video from the 50’s that talks about propaganda.