U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press - Los Angeles Times

Today the LA Times reveals how the U.S. US Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press.

It is a common complaint among government officials that the press only focuses on the negative - but when your biggest policy-maker is military, a new interaction between policy and press is made possible.

I think I hinted these kind of moves in my dissertation - and it is as well rather relevant to my present research on propaganda, because this is more or less what we would deem as a clear example of the big P.

"Though the articles are basically factual, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the U.S. or Iraqi governments, officials said. Records and interviews indicate that the U.S. has paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of such articles, with headlines such as 'Iraqis Insist on Living Despite Terrorism,' since the effort began this year."

Retorikmagasinet redoux

Retorikmagasinet er på gaden i sin otteoghalvtredsindstyvende udgave.

Sidst det udkom fik jeg vist kaldt det nye layout tandlæge-agtigt, men det aktuelle nummer river tænder ud. Fra forsidens originale retoriker-collage til bagsmækkens bud på en dansk tale-kanon. I en letsindet situation blev det kvantificeret og helhedsindtrykket placeret i top tre af de seneste 6 års udgaver. En investering værd.

Specielt er Gustav Rasmussens artikel om dispositio interessant. Han er musiker, skriver om at overholde og bryde musikalske dispositioner og har komponeret stykket "Miele Special Electric 753 W" inspireret af at sidde foran vaskemaskinens lille koøje og holde øje med den røde sok.

Du kan høre værket opført af Norges Radios Underholdningsorkester her.

Wolfson House

It seems from the statistics on my homepage that a new batch of students have recieved a place at Kings College London and now are researching on if they are to get a room at Wolfson House.

They will, of course, only find the official glittering material of comely, orderly small student cells in an amicable and clean atmosphere of international students, situated close to the centre of London.

No-one will tell them about hangovers on wednesdays, dirty kitchens inhabited by flies and sour milk, dirtstained carpets, drunk undergrads with mischievious smiles in the elevator.

And however much I thought it would be impossible, I actually miss being in that run-down monolith of Wolfson House - just for the weekend, mind you. I'll go back to graduation in January and ram a stick through its heart. Meanwhile, for all the future students, is a picture of the view from my room an early morning in August.

Vild med Dans = Propaganda?

Propaganda er ifølge mange teoretikere ikke kun budskaber på plakater og i ophidsede taler, det er en samfundsmekanisme. Canadieren Stanley Cunningham refererer den amerikanske historiker Daniel Boorstin når han skriver:

Our unwitting appetite for illusion and deceptions, in turn, is whetted by our own "extravagant expectations" both "of what the world holds," and "of our power to shape the world". Trying to gratify the expectation is yet another form of illusion which merely reinforces the pathology itself. The result, according to Boorstin, is a conscious universe populated by pseudo-events - contrived media happenings arranged for the convenience and profit of the media themselves in which questions of reality, authenticity, and truthfulness are eclipsed by the problematic values of newsworthiness and the public's attention. This hunger for pseudo-events is linked to our progressive addiction to images.

Jeg kunne ikke lade være med at tænke på TV2s Vild med Dans og den perlerække af historier som det program har affødt i de danske medier, specielt BT. Nu ved jeg hvad jeg skal råbe helt rød i hovedet nede i Netto næste gang der er en forside med David Owe: "Pseudo-begivenhed! Propaganda! Lad os så få noget politik!"

Danish Veterans Day

Now Denmark has started taking casualties, I wonder if anyone will suggest that we have our very own veterans day?

Dansk note: I dag, den 11 i 11 er det Armistice Day i England, datoen for Første Verdenskrigs slutning. Der er en stærk bevægelse og en NGO der står for at hele november er dedikeret til at mindes de faldne ved at bære og vise valmuer - som der var mange af på slagmarkerne i Vesteuropa. Hvis man skulle omplante det til danske forhold, ville det så blive palmeblade?

Bølleoptøjer er ikke terror

Peter Skaarup fra Dansk Folkeparti siger i dag til Politiken at

'Se nu også balladen i Rosenhøj i Århus, hvor unge mennesker har knust butiksruder og brændt en børnehave af. De er også terrorister i en eller anden forstand'.

Nej Peter Skaarup. Gu' er de ej. De er kriminelle, utilpassede, asociale, nogle dumme svin. Men de er ikke terrorister.

Det er både en farlig og forkert facon at udvaske terror-definitionen på. Hvis vi begynder at se terrorister overalt, så mister sproget et vigtigt og stærkt ord og vi hælder acetone på samfundets limninger.

OPSEC - the enemy in the coffee room...

Considering how much attention is given to and how much mystery surrounds the national intelligence services it is good (scary) to be reminded once in a while that they are still just organisations with humans in them.

And with humans comes bad coffee, pointless meetings and ridiculous posters in the printer-room reminding your coworkers to do this and that. When done in intelligence with the subject of operational security, using a picture or clipart of a cat or a fat baby just kind of clashes more than in your ordinary office.