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ORIGINAL RESEARCHJerry Landay The "Civil War" squabble: Waging combat with wordsThe 'Apparat' that won't go awayEver since a throng of ex-communist, socialist, and liberal power seekers swung hard right in the 1970s, the brainwashing of American public opinion has been one of the The word "propaganda" was adapted from the Vatican's department of "propagandum," the Office for the Propagation of the Faith, devoted to the swelling the ranks of its congregants. The government of Woodrow Wilson pioneered mass propaganda techniques in America during World War I. The Soviets embraced "agitprop," political agitation backed by propaganda to gain influence and power at home, as well as far beyond the Kremlin. The Nazi chief propagandist, Josef Goebbels, displayed the cynical viewpoint of effective propagandists in his diary: "The rank-and-file are usually much more primitive than we imagine." Controlling the language of political disputation to buttress his power agenda was central to Hitler's bid to rule the German people. "Propaganda," Goebbels wrote, "must...always be essentially simple and repetitious." Housed within the American Apparat are right-wing attack operations that actively wage the fear campaigns against major media Here, in the manipulative hands of the neocons and their allies -- social, religious, and corporate conservatives, together with Republican politicians in Congress and the Reagan and Bush White House -- campaigns of linguistic distortion have been waged with shrewdness and unrelenting vigor. Until now, they have been immensely successful. Verbal distortions, flung out upon the airwaves, through the print media and the punditocracy, and in broadsides to members of Congress by the right-radical propaganda machine succeeded in diminishing respect for "liberalism" and converting "liberal" into a dirty word. It has elevated opponents of abortion into a legion of positive values by labeling them "pro-life," which implies that advocates whose first priority is protecting the life of the mother are pro-death. Wrote Herr Goebbels, "He will achieve basic results in influencing public opinion" by "reducing problems to the simplest terms and who has the courage to keep forever repeating them in this simplified form." The canny application of Goebbels' propaganda principles to American political discourse has been central to the maintenance of power by the Bush administration. "Stay the course" to empower supporters of the Iraq war, and "cut and run" to tar opponents as traitors, "war on terror" to win a long-term grasp on power by fear-mongering based on "war" without end against Islamic insurgents. Generating fear is the favorite tool of the propaganda trade in controlling large populations. Unfortunately, such phrase-making can eventually boomerang and inflict unintended consequences upon its creators: these include "Bring 'em on" and "Mission accomplished." But before these phrases did a 180-degree turn and speared the authors, the spinners of the right were able to peddle their wares through two mass distribution networks: first, with 9-11, they gained muscle over the news media. They scared media owners, publishers, and editors -- and, through them, their reporters and writers and newscasters. The culture columnist for TIME Magazine, James Poniewozik, concedes that "the news media was, and is, existentially scared" -- of conservative public opinion, of being frozen out of reportorial access to major government news sources, of end-runs around the national press, with important news and interviews fed to friends of the administration in the right-wing and local press: Fox News and the Washington Times, for example. Poniewozik makes no mention of the profound residual power of the far-right radio-TV talk show circuit--with corporate broadcasting mediarchs hiding behind the First Amendment and their FCC licenses to tilt public opinion to the right. Moreover, rightwing propagandists funneled their polemical output through an existing network of some 360 or more advocacy groups which share the same oligarchic foundation sources of operating cash and pursue the same agendas. I have called this combined structure The Apparat, a term originally devised by the Soviet leadership to describe the agitprop structure which neocon cadres in the American right later copied. Housed within the American Apparat are right-wing attack operations that actively wage the fear campaigns against major media. They include Accuracy in Media, L. Brent Bozell's Media Research Center, David Horowitz' David Horowitz Freedom Center (formerly Center for the Study of Popular Culture), and countless other such operations on regional and local levels. Also within the Apparat are radical right "think tanks" whose faux-scholars and "experts" -- from the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and other such "policy" outfits -- gain ready access to the airwaves, the print press, and key opinion molders in Congress. The hissy-fit between the White House and the press over whether the raging civil war in Iraq is actually a "civil war" is really about whether the massive shift of public opinion measured by the November elections represents a weakening of the Bush-Cheney-neocon Apparat -- along with its ability to control the language of American politics -- and a corresponding strengthening of the media's will, rekindled resolve, and independence to think for itself. For good reason, members of the Apparat, including the White House propaganda branch, is far from pleased that its opinion-molding machine may be losing its potency. After three failed years of war, the American public has finally understood that Iraq is indeed bloodily mired in civil war. In fact, Americans so concluded long before the press got around to it. Only after the election results were in did the press, led by the Los Angeles Times, the Christian Science Monitor, followed by NBC, break its dependency on Bush word merchants, weaned itself away from the fearful, conformist pack, and declared that we indeed had a raging civil war on our hands, with U.S. combat troops smack in the middle of the firefight. The New York Times, which prizes its "access" to official sources above all else, is still dithering over the issue. What the domestic "civil war" of words signifies is that the massive antibiotic of reality has prevailed over the Apparat, and begun to set the agenda again. The propaganda apparatus out in right field is no longer able to spin so freely and effectively. Its fitful, last post-election gasp for the moment was to try to sell the spin that the election numbers really added up to victory for Republican clones with Democratic nameplates, a canned alibi that Americans and the press failed to buy. But make no mistake about it -- the Apparat is still in business, if somewhat momentarily dazed. This is the movement that successfully impeached Bill Clinton, even though it couldn't make a conviction stick. Its power centers remain intact, despite the Republican loss of Congress and the national crisis of confidence in the Bush administration. The wealthy foundations of the Republican oligarchy that seeded the movement continue generously to feed the American Apparat. A scan of its universe demonstrates that the apparatus, though presently sputtering, still spins. For example, the Media Research Center continues to nurse the big bruise about NBC's early decision to declare Iraq a "civil war." The movement's latest post-election line is to peddle hope to "the base:" be patient -- the political worm will turn, sooner than you think. Accuracy in Media conspicuously displays this as a prime talking point on its web site: "Could conservative radio talk-show hosts and their allies overcome the power of the liberal media and keep Republicans in control of Congress?" One answer: perhaps the hope has substance -- IF the new Democratic congressional leadership is asleep to the mind-manipulating power of the Apparat. AIM has at least one fresh target: the proposed Al Jazeera English-language cable television service, designed to convey to American audiences the Islamic point of view on world events. Will American cable channels meekly and fearfully refuse to carry it? So far, sadly, the answer is yes. In this new era, the Center for the Study of Popular Culture has chosen to change its name, elevating founder David Horowitz to sainthood: it will now be known as the 'David Horowitz Freedom Center.' But the new DHFC hews to an old Horowitz aim: to conduct a nationwide purge of liberal professors on college campuses. The struggle for an open mind against the fear-driven tactics of the authoritarian movement will continue unabated. This much is certain: the hydra-headed voices of the Apparat will be lying in wait to undermine, divide, and conquer a dis-united Democratic Congressional majority, as well as assault the credibility of front-running Democratic presidential hopefuls whose power to retake the White House it most fears. The overriding questions are: will the progressive coalition now on the crest join the battle with vigor for public opinion? How effectively will the Democratic coalition battle against the right-wing Apparat in the struggle for America's hearts and minds? Jerry Landay writes on current political issues, and is a contributor to Mediatransparency. He was a news correspondent for CBS, and for ABC at the White House during Watergate. He is also a digital image-maker, and his work can be viewed here. sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
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MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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The Apparat: George W. Bush's back-door political machine
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