In the Name of National Security
"Naturally the common people don't want war...that is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
Hermann Goering, Hitler's Deputy
(April 18, 1946, Nuremberg)
Mostly just because I'm in that kind of mood.
Want to play some more conspiracy games? Check this stuff out....anything you search on Google.com is collected and kept until at least the year 2038. Gmail is even worse. It's practically immortal. Read about it here:
http://www.google-watch.org/gmail.html
If you ever want to do a search which might, might at some point be considered questionable, or of interest to outside and/or governmental agencies, you might want to try the Google scraper. You get all the results without being tracked:
http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm
As a journalist, these little factoids interest me a great deal.
And speaking of journalism, it looks like the Gannett Corp is in a showdown with the Indy Star newspaper over forcing...yes, forcing....their copyeditors to write "advertorials," or ads which masquerade as legitimate news articles. Editor and Publisher has the article (thanks to Maeyan for finding and bringing this up!)
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003521603
Soon after I read that a horrible little article appeared in our Suburban Journal newspaper...it seems like the local Chamber of Commerce wrote the entire Home and Garden section of the paper. "Kids Corner" talks about getting kids to eat fresh fruit, but pays nauseating homage to Clementine tangerines. Not just plain old tangerines, but CLEMENTINES. Some examples (and mind you, this is a full front-page, below-the-fold article!) "An afternoon treat with a portable Clementine -- 90 percent of them still come crated from Spain -- immediately boosts a snack's healthy assets." and "Weiss urges parents to set out the fruit as a temptation to eat when a family member is hungry, add a bow to a clear jar filled with the citrus fruit and cranberries for decoration, and set a good example by giving a crate of Clementines as a gift for a host or hostess." Does anyone really believe that "article" was written by a journalist? Or does it perhaps smack of something that comes from a PR office? Would anyone be shocked to discover that this pap can be found verbatim at clementinesfromspain.com? The same type of crap can be found on the next article on the page, about arranging your closet space. Happily, the folks from DYMO Corp. are here to fill our brains with their advertising smack. Ugh! It used to be that this stuff had to be printed in a slightly different font than the rest of the paper, and had to carry a label which said, "advertisement." Apparently, this rule is no longer in effect.
Beware. Your local newspaper may be more than blurring the line between advertising and reporting. Hold any article suspect (and it amazes me at how many people let this slip by their radar!) that (A) Does not have a byline (reporters want credit for what they write), (B) sings the praises of any branded product, service or device (a real article on tangerines may quote someone from the Clementine company, but would never refer to tangerines as only "Clementines." They would also quote folks from at least three other tangerine growers or associations, so as to avoid appearing biased.), and (C) if it includes a call to action, something that urges you to run right out and make a purchase.
Hermann Goering, Hitler's Deputy
(April 18, 1946, Nuremberg)
Mostly just because I'm in that kind of mood.
Want to play some more conspiracy games? Check this stuff out....anything you search on Google.com is collected and kept until at least the year 2038. Gmail is even worse. It's practically immortal. Read about it here:
http://www.google-watch.org/gmail.html
If you ever want to do a search which might, might at some point be considered questionable, or of interest to outside and/or governmental agencies, you might want to try the Google scraper. You get all the results without being tracked:
http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm
As a journalist, these little factoids interest me a great deal.
And speaking of journalism, it looks like the Gannett Corp is in a showdown with the Indy Star newspaper over forcing...yes, forcing....their copyeditors to write "advertorials," or ads which masquerade as legitimate news articles. Editor and Publisher has the article (thanks to Maeyan for finding and bringing this up!)
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003521603
Soon after I read that a horrible little article appeared in our Suburban Journal newspaper...it seems like the local Chamber of Commerce wrote the entire Home and Garden section of the paper. "Kids Corner" talks about getting kids to eat fresh fruit, but pays nauseating homage to Clementine tangerines. Not just plain old tangerines, but CLEMENTINES. Some examples (and mind you, this is a full front-page, below-the-fold article!) "An afternoon treat with a portable Clementine -- 90 percent of them still come crated from Spain -- immediately boosts a snack's healthy assets." and "Weiss urges parents to set out the fruit as a temptation to eat when a family member is hungry, add a bow to a clear jar filled with the citrus fruit and cranberries for decoration, and set a good example by giving a crate of Clementines as a gift for a host or hostess." Does anyone really believe that "article" was written by a journalist? Or does it perhaps smack of something that comes from a PR office? Would anyone be shocked to discover that this pap can be found verbatim at clementinesfromspain.com? The same type of crap can be found on the next article on the page, about arranging your closet space. Happily, the folks from DYMO Corp. are here to fill our brains with their advertising smack. Ugh! It used to be that this stuff had to be printed in a slightly different font than the rest of the paper, and had to carry a label which said, "advertisement." Apparently, this rule is no longer in effect.
Beware. Your local newspaper may be more than blurring the line between advertising and reporting. Hold any article suspect (and it amazes me at how many people let this slip by their radar!) that (A) Does not have a byline (reporters want credit for what they write), (B) sings the praises of any branded product, service or device (a real article on tangerines may quote someone from the Clementine company, but would never refer to tangerines as only "Clementines." They would also quote folks from at least three other tangerine growers or associations, so as to avoid appearing biased.), and (C) if it includes a call to action, something that urges you to run right out and make a purchase.
posted by Kelly at
3:42 AM
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