Friday, September 5, 2008

Obama, McCain, Palin, Biden - What's the Truth?



I've been reading a few blogs recently that are noticeably slanted in their opinions concerning candidate/s during this election. They are full of propaganda that they have heard, accepted, and are just passing on. Remember that in elections and in war there is propaganda, spin, half truths, exaggerations, sometimes outright lies. Yes in BOTH parties, as well as BOTH sides of a war.

So during conventions, and political coverage with all the speeches, remember that even your guy (or gal) will probably say things that are propaganda. Also we are hearing some bashing by the media of the new V.P. pick Sarah Palin. Some of which is slanted, and some even sounds gender prejudice. So before you get on the bandwagon remember to do your homework, check the facts at FactCheck.org. Fact Check is a "nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics."

I want to stress that before entering into war a government uses propaganda trying to get the people on their side. It is more difficult for a government to wage war if the people aren't with them. "Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. 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." — General Herman Goering, President of German Reichstag and Nazi Party, Commander of Luftwaffe during World War II, April 18, 1946."

Of course propaganda can be used during a war by both sides. This is a WWII propaganda poster made by the allies to warn U.S. workers. "Allied propaganda typically portrayed the Japa­nese as nearsighted, bucktoothed caricatures or as monkeys, alternating between a subject of ridicule and an object of fear."


I found a good website that has a section about war time propaganda and the Media, it's call Global Issues.

So folks remember that propaganda abounds during election time and war time. Propaganda will be on both sides and it is upon our shoulders to discern correctly.

Good website to use..

Fact Checks

On The Issues

PolitiFact

Fact Checker Washington Post

Vote Gopher

Snopes

Global Issues Good for War Time

Related Posts -
Politics - Just the facts ma'am! ...What's the Truth?

Quiz - Who do you prefer? - McCain or Obama


Update: I added more factcheckers later.

Photo credit and here

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

When you assert that blogs you've read are "full of propaganda" and other non-substantiated information, I KNOW you're not talking about mine because, as I have indicated time and again, there are some things I can corroborate and, those things that I can't, I qualify with the term "unsubstantiated," or other like information.

It's also unfair to blame the bloggers of having a "slant." You can paint it that way if you want but the truth is, many people who are blogging about Palin are people who are understandably upset and concerned about the DOCUMENTED issues surrounding her abuse of power, fiscal irresponsibility, lies, deceit, anti-choice, anti-gay, and religious beliefs.

Now, if you want to call the videos on the web that clearly show her saying things like "It's God's will that we drill and establish a gas line," and "It's God's will that we fight in Iraq," bias, propaganda or whatever, you're free to believe whatever you want, but don't go accusing bloggers (especially me) of bias or slant unless their posts are unsubstantiated or undocumented. If you had read my blog over the past week or so, you would see where I have made certain concessions about Palin. I still think she's dangerous in the role of Vice President - VERY dangerous.

Just my take.

Awake In Rochester said...

Hi Pat,

My main point is that there is propaganda on both sides, and it's good to take a look at fact checks, or something similar. It's just not the republicans, Sen. Obama also stretched the truth considerably in his speech during the convention as shown by factchecks.org. There are no devils, or angels here. This is politics and everyones hands are dirty.

I see this Palin thing as a runaway train, and the media is in a frenzy. Now they are starting to write retractions. For example the New York Times wrote an article on the front page, but later put the retraction on the back page...

From The Sunday Paper dot com - Title -"New York Times Admits Faulty Reporting on Gov. Palin. -In their eagerness to discredit a politician, even reporters at the best of newspapers can accept shady information as fact, without checking adequately on its source. It's a sloppy way to do business, but in a hurried profession it happens. Maybe it's just because the New York Times is so huge and so widely read that it appears to rack up more big sloppy errors than most. A mispelling here and there, the occasional wrong date on an event, etc, these are to be expected at any newspaper, but the Times, in an odd turnabout, does pretty well on the little things and outrageously badly on some of the big things. Take for example..."

Here is one NY Times retraction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/
us/politics/03party.html

Frankly I'm looking for a online newspaper article that writes about all the many errors that venous newspapers has made concerning Gov. Palin.

Anonymous said...

And yet, you still fail to see that it wasn't the NY Times that erred, it was the person who made the statement and that statement was carried by all the media, not just the Times. Read the very article you link to!

YOU, ALSO need to be mindful about how you present your own (biased) information.

You're making Palin out to be some persecuted saint when, in fact, she's far from it and she has a LOT of things to explain to the American people if she's to be second in command of this country.

Anonymous said...

PS: You lecture about "partisan" reporting yet you cite your "source" as SundayPaper.com -- are you serious? It's akin to the National Enquirer! Are you kidding? If it leaned any more right, it'd be horizontal!

The NY Times didn't "admit to faulty reporting," as your cited source claims. The NY Times reported that they had been given a statement by an Alaskan political party chair who later retracted her statement. How, exactly, is that "faulty reporting?" They named names, they reported what they had been given and then they reported that the person retracted her statement and blamed it on erroneous information from some unidentified person.

Where's their critique of McCain's "stretching of the truth?" He claimed that Palin sold a plane on eBay "and made a profit," but the plane WAS NOT sold on eBay and was, in fact, sold for more than a half million dollar loss and there is STILL legal wrangling over monies that the state (governor's office) owes the buyer.

Where's their questioning of the fact that McCain "can't remember" how many homes/houses he has?

Where is their reporting on the fact that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, claims that the FBI did a background check on Palin yet, on Monday John Miller, the FBI's chief spokesman released a statement saying that no such check ever took place?

Where's their critique of anything NOT Obama/Biden? I'll tell you where, it doesn't exist. And you claim to get your information from "unbiase" sources?

C'mon, Awake, you're smarter'n that!

Awake In Rochester said...

Hi Pat,

Looks like they could have checked the party’s archives them-selfs. I don't know the reporting process, but I think that they are suppose to double check, and confirm things.

Awake In Rochester said...

Hi Pat,

If you were for McCain then I would be talking about his inaccuracies. Like I said propaganda is on both sides. I'm not the expert. See factcheckdotorg. They will give you the low down. As for me I am voting for Obama, and I highly doubt that will change. Unless Gov. Palin shows up at my door in a tiny bikini wanting to kiss me for hours. WooWoo! ;o)

Anonymous said...

As for me I am voting for Obama, and I highly doubt that will change. Unless Gov. Palin shows up at my door in a tiny bikini wanting to kiss me for hours

Kindly issue beverage warnings before you say that kind of stuff again!

Sputtered iced coffee on my keyboard...

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