Saturday, July 07, 2007

OpEd News Article Addresses Propaganda


In a recent article on OpEd News, author Robert Raitz uses the 1936 movie Reefer Madness as an outstanding example of how propaganda was used to manipulate the actions of the American public.
"Tell Your Children, A Paradigm of Dope" gives a pretty good description of the movie that was instrumental in getting marijuana outlawed in The United States. Unfortunately, its outrageous claims of the effects of marijuana left anyone in the know swinging from the chandeliers. The movie has become a cult classic and has recently been turned into a Broadway musical.
The point of the article is to illustrate how the government and special interest groups still use similar types of propaganda to instill fear in the American public which results in knee-jerk reactions based on emotion. These reactions are as unwise now as they were then, and the article leaves me wondering if the masses will ever quit falling for it.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Painting my World a Better Color.

For the last several months, as I've been exploring ways to use my experiences in life along with journalism, broadcasting and public relations to earn a living wage, I've been forced to work in the trade I went to college to get out of -- painting. Not the artistic kind of painting, but the kind where you wear white pants and improve the appearance of peoples residences.

Honestly, the work isn't that bad and I was always proud of the work I've done to beautify a persons surroundings. And painting a luxury home can earn a guy some pretty decent financial rewards. Most importantly, it always gave me a good feeling when I left a home in better shape than when I found it.

But I don't want to do that for the rest of my life. I want instead, to take my creative skills, education and experience, and use them to help make our world a better place than when I found it. I think the best way I can do that is by communicating with the masses, utilizing my writing, reporting and personal communication skills to bring people together.
Beautifying the world one house at a time is nice, but I think I am intended to beautify the world on a much larger scale. Now if I can figure out how to earn a living in the process, I can retire my paint brushes for good and start paying for that education...

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Scooter Libby's Get out of Jail Free Card Recieved

When the Vice President's Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, was convicted of committing several crimes against the American people, I wrote a blog entry comparing him to the other Republican scapegoat in the not too distant past, Ollie North. I predicted then that Scooter Libby would be awarded a get out of jail free card from Boy George for keeping his mouth shut about who else was involved in his criminal actions.

I'm not gloating, but writing this instead to explain the future prescription drug addiction that I'm now predicting I'll be afflicted with if someone doesn't stop this madman named Bush. He didn't even have the decency to wait until Libby started serving his time before commuting his sentence.

How long will the American public tolerate this administration thumbing their nose at the Constitutional laws that define precisely how this country should be run. Who is going to stop this crap? Maybe his mom, Barbara, or his brother, or anyone? Beuller.... Beuller....?