Thread: The Pentagon and Propaganda. Has it gone too far?

I came across another interesting article today about the pentagon and how they are spending 4.7 billion dollars to influence public opinion about the war and whatever else they feel is important.

What is seriously worrying to me is when it’s mentioned that this entire operation has become larger than many media companies and they are using shady methods to spread their propaganda. When I mention shady methods I mean they have people writing articles without disclosing the fact that they are being paid to spin stories in a certain manner. I see why they don’t do this though, who’d take an article with the subject “Why staying in Iraq is the best choice” or “Why we need to invade Iran” written by someone on the Pentagon’s payroll seriously, I think most people would discard it and it might lower the support for the cause.

If the pentagon really was interested in influencing public opinion it might be a far better idea to focus on methods to prevent innocent civilians from being killed, close the illegal prisons and ending torture. These are the things that will do far more than 4.7 billion dollars could ever do.

The worst part is the propaganda is not only being spread in countries like Iraq or Afghanistan, it’s being spent here at home (USA) which I think is crossing the line. The government spending money and failing to reveal when articles are published that the individuals who wrote them are getting paid to toe the government line is too much for me.

What are your guy’s thoughts?

Article Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29040299

Calvin Coolidge once said "The Business of America is Business". However, it'd seem these days the American government is more focused on war than on anything else. I understand being the most powerful country in the world will attract some threats, but does the US really need to spend that much money on the military? America's official budget for the military, on 2008, was $460 billion . That's an excessive amount. The government could easily reduce that amount by half, use that money on other benefits for the American citizens, and it'd still have the largest military budget.

I can see how spending this money could be considered important, it's just the amounts that seem extravagant. The US has decided that it's war on terror is one of the big issues, to this end it's targeting Iraq and Afghanistan. It is important for the morale of the solidiers and the American public, for people to believe that good work is being done and the war is not a hopeless cause.

It does muddy the waters though for people looking for unbiased reports. It's one the problems I have with the whole global warming debate. There is information out there contradicting the timetables and levels of the scaremongers, but mainly it's the petro companies sponsoring the research and articles. It becomes hard to know who or what to believe. This is where the propaganda side fails. Once people realise that they're being played, they aren't likely to believe the source, even if the information is true.

Regarding the amount being spent, I do think it is excessive. There are so many better things that this could be spent on -health, education, all the general socio-economic development things. In light of the financial collapse and coming depression, this kind of spending seems almost criminal.

This I am going to blame Republicans and Bush. They always have a hard on for war. If you want to add dumbass spending, throw NASA into the pit. A few years ago they lost two space probes worth half a billion.

There has been so much overspending it real blows my mind.

It's weird how they all make this a show while the reality is so bad.

An Associated Press investigation found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year, according to Department of Defense budgets and other documents. That’s almost as much as it spent on body armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2006. The question is: Is it by any means justified?
People in america and all over the world now about reality. It doesn't amke any sense to try to spread false information if the real networks are much larger than the pentagon itself.

I read that this year, the Pentagon will employ 27,000 people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations — almost as many as the total 30,000-person work force in the State Department.

Originally Posted by Dante Obscuri

but does the US really need to spend that much money on the military?

You need a lot of money for world domination. It's probably all going into research for the next most powerful weapon in the galaxy. They should send more money to NASA. Don't they know that's the easiest way to win in Civilization.

Originally Posted by dna2playboy

You need a lot of money for world domination. It's probably all going into research for the next most powerful weapon in the galaxy. They should send more money to NASA. Don't they know that's the easiest way to win in Civilization.

you're talking about running an empire.
which the American doesn't have the money to run anymore

The war has always been largely financed by censored foreign investors, likely those who would gain most from Iraq's oil resource takeover, so the finances itself would most likely not serve an issue too deprecating.

I think the reason now is more likely the government using the war as a last resort method to jump-start cashflow into this consumer-morale-based economy. It's worked for previous wars, why not now.

Of course, there's always the issue of lag time. The war has been going on for awhile and no good has seemed to come out of it.

The war would work...

if only if there were more censored on TV or other modern medias.
if America wanted they should have blown Iraq back to Mesopotamia like what they did
in the Philippine and Puerto Rico

well, you know a country's spending way too much and out of their means when it has a - what, trillion dollar deficit?

as for world domination...well, I think the Republicans had their minds made up when the saw a Death Star nuke a planet in Star Wars. Though legally no one's allowed to launch a nuclear weapon into outer space. really.