Points of View - Propaganda and Marketing

There are endless points of view out there, and everyone on the Internet can have a voice.

We talked on a Quackcast some time ago about agendas and anvilicious messaging in some movies, and other fiction.

I've become interested lately in the marketing and messaging involved in movies and entertainment as well as politics. The hype surrounding some of the biggest movies and then the managing of audience reactions and controversy around these releases is pretty fascinating. Not necessarily a positive sort of fascinating, but fascinating nonetheless.

There are similar machinations at play in the world of politics, that are just as fascinating, but with higher stakes that make them more worrisome and scary.

Commercials are trying to sell us stuff. And the propaganda arms in politics, business, and entertainment are selling us stuff, too - and sometimes selling us a point of view.

Watching some of the efforts to explain away issues that people might have with movies and politics often reveals twisted logic, and this increasingly used technique of blaming audiences (or citizens/constituents) and hanging labels like 'sexist', 'racist', and 'foreign collaborator' on any criticism of the status quo (or the latest Star Wars movie!)

When high profile news people and entertainers are brought on board (or critics and bloggers), it can give me a creepy feeling. Intuition is sometimes all we have to go on. And if we're being beaten over the head with a message constantly, it can drown out that little voice inside that tells us something's not right.

And questioning what you're being told does not make you a racist, or a sexist, or a foreign agent!



Different points of view are healthy, and it's a beautiful thing to have discussions, consultations and even disagreements over all kinds of issues - having a point of view is excellent!

But an agenda? A dishonest take, based on serving some powerful interest? That creeps me out!



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Here ends my little series on points of view!

Take care, and have a fine Thursday!

Banes