Natalie Solent

Politics, news, libertarianism, Science Fiction, religion, sewing. You got a problem, bud? I like sewing.

E-mail: nataliesolent-at-aol-dot-com (I assume it's OK to quote senders by name.)

Back to main blog

RSS thingy

Jane's Blogosphere: blogtrack for Natalie Solent.

Links

('Nother Solent is this blog's good twin. Same words, searchable archives, RSS feed. Provided by a benefactor, to whom thanks.
I also sometimes write for Samizdata and Biased BBC.)

The Old Comrades:

Archives

November 2001 December 2001 January 2002 February 2002 March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 August 2007 October 2007 February 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 March 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 October 2009 January 2010 March 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 April 2011 June 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 November 2013

Monday, May 21, 2007

"What he hasn’t done is lie in a corridor all night at the Royal Free watching his severed toe disintegrate in a plastic cup of melted ice. I have." - A Samizdata Quote of the Day.

posted by Natalie at 9:38 AM

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Propaganda is a double edged sword.Two blog posts about paradoxes of propaganda caught my interest. First, my Biased-BBC colleague Niall Kilmartin writes:

In WWII, Germany sent films of its army and airforce in action to neutral countries. Their message was clear: see our tanks blasting your neighbours, our planes bombing them – this can be you if you don’t cooperate with us. Thus Germany gained a propaganda victory from its acts. These films were re-shown in British newsreels; you can hear the disdain in the voice of the British announcer saying, “This is what Germany is proud of.” Thus the Nazis' propaganda victory was also their propaganda defeat: they got respect from their ruthlessness and military skill, and they got a lack of respect from the same thing. In those days, British media coverage hid neither the one nor the other.

The Iranian government (it would seem from the BBC’s report, and I can very well believe it for many other reasons as well) are extremely ready, nay eager, that their agents in Iraq arrange the kidnap and torture of the prince (or presumably, of anyone else suitably prominent whom they can hope to capture) and have made such effective and convincing preparations to support this that the MOD are no longer willing to take the risk. That we are so unsure we can protect him in Iraq is a propaganda victory for them, and would have been in WWII. That they are so very ready to do such a thing would have been a propaganda defeat for them in WWII. Will we hear a BBC announcer say that, “This is what the Iranian government is proud of.” ? One may hope.

And Helen Szamuely of EU Referendum writes:

Nyanko Sabuni is Burundi born centre right politician in Sweden and is the Minister for Integration and Gender Equality. She seems to be taking her job very seriously and has launched a fight against honour killings in Sweden.

...

The Muslim "community" or, to be quite precise, its self-appointed spokesmen, have already gone into an attack, accusing her of racism and, no doubt, Islamophobia. Whenever people say that one wonders whether they are listening to themselves. If you oppose a campaign against honour killings because it is racist and anti-Muslim, you are, in effect, admitting that only certain groups indulge in it. Is that really sensible?

Added later: another one, although this time it is a case of unintentional concealment rather than unintentional revelation. In a comment on a Croziervision post, Antoine Clarke writes:

The advantage of subversive propaganda by the MSM is that when a REAL military setback occurs no one notices.

Imagine the Zulu War of 1879: “Quagmire as British troops one advance 1.5 miles a day!” “15 cows seized by insurgents on Natal border!!” “Soldiers DIE OF DISEASE!!!” and then when the first battle of Isandlwana results in annihilation, it gets relegated to the filler columns: “Insurgents capture British weapons.”

posted by Natalie at 11:03 PM

Quote of the ~~DayMonth~~ Undefined But Embarrassingly Lengthy Period of Time Between Two Blog Posts.

Someone in a position of power has done something inefficient and/or counterproductive? Really? Well I never. Must tell the world.

- Squander Two, when suffering from outrage fatigue.

posted by Natalie at 10:57 PM

HOME