BTRTN Report on the Republican National Convention: The Golden Goebbels Awards

[reggieandlee]

Born To Run The Numbers provides its report on the Republican National Convention, an epic exercise in political propaganda:

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2020/08/btrtn-report-on-republican-national.html

Excerpts: "Clear, consistent communication is one thing. Clear communication of preposterous falsehoods has another name: propaganda. Yes, in today’s column we shall hand out our first 'Golden Goebbels Statues' for outstanding performance in the dark art of propaganda. Our awards take their name from Josef Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, who is often viewed as the pioneer and leading practitioner of a form of communication that leverages the power and authority of mass media to distort, deny, or eradicate the truth in service of a political end. Propaganda is lying on the steroids of mass media..."

"The tactics of propaganda are well known. Go for the 'Big Lie.' Never admit to failure, responsibility, or wrongdoing. Find a scapegoat to blame for all problems. Repeat, repeat, and repeat until the sharp lines between truth and fiction are pounded into gray liminal spaces in which guilt can be evaded and reality can be debated. Thusly revealed: the apparent briefing plan for the 2020 Republican Convention. Take every known reality about the Trump administration and offer an inverted version as undisputed fact, and assume the audience will somehow be dumb and forgetful enough to buy it. The Republican agenda for their convention was clearly to sell the five big lies..."

"Welcome, then, to the 2020 Golden Goebbels Awards. Here are the categories and the winners..."