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I've found the source of the Wingnuttery!

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Versailles Donating Member (384 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-02-11 11:10 PM
Original message
I've found the source of the Wingnuttery!
So I play a fun little game called Fallout New Vegas which has some in game music. After a while the limited in game music gets a little boring, so I downloaded a modification to the game that added period music to a "CONELRAD" radio station. (Description of what CONELRAD was is at the end of the post.) The music is mostly propaganda music from the red scare period in keeping with the theme of the game. I was playing tonight and this little gem played. It occurred to me that this song states current Wingnut talking points, almost verbatim . The sad part is, the song is 60 years old. Seriously, do these people think that we live in the same world as in 1951 and that mantra has to be exactly the same?!

(Emphasis mine)
I'm No Communist: Carson Robison <1952>

We're living in a country that's the finest place of earth
But some folks don't appreciate this land that gave them birth
I hear that up in Washington they're having an awful fuss
'Cause Communists and spies are making monkeys out of us

The bureaus and departments have been busy night and day
They're figuring out just how we gave our secrets all away
And Congress has appointed a committee so they said
To find out who's American and who's a low-down Red.

They call them up to Washington to speak for Uncle Sam
But when they ask them what they are, they shut up like a clam
I wish they'd take and put me on the witness stand today
I'd yell so loud old Stalin could hear me all the way

Refrain: I'm no Communist, and I'll you that right now
I believe a man should own his own house and car and cow
I like this private ownership, and I want to be left alone
Let the government run its business and let me run my own


Our government is bigger than it ever was today
The more they hire to work for it, the more they have to pay
Our public servants should be proud and honest you would think
Instead of taking bribes and dressing up their wives in mink

The taxes keep on going up of that there is no doubt
But still they just can't take it in as fast as they dish it out
Our national debt is monster size and growin' every day
Our children's children, still unborn are gonna have to pay

Our dollar used be the soundest money on this earth
But now two bucks won't even buy a good old dollar's worth
Unless we stop inflation and take care of what we've got
The Communists may win the fight and never fire a shot

Refrain

Carson Robison <1952>
I'm No Communist
(Scotty Wiseman)
MGM K 11 293

http://www.atomicplatters.com/more.php?id=37_0_1_0_M


CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the Cold War. It was intended to serve two purposes; to prevent Soviet bombers from homing in on American cities by using radio or TV stations as beacons, and to provide essential civil defense information. U.S. President Harry S. Truman established CONELRAD in 1951. After the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles reduced the likelihood of a bomber attack, CONELRAD was replaced by the Emergency Broadcast System on August 5, 1963, which was later replaced with the Emergency Alert System in 1997; all were administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).


In the event of an emergency, all United States television and FM radio stations were required to stop broadcasting. Upon alert, most AM medium wave stations shut down. The stations that stayed on the air would transmit on either 640 or 1240 kHz. They would transmit for several minutes, and then go off the air and another station would take over on the same frequency in a "round robin" chain. This was to confuse enemy aircraft who might be navigating using Radio Direction Finding. By law, radio sets manufactured between 1953 and 1963 had these frequencies marked by the triangle-in-circle ("CD Mark") symbol of Civil Defense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONELRAD
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phasma ex machina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-02-11 11:20 PM
Response to Original message
1. I am a communionist and I believe it's time for banksters to share. nt
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Brigid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-02-11 11:26 PM
Response to Original message
2. Wow.
Edited on Thu Jun-02-11 11:45 PM by Brigid
Post that song out of context, and nobody would guess it's 60 years old, unless they catch the "red" and "Communist" references. It's eerie.
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Versailles Donating Member (384 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-03-11 06:39 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Crazy huh? It blew my mind...
There are some other really interesting songs of the same type that give you a fascinating glimpse of American propaganda.

I give myself a little bit of a pass since I was born about 30 years after the red scare, but I wasn't aware of this kind of propaganda from the US. I've always heard about Chinese propaganda being played over loudspeakers and of course the posters and radio spots from WWII period, but I had never really considered the propaganda of the 50s and it definitely wasn't taught about it in school. History (particularly political and sociological history) fascinates me more and more as I get older...
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MisterP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-03-11 12:01 AM
Response to Original message
3. conelrad.com is amazing!
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Versailles Donating Member (384 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-03-11 06:41 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. Agreed...
I now have a new website to pour over for hours and hours into the wee hours of the morning...my wife will be so "pleased"! :D
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