New Header !!! … |

I know , it’s halfway thru February !!! … But I’ll get ’em done eventually !!! …

It takes time … Fortunately , time is one of the few things I have a fair bit of !!! …

I’ll leave ya a cartoon for now … I’ll add more Media BS related ones later …

A brief history lesson ;

Soviet Politburo member Nikolai Tikhonov exclaimed during a September 1981 debate over how to respond to the strikes and headline-grabbing protests by the Polish union , Solidarity.

Another Politburo member suggested using the media to smear the independent Polish union to win the public relations battle : “ Both in ‘ Pravda ’ and in other newspapers we must organize statements of this sort. ”

Another warned that the workers’ revolt might spread … Thus challenging the legitimacy of a system that appropriated the industrial worker’s hammer crossed with the agricultural worker’s scythe. “ Solidarity has decided not to confine itself solely to Poland. It is attempting to impose its subversive ideas on neighboring states and to interfere in their internal affairs.” He added a smear familiar to today’s ears , “ This is just what fascists do in creating brigades of stormtroopers. ”

The Soviet leaders faulted inadequate indoctrination decrying , “ The lack of training in Marxist-Leninist sciences in secondary school is taking its toll. With regard to the mass media , their current status does not correspond to what is needed. The Party is taking steps to restore order and reestablish control. But even that will still leave things far from normal … Ideological erosion stemming from the decline of Party-educational work among the masses , and the neglect of this work in the mass media , define the current situation in Poland. ”

Then , like now , academics and media were a tool of first resort to suppress and smear political opposition.

In 1981 , the future prime minister of Canada had not yet turned 10 years old and was not yet designated Canada’s “ sexiest man alive. ” Yet there are clues that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might have heard and absorbed Soviet anti-Solidarity propaganda. In response to the 2022 truckers’ convoy , Trudeau plagiarized the Soviets , claiming , “We won’t give in to those who fly racist flags. We won’t cave to those who engage in vandalism or dishonour [sic] the memory of our veterans.”

The media , perhaps responding to a Soviet-style call to “organize statements of this sort ” wrote , “ Images shared on social media during the weekend showed protesters waving flags with swastikas on them , as well as U.S. Confederate flags … Which civil rights groups say is a symbol of white supremacy. ”

Claims linking the Canadian truckers’ convoy to Nazis appeared in the Guardian , Vox , NPR , the Atlantic, BBC, the ( ironically-named ) Independent , NBC , Reuters , the Washington Post , the New York Times , and many more. Each of those 10 sources contains a line similar to this , “ The truckers have been joined by various groups, including some displaying Nazi symbols and damaging public monuments ”…