Information Control For Social Manipulation

Excerpt/Introduction From:
http://www.whale.to/a/deserano.html

Information Control For Social Manipulation



The news and entertainment we consume, and thus our thoughts and
opinions, are shaped not just by the media and entertainment
corporations but by governments, their agencies and the military-
industrial complex.
Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 11, Number 2 (February-March
2004)
PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. editor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381
From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com © 2003 by David B.
Deserano, MS
Email: fortytwoent@xxxxxxxxx

Information Control
Who has the information? How is it being distributed? How is it
contextualized?
Part I: Media Intents, Capabilities, Practices, and Origins
Part II: Corporate Media and Content Control
Part III: Individuals—Actions and Connections
Part IV: Journalism and the Threat of the First Amendment
References:

Information Control

It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a
psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is
in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until
they clothe ideas in disguise.
—Joseph Goebbels

The United States is the most media-saturated country in the world. We
are bombarded daily with thousands upon thousands of images and sounds
designed to get our attention, entertain, and inform us of everything
from shoes to food to celebritydom to political ideology. Its been
estimated that the average American is exposed to more than 3000
advertisements every day, but on top of that, there are the news
programs, sitcoms, films, radio and other forms of media that we
choose to consume. All of this works to shape our opinions of the
world and a great deal of time, effort, and money is spent to guide
our opinions down particular avenues. This used to be called
"propaganda".

Today, with the negative, Nazi-esque connotation which comes with that
word, euphemisms such as misinformation, disinformation, image
consulting, political consulting, news consulting, advertising,
infomercials, public relations, damage control, and the art of spin
have taken its place in the English lexicon, all but concealing its
true nature and omnipresence. And omnipresent, it is. The industries
that deal with information control – in both the commercial and
governmental sectors—work with hundreds of millions of dollars
annually, for Schoolhouse Rock was right on target when it said,
"Knowledge is Power!" Is it any wonder that our schools are suffering
so badly while corporate CEOs and members of our government
continually allot themselves raises? Uninformed, ignorant masses are
far easier to manipulate then educated, thinking masses.

Who has the information? How is it being distributed? How is it
contextualized?
Corporations and the US government have spent many decades and
hundreds of billions of dollars researching how best to effect the
American people. Much of this information is kept secret from the
public (in the case of corporate research, it is their private
property) and what is known has come from the more recent work done by
scholars around the world – work that is dramatically under-funded by
comparison. So, the information available to the average citizen –
including the aforementioned academic scholars – is radically less
than that which is available to the producers of media or information
campaigns (i.e. advertising agencies, public relations firms,
political consultants, etc.). However, an important fact that is known
is that the human brain processes different mediums in different ways.
Written and spoken words are put through a type of decoding process
wherein the brain deciphers the words and the sentence structure in
order to properly interpret what it is reading/hearing. In this
process, both the conscious and unconscious mind go through an
internal debate comparing what its interpreting with what it already
knows to be true. With the image, however, the brain instantly
processes it as truth, which means information presented in a visual
format has a much greater impact on the unconscious. Over long periods
of time, recurring imagery has a built-up effect on the viewer which
allows for unconsciously conceived notions of truth to manifest as
though from nowhere (keep this in mind as you read #69). Naturally,
then, whomever has control over the mediums of communication has a
tremendous amount of power over the populations who consume it.

NOTE: In no way is this intended to convince readers of any particular
conspiracy theory, but rather to present a collection of facts – all
of which are readily available to the average American – and allow
readers to draw their own conclusions.

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