William Casey on the CIA

We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.

~ William J. Casey, CIA Director (1981)

Marcus Stanley on $1.6 billion House bill to deliver anti-China propaganda overseas

Since at least 2016, foreign interference in American elections and civil society have become central to American political discourse. The issue is taken extremely seriously by the U.S. government, which has levied sanctions and called out foreign adversaries for sowing “discord and chaos” through their propaganda efforts. 

But apparently Washington takes a different view when it comes to American propaganda operations in foreign countries. On Monday, the House passed HR 1157, the “Countering the PRC Malign Influence Fund,” by a bipartisan 351-36 majority. This legislation authorizes more than $1.6 billion for the State Department and USAID over the next five years to, among other purposes, subsidize media and civil society sources around the world that counter Chinese “malign influence” globally. 

That’s a massive spend — about twice, for example, the annual operating expenditure of CNN. If passed into law it would also represent a large increase in federal spending on international influence operations.

~ Marcus Stanley, "House passes $1.6 billion to deliver anti-China propaganda overseas," Responsible Statecraft, September 11, 2024

Joseph Goebbels on propaganda

Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident that they are acting on their own free will.

~ Joseph Goebbels, Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in Nazi Germany

Peter Ford on Israel and UNRWA

The Israelis love to make up any propaganda they can about UNRWA, and they try to limit UNRWA funding. They use any method to try to stymie, block, or make more difficult the operations of UNRWA. They really do want to bring an end to this agency.

 

In a way, you can understand it because the agency is synonymous with Palestinian rights and in particular with the right of return. This implies the Palestinians have a right to return to those towns and villages from which their forebears were expelled back in 1948. 

So this is why UNRWA is a thorn in the side of Israel and one they would love to destroy completely. Their ambition has no limit. And we’ve seen this during the Gaza crisis. They have used this to try to exclude UNRWA, make propaganda against UNRWA, and create substitutes for UNRWA. Creating a substitute is the latest strategy. The organization that had some of its staff killed by the Israelis is one of these. In fact, that organization was particularly friendly to the Israelis and the Israelis facilitated its entry to Gaza. And it was a tragic irony that the Israelis ended up killing employees of this agency, World Central Kitchen. The Israelis aim to replace UNRWA with organizations they can control like this. That’s part of the plan with the port to be created by the Americans and the British in northern Gaza. It would be serviced by organizations other than UNRWA.

~ Peter Ford, Special Representative to the Commissioner General of UNRWA, "The Future of UNRWA and Hamas in Gaza" by Rick Sterling, LewRockwell.com, June 6, 2024

Aldous Huxley on propaganda

The purpose of propaganda is to make one set of people forget that other sets of people are human.

~ Aldous Huxley

Henry Kissinger on truth

It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true. 

~ Henry A. Kissinger

Phil Duffy on history

History is messy.  Until you learn that lesson, you are nothing more than a receiver and transmitter of propaganda.

~ Phil Duffy

As far as I am aware, Eamon Duffy is no relation to
 my father, Phil Duffy, just a wonderful coincidence.

George Carlin on government propaganda

I have certain rules I live by.  My first rule: I don’t believe anything the government tells me.

~ George Carlin

Marko Papic on the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Let's just be aware that Russians have their propaganda, we have our own.  And I think that's very important because if you're an investor trying to make asset allocation decisions, just be sure you understand that our own media can often obfuscate issues or make them seem more alarmist.  And I think that's a little bit of what's going on with the Russia situation...  Keep in mind, Russia has its RT, we have our own media organizations as well.

~ Marko Papic, "Geopolitical Expert Marko Papic on Ukraine, Commodities, and Ignoring the Media Noise," Stansberry Investor Hour, 45:40 mark, January 27, 2022

Aaron Rodgers on "the science"

If science can't be questioned anymore it's not science, it's propaganda.

~ Aaron Rodgers, Pat McAfee Show, December 28, 2021

Euripides on propaganda

When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.

~ Euripides

Eric Hoffer on propaganda and deceit

Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves. 

~ Eric Hoffer, "The Passionate State of Mind," 1996

Michael Savage on Hillary Clinton's propaganda techniques

I listened to Hillary [Clinton], and I heard the double talk.  She's so good at it, and I'm not making this up, that the Communist Chinese have sent their cadres to study her speeches.  They say she's the finest propagandist they've ever heard. 

~  Michael Savage

Noam Chomsky on propaganda

Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.

~ Noam Chomsky

Aldous Huxley on dehumanization

The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. 

~ Aldous Huxley

Murray Rothbard on propaganda

The State relies on control of the levers of propaganda to persuade its subjects to obey or even exalt their rulers.

~ Murray N. Rothbard

George Orwell on war propaganda

All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting

~ George Orwell

Tweet on propaganda

If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes journalism.

~ Lisa @freedomspeech50, tweet, June 29, 2021

Noah Pollak on systemic racism

"Systemic racism" is such a perfect Marxist formulation.  It delegitimizes an entire society without blaming anyone in particular, so it generates little opposition.  It signifies everything and nothing simultaneously.  It can't be proven or disproven.  It's genius propaganda.

~ Noah Pollak, tweet, April 21, 2021

(Pollak tweeted reacting to President Biden's comments following the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict in the George Floyd murder trial.)

George Orwell on media spin

The people will believe what the media tells them they believe.

~ George Orwell