Operation Mockingbird & The Nature Of Participatory Propaganda

Tulsi Gabbard recently made an interesting statement that surely resonates with the conservative audience. She said that Operation Mockingbird was alive and well, and still being used to undermine President Trump and all of the wonderful things he is accomplishing. Operation Mockingbird is believed to be a propaganda operation involving the CIA’s infiltration of the mainstream media and their attempts to shape and manipulate public perceptions. Started in the 1940s by a man named Frank Wisner, an undercover foreign service operator for the State Department, Operation Mockingbird was a psychological warfare operation originally aimed at using propaganda to influence foreign governments through media outlets. Wisner, however, had controlling interests in American media as well. He later recruited Philip Graham, owner of The Washington Post, and graduate of the Army intelligence school, to oversee Operation Mockingbird. The effects of media broadcasts on the American psyche have been studied for many years. A massive study took place following The War of The Worlds radio broadcast which sought to determine why so many people believed it to be a real event. The study was conducted by Hadley Cantrill, who was then head of the Office of Strategic Services, which of course, was the forerunner to the CIA. Cantrill was also involved in something called the Princeton Radio Project, which was also meant to study the effects of American propaganda being used overseas. These studies were largely funded by the Rockefeller foundation. One of the major findings of The War of The Worlds’ study was that people had a natural tendency to trust media figures. The study provided so much insight into people’s behavior during times of panic that Cantrill said it may very well be the prototype for future studies. This occurred at a time when propaganda and persuasion were being studied as a new way to influence public opinion. Tulsi Gabbard isn’t lying when she says Operation Mockingbird is alive and well. She is targeting the audience with a message that resonates with their emotions, attitudes and beliefs–the mainstream media is against President Trump. This message, however, is being used as a deceptive tactic to keep drawing people away from an issue they once cared deeply about. With each passing day, the Epstein issue drifts further away from public consciousness, as the conservative media is working frantically to disassociate Trump, in any way they can, from the Epstein mess. In other words, while there is truth in Gabbard’s comment, it is–in its own way–propaganda that reflects the beliefs of the targeted audience.

The American people are living in a delusion. They are mesmerized by a misguided belief that the media exists to keep them informed of daily events that have an impact on our life. This is simply not true. According to the book Media effects: Advances in Theory and Research, the media exists largely to overcome the psychological barriers to social change. This applies to conservative media as well. There is a high level of cognitive dissonance among conservatives who believe that Fox News is presenting them with the truth when Rupert Murdoch is known to have contributed millions to the Clinton’s, and other prominent Democrats. Some people may not see that as being problematic; however, it doesn’t align with the perception that Fox News tries to maintain. The bigger truth here is that the conservative and liberal media outlets exist to keep the illusion of conflict between the left and right alive. Americans who are engaged and committed to this perception of all-out cultural war are unknowingly taking part in something called participatory propaganda. The active participation in the conflict itself helps solidify a perception of reality through the control and propagation of information related to this deliberately created social strife. By engaging in the conflict at all, the public is allowing the propagandist to manipulate the attitudes and beliefs of those engaged while using social media as a means of thrusting these beliefs into the public sphere, which are then shared by those who hold similar views. This is referred to as the socialization of conflict. We are living in a time when our perceptions of reality, and our beliefs, are formed through our social media experiences. Every day, we see memes depicting Donald Trump infuriating the left, at times to the point where the “snowflake” breaks down in tears. Or we read stories where the framing detracts from anything negative and only reflects the commonly held belief that only Trump can save us. More recently, we have seen an attempt to move people away from Epstein with influencers hinting at the idea that all of Trump’s other accomplishments outweigh the Epstein issue, and we need to keep supporting him despite the fact that he lied. The more these types of social media influences are shared or liked by viewers, the more they become cemented in the minds of the targeted audience. Have you ever asked yourself who created the memes you are sharing? The use of social media for propagating information has come to be known as a do-it-yourself misinformation campaign, as the state can rely on the citizenry to spread the lies being fed to them. In other words, there is a reason the government thinks you’re stupid.

How does all of this work? Propaganda is deceptive form of mass persuasion that attempts to influence the audience to accept the propagandist’s point of view. It has been found when a message can be framed in a way that best aligns with the audience’s pre-existing beliefs and attitudes, it is easier to gain compliance. For instance, the article, Psychological Targeting as an Effective Approach to Digital Mass Persuasion states that mass persuasion is more effective when tailored toward an individual or a group’s psychological traits, beliefs, and behaviors. This is something that is repeated often within the literature on the subject. When a message aligns with pre-existing beliefs, it becomes easier to manipulate that message, and guide people in a certain direction. We see this happening every day. The dominant belief among Trump voters is that he is draining the swamp and playing a game of four-dimensional chess. Another popular belief is that Trump is despised by the left, and the more they feed that perception, and frame the narrative from that point of view, the stronger the support becomes. Another example of this idea comes from the book Media, Propaganda, and Persuasion.   The authors state that publicists must understand what the public thinks and feels in order to create an effective, resonating message. This alludes to the idea that before developing a persuasive message, the messenger must first study the beliefs and behaviors of the audience to effectively craft an appeal that has the potential to guide audiences in desired directions. Tulsi Gabbard, and the Trump administration for that matter, know that the conservative audience does not trust the liberal media. When stories are framed in a way that aligns with this belief, there is what researchers call–an anchor of resonance. This is a manipulation tactic that attaches itself to the beliefs of the audience so they can be guided in different directions. To give one more example, the book Persuasion and Propaganda, cites a paper called Persuasion and Democracy: Strategies for Increasing Deliberative Participation and Enacting Social Change. “Propaganda attempts to move a recipient to a predetermined point of view,” the authors state, “by using simple images and slogans that truncates thought by playing on prejudices and emotions” (p. 190.) This is something we also see every day, on both the left and right. Slogans like MAGA, Hope and Change, and drain the swamp, are simple messages meant to captivate the group consciousness and subvert logical thinking. They attach themselves to the emotional makeup of the targeted audience, acting as a resonating anchor, while being used to reinforce the intent of the message. The average person will not stop to ask themselves what the real differences between those two messages are. For example, what type of change were people hoping for? To restore America to their own perceptions of greatness. In essence, they were also wanting to make America great again, only from their point of view.  MAGA and Hope and Change were the same message made to resonate with different audiences and their pre-existing attitudes. 

Tulsi Gabbard is absolutely telling the truth. Operation Mockingbird is alive and well and can be traced back to early twentieth century when propaganda and persuasion were falling under the same academic umbrella of study. It was more than simply lying to the American public but lying with the intent of understanding how the public reacts. Once the general attitudes and beliefs of the audience are understood, messages can be better framed to induce compliance. The conservative audience is enthralled with the idea that Trump is some kind of superhero who has the power to infuriate and befuddle the left, expose the deep state, and outsmart world leaders on a scale never seen before. If you are ever unsure about this, all you have to do is listen to Trump talk about himself and he will tell you how great he is. Gabbard’s comments not only reflect the beliefs of the audience, but they also reinforce these beliefs as people are desperately trying to justify their continued adoration with a man who just days ago, told them he no longer wanted their support if they believed the “Epstein hoax.” Voter attitudes are studied, and messages are created to resonate with those attitudes in an effort to get the voters to turn their brains off and just follow along. For example, one way they do this is through a data mining company called Cambridge Analytica. For as hard as they try to portray Trump and Obama as being complete opposites, the one thing they have in common is they both employed this company to collect data on your attitudes, beliefs and behaviors so they could better propagandize you.

For more information on propaganda and the psychology of persuasion visit www.defenseofournation.com or you can check out my books.

And Without a Shot Indeed: Inducing Compliance to Tyranny Through Conditioning and Persuasion.

A Critical Look at CRT in Education, Research and Social Policy, now available in paperback.

Article posted with permission from David Risselada

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