{"id":138677,"date":"2014-09-02T19:31:35","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T19:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=138677"},"modified":"2014-09-02T19:31:35","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T19:31:35","slug":"corporate-media-propaganda-uses-social-proof-manipulate-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/war-terrorism\/corporate-media-propaganda-uses-social-proof-manipulate-public\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Media Propaganda Uses ‘Social Proof’ To Manipulate Public"},"content":{"rendered":"

RINF EDITOR’S NOTE:<\/span> One of the corner stones of manipulation is the ability to convince you that ‘everyone thinks’ the same way, or supports a certain ideology, in this case, the war agenda. This type of manipulation is called ‘social proof’, and the corporate media, politicians and warmongers use it to near perfection.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t be fooled into believing something, anything, just because you’re told it’s popular or widely supported.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Peter Hart<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

If you’ve been tuning in to TV news lately, there’s been a lot of chatter about what sort of military action the United States should take against the Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria. While the public isn’t eager for any new wars, the front page of\u00a0USA Today<\/strong>\u00a0was trying to change that narrative.<\/p>\n

The paper’s August 29 edition boasted the front-page headline “More Want US to Flex Muscle.” As if that militaristic tone wasn’t obvious enough, right next to it is a graphic labeled “Is Obama Tough Enough?”<\/p>\n

The evidence comes from a new Pew\u00a0poll<\/a>, so it’s worth noting how that data is transformed into a desire for US “muscle-flexing.” Reporter\u00a0Susan Page<\/a> (8\/29\/14<\/a>) explains in her lead:<\/p>\n

\n

After years of retrenchment in the wake of two costly wars, a new\u00a0USA Today<\/strong>\/Pew Research Center Poll finds that Americans increasingly are open to a larger\u00a0US role in trying to solve problems around the world.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wait a second. People who want the US to “solve problems” are asking the US to “flex muscle”? That’s what\u00a0USA Today<\/strong>\u00a0sees. Page notes that the “initial shifts in public opinion could make it easier for\u00a0President Obama\u00a0to order more muscular options in striking\u00a0Islamic State\u00a0terrorists in Syria and Iraq.”<\/p>\n

The poll asks whether\u00a0the Americans think the government is doing enough about “solving world\u00a0problems.” If one sees the “too little” answer as being equivalent to an eagerness to launch military attacks, it’s worth noting that the majority, 63 percent, say the government does “too much” or the “right amount.”<\/p>\n

A side note: For anyone with a progressive critique of US foreign policy, what would be the correct answer to this question?<\/p>\n

This piece<\/a> was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RINF EDITOR’S NOTE: One of the corner stones of manipulation is the ability to convince you that ‘everyone thinks’ the same way, or supports a certain ideology, in this case, the war agenda. This type of manipulation is called ‘social proof’, and the corporate media, politicians and warmongers use it to near perfection.\u00a0 Don’t be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-138677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-war-terrorism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}