How propaganda works in times of war.

[Deluks]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11095267

UN reviews security after Pakistani Taliban 'threat'

Note use of quotation marks to disassociate the reporter from any potential innacuracies.

The militant group Tehrik-e Taliban "plans to conduct attacks against foreigners participating in the ongoing flood relief operations in Pakistan", a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC.

Anonymity? If it was the Daily Star or the Sun I would hazard a guess that this story was made up. As it's the BBC I will hazard a guess that the source made it up.

Also note: There have been no such attacks since the floods began.

Which gives a more honest picture. I'm sure many of these militants have familes in flood zones who would directly benefit from food and other relief.

The real story here is: USA = good people. Taliban = Bad people.

But we knew that already.

 

[joinerjohn]

How can we ever be 100% sure that this threat is just propaganda or real though??


Only after some aid workers are killed/attacked/abducted. Or not , as the case may be.

 

[Deluks]

How can we ever be 100% sure that this threat is just propaganda or real though??


Only after some aid workers are killed/attacked/abducted. Or not , as the case may be.

We don't, but mud sticks.

Most people who read that article wouldn't question it. So if it was propaganda then it has worked, it all helps to maintain support for the war.
It's the ambiguity that struck me about this article. A good opportunity to 'slip something in' which will stick in peoples minds and probably cause Richard Littlejohn to fall off his chair.

The other thought I had was that it is a good defence against any criticism that might imply that 'not enough is being' done.

"sure we'd like to be able to sweep up all these displaced people and give them a bath and a hot meal, if it weren't for these pesky meddling terrorists!"

Which is all starting to sound a bit like a 'Scooby Doo' plot.

Either way it involves the use of deceit to strike fear in the masses, usually for personal gain

 

[Nige F]

How can we ever be 100% sure that this threat is just propaganda or real though??


Only after some aid workers are killed/attacked/abducted. Or not , as the case may be.

We don't, but mud sticks.

:

plenty of that there

 

[Mickymoody]

The real downer is that in most cases of charity aid, is that the money donated, is funneled to the leaders of the country, somewhat corrupt, so the money goes to the Taliban, which then arms itself better, to fight against the UN nations.

At a local level; I've worked in charity shops, and anything good that comes into the shop, is effectively 'stolen' by the manager 1st dibs. Anything after that is distributed amongst the staff..then it's put out for sale, but most is sold off for redistrubution, for use as rags in engineering trade.

So the people on the ground don't receive the aid..but others get rich via donation. It's a total scam. It harks back to the mill owners, it's disgusting.