By Daisy Luther – The Organic Prepper
Survival Saturday is a round-up of the week’s news and resources for folks who are interested in being prepared.
This Week in the News
This week, Survival Saturday discusses the Propaganda State in which we live. The dictionary definition of propaganda is:
ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc.
If you want to see propaganda in action, you need look no further than right here in America. Journalists are throwing in the towel and admitting to bias, but they’re doing it to help you out. Our own federal officials are stalking us and stealing our money without due process of law, but it’s only because they need to balance their budgets so they can continue to serve you.
What you need to ask yourself is this: if the public media outlets and officials are all trying to obfuscate the facts, shouldn’t you consider resisting the manipulation?
That doesn’t mean you have to automatically do the opposite, but it means you should inspect all sides of the story without a pre-conceived notion of what the truth really is.
This week, I have 2 stories that should scare the snot out of you and a little opinion blurb about my stubborn urge to rebel against the propaganda coercion.
Unbiased Journalism Is Completely Dead But It’s For Your Own Good
The mainstream media is churning out the propaganda so hard and fast, they’re gonna burn out the motor to the printer pretty soon.
The job of the “news” is supposed to be to report facts without bias, allowing the listener/watcher/reader to come to his or her own conclusions. But the media is now trying to justify their slanted coverage as their “duty”, as they flush any guise of journalistic integrity right down the toilet.
Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times explains why he thinks this is okay in a lengthy, meandering cry for vindication. “If you view a Trump presidency as something that’s potentially dangerous, then your reporting is going to reflect that. You would move closer than you’ve ever been to being oppositional. That’s uncomfortable and uncharted territory for every mainstream, non-opinion journalist I’ve ever known, and by normal standards, untenable.”
And there it is in a nutshell: “non-opinion journalists.”
If you print opinion as opinion (like here, on a blog), that is commentary.
If you print opinion as fact (like in a so-called news story), that is propaganda.
Here’s a perfect example:
This week, the propaganda machine vilified an offhand comment made by Trump as a cry for the assassination of Hillary Clinton (that really wasn’t my first thought when I heard his statement). Meanwhile, they ignored the calls for violence in the Democratic party. (See the quick helpful tutorial I put together here.) Actor Will Smith even suggested that Trump needed to be “cleansed” from America, with no resultant hullabaloo.
Meanwhile, there are more and more questions about the health issues of Hillary Clinton. The mainstream dismisses those concerns with cries of “junk science” and “none of your beeswax” while promoting headlines that claim Donald Trump is mentally ill and quoting neuroscientists (who have never examined Trump and are putting out the same kind of assertions that everyone is so mad about with HRC.)
I could go on and on with the media bias, but if you ever had any doubt that the mainstream news is nothing but blatant propaganda, you can rest assured that now they’re even admitting it, and they’re doing it to save you from yourself.
Now the Feds Are Stalking Travelers to Identify Civil Asset Seizure Targets
It’s no secret that the United States government is running on a massive deficit, but they have a cool new plan to help out with their budget.
They’ll just take the money from us.
Leaving the old method of simply extorting taxes in the dust, there is some new technology that makes civil asset seizure a quick and easy way for the government to make money.
According to Simon Black, the brains behind the website Sovereign Man, the Feds are now stalking Americans to see what they can snag.
“Like sophisticated thieves who case a jewelry store before robbing it, the DEA has been trolling Americans’ travel records looking for ‘suspicious’ activity.
I’m not talking about past travel. I’m talking about upcoming travel.
Anytime you book a flight, airlines create a code called a PNR, or Passenger Name Record, with all of your travel details and personal information.
And what a surprise– the federal government has gotten its hands on this data.
So now it seems the DEA is combing through PNRs looking for suspicious activity like last minute, one-way tickets.
Because apparently only slimy low-lifes who carry treasure troves of illicitly acquired cash buy last minute one-way tickets.
This is amazing: you’d think that, with the obvious public backlash against Civil Asset Forfeiture over the past two years that the government would tone down the practice.
On the contrary, they’re taking it to the next level.
So now instead of passively waiting to steal from citizens as the opportunities arise, they’re actively casing our travel itineraries looking for potential targets.”
Apparently, the DEA is leading the charge, using this technology to – cough – target drug couriers – cough. They’re seizing the money that travelers have with them, and most times, releasing them without any charges.
“They count on this as part of the budget,” said Louis Weiss, a former supervisor of the DEA group assigned to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. “Basically, you’ve got to feed the monster.” (source)
So, let’s get this straight.
- Your itinerary is inspected before you travel, along with your personal finances.
- If you are a good enough target, your money is stolen.
- There is no due process of law, no criminal charges, just “give us your money and you can go.”
We are being robbed and extorted by our own government, and if we fight back, we get charged with a crime, kidnapped, and locked in a cage.
Man, I’m sure glad we live in America, not some Third World banana republic with shady law enforcement people who set up innocent people and steal from them.
Oh.
Wait.
Maybe Independent Thinkers Should Give Trump a Closer Look
Wait – don’t go away! There’s a reason for my shift of opinion.
I started out this election cycle strongly disliking both of the major candidates. And to be honest, I still think the whole thing is a complete circus and think that maybe we should just be single and go without a president for a few years.
But the more the mainstream media offers their one-sided, biased propaganda journalism (see above), covering Trump and his alleged mental illness while ignoring the HRC health/lies/treason elephant in the room, the more I’m compelled to think that just maybe he isn’t the bad person the media is portraying him to be.
It’s sort of like when everyone got worked up about Confederate flags and I immediately pulled out my old Dixie t-shirt and started wearing it again.
Or how I added a second Gadsden flag bumper sticker to my Jeep when people began to say there was something wrong with that, just in case the first one was too small to be noticeable.
Every time I get told something is politically incorrect and horrifying, I immediately have the urge to investigate it for myself to see why it’s scary and offensive. And, it seems to me that those gun-grabbing media mouthpieces are having exactly the opposite effect of the one they wanted, because I’m not alone in thinking that if they don’t like someone, maybe we should give that someone a closer look.
The enemy of my enemy, and all that stuff.
This has happened more and more lately, with television shows portraying the scary evils of guns, kids’ programs preaching the politically correct rhetoric of the week, and newscasters doing away with any pretense of unbiased journalism. It’s a sleight of hand, just like magicians do when performing their illusions. Watch the dramatic motion of the left hand, while the right hand subtly does the trick. We are being manipulated on the grandest scale in history right now, and with all of these people and outlets complicit in trying to push you into thinking that you believe a certain way, it is an act of revolution to dig your heels in and say, “Wait. What is it you’re trying to hide? What is it you are trying to coerce me into doing?”
Think about what they’re trying to force you to do, friends, and strongly consider doing the opposite.
I was always kind of a difficult child – when someone tried to force me to do something, I immediately did the opposite and did it with great enthusiasm. Just ask my poor, long-suffering mother.(Sorry, Mom.) This isn’t a resounding endorsement of Donald Trump or the Republican party, but these relentless attacks on him by the mainstream media have had the effect of making me consider that he might not be the worst guy in the world, since the establishment seems utterly terrified of him.
This is NOT a resounding endorsement of Donald Trump or the Republican party, but these relentless attacks on him by the mainstream media have had the effect of making me consider that he might not be the worst guy in the world, since the establishment seems utterly terrified of him.
When I posted this little stream of consciousness on my Facebook page (the real one where I post my politically incorrect opinions, funny pictures of cats, and the snarky observations that offend people on my business page, where I generally try to be polite), one lady suggested that I had a mental disorder. “Sounds like you have oppositional compulsive disorder. You have to oppose everything and everyone.”
I still don’t believe in this two party system and I’m pretty sure the entire election is a facade to make us think we live in a place where our votes count. But I’ll be damned if I allow myself to be manipulated by those twits in Hollywood and the liberal media. While I am not exactly pro-Trump, I am decidedly anti-Clinton.
Just so I’m 100% clear: this is not an endorsement of Donald Trump or the Republican party or politics or the election process. However, these relentless attacks on him by the mainstream media have had exactly the opposite effect on me of the one they desired.
This week, watch the coverage with a critical eye:
“What are they so scared of?”
“Who stands to gain by this?”
“If they dislike A and B and C, and I think A and B are wonderful, then perhaps this means that C is not as bad as they’re making it out to be either.”
Do I have a disorder? Does Trump have a disorder? Is the media in the right here? Let me know what you think.
The Bookshelf
Flat Earth News: An Award-Winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media (This is an INCREDIBLY BOOK!!!!)
This Week in Preparedness…
Urban and Suburban Preppers: The Forgotten Majority
9 Things You Can Learn from Camping That Will Make You a Better Prepper
Got a Wheat Intolerance or Celiac Disease? Gluten Free Preps
How to Survive a Terrorist Attack
This article first appeared at The Organic Prepper: The United States of Propaganda
About the author:
Daisy Luther is a single mom who lives in a small village in the mountains of Northern California, where she homeschools her youngest daughter and raises veggies, chickens, and a motley assortment of dogs and cats. She is a best-selling author who has written several books, including The Organic Canner, The Pantry Primer: A Prepper’s Guide to Whole Food on a Half-Price Budget, and The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide: Harvest, Treat, and Store Your Most Vital Resource. Daisy is a prolific blogger who has been widely republished throughout alternative media. On her website, The Organic Prepper, Daisy uses her background in alternative journalism to provide a unique perspective on health, self-reliance, personal liberty, and preparedness. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter,.
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