Ron Paul on Bill O’Reilly, Fox shows the propaganda touch again

 

It has been a few years since I was a regular watcher of Bill O’Reilly and Fox News.  What amazes me is the subtle ways they get their message across.  There are things that the average Fox watcher will not pick up on, as I didn’t for many years, but after you notice once, you can’t help but see it every time you turn on Fox News. 

There are the usual Bill O’Reilly antics that most of us know by now, the loud talking, ad hominem attacks, talking over the quests, subtle jabs and general righteous indignation for pretty much anyone who doesn’t share his neoconservative paradigm.  Bill starts off the segment by asking Ron Paul if he fears what Iran can do in the region if we were to pull all our troops out.  As Dr. Paul is giving his answer, Fox puts on the screen some chaotic file footage they have of Muslim extremists marching down a street carrying all sorts of weapons, with headscarves covering their faces.  This is the classic file footage that Fox shows and commonly instills fears most Westerners.  So as Dr. Paul is giving a nice rational answer as why he thinks the fear is overstated, there are images of make our sense scream otherwise.  The images area a total distraction.  Even though I am conscious of what is happening, that the images directly contradict what is being said, I can’t help but have my mind drift from what is being said to thoughts in my mind of “gosh, those guys are scary, I wouldn’t want to run into them.”  It completely distracts from what is being said.

So as Ron Paul is giving a very well reasoned argument, despite the images, that our policy in Iraq only helps Iran, Bill comes back with “that’s arguable” and won’t deny it.  Chalk a point up for Ron.  Bill concedes and moves on to another topic he feels he can dominate on.  Then again, they show the same file footage as Ron Paul is giving another answer to address a different point.  Now I swear I’ve seen this footage before a thousand times on Fox News.  Who knows if it is even Iranians, but knowing Fox it probably isn’t.  I don’t think facts like that really matter to them.  The point is that they are images that put fear in our hearts and minds and distort rational arguments.  The images appeal to base instincts of safety, security and to protect ourselves. 

Images are powerful things and as I blogged on before, we have such little understanding of their power over us.  Those who understand that power are Edward Bernays, the father of public relations and author of Propaganda and Fox News, the offspring who is standing on the shoulders of what Edward Bernays started.