Propaganda

A friend sent me a copy of a letter circulating through e-mails that makes Obama look bad. Here, in part, is what it says:

Hello everyone,

As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to 'The War Zone'. I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area
to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram. As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the
opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service.

It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country.

What you see in the news is all fake.

In service,
CPT Jeffrey S. Porter
Battle Captain
TF Wasatch
American Soldier

Really sounds plausible and looks authentic to the average reader.

But you may also have spotted a few things that should raise questions as to its veracity.

1. You know the press was on top of the Obama trip to see if this greenhorn would make any gaffes. The one time they made a fuss was over his not talking to the troops at the German hospital. They never mentioned his walking past soldiers in Bagram. In addition, I remember seeing Obama shaking hands with lots of soldiers.

2. "You know that I am not political." I don't know that at all. I do not know the man who signed this letter. Add to it that he feels it necessary to include "American Soldier" at the end, so it seems like he is "protesting too much." That makes me uncomfortable.

3. He closes with a classic line, "What you see in the news is all fake." He is trying to make you disbelieve what you may have seen with your own eyes. Oh we must "test every spirit" but we must also test the spirit of this writer!

The plausibility of this story is that visiting dignitaries often are there for photo ops and cut out everything in between. Part of that is the tight schedule and part is security.

But the realitry is that no one else reports the events the way this letter writer does.

Okay, so I've picked up on a few things that are more like propaganda than a true letter.

There are at least three places you can check to see if this letter has a history that has been checked for being factual: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/, http://www.vil.mcafee.com/hoaxasp/, and http://www.urbanlegends.about.com/. There are others.

Check to see if they will fact-check something you can send them.

I also received an e-mail from a dear friend that showed ANWR in gorgeous pictures which included a bear walking on an oil pipeline and all kinds of elk on oil fields in another part of Alaska. The claim was that ANWR would hardly be touched and that the current kind of oil extraction programs are immensely wildlife friendly.

It was persuasive until I noticed no credits given to the photographers. Then I remembered "photoshopping," the simple technique where with your computer you can move items in one picture into another. That bear picture began to look phony. And finally, no one took credit for putting together this sophisticated piece of work. It was unsigned.

Propaganda looks very plausible. But it usually tries to cover its tracks so it is hard to blame the ones who did it or to really check back.

I don't always document every source for my opinions. That puts this blog on the verge of being propaganda!

But at least you know who wrote it and can challenge me.

Feel free!

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From the first comment:

"I also suggest www.snopes.com to test the validity of such emails."