History Channel: Educational TV or Propaganda?

I know, this is a 40k gaming blog and we shouldnt mix politics with pleasure. But at least I am keeping this away from hijacking some ones forum post! I just wanted to point some thing out. Once in a while I like to post up some thoughts that are relavent to our lives. If you don't like to read about the real world, these are not the droids you're looking for. Move along... move along.

The History Channel, while being one of my favorites, is a vehicle for our government's manipulation of it's people.

I love the History Channel. When it first came out, they caught my attention with a cool show about the history of the gun. I thought it was intriguing to see how guns developed and how they work. I was hooked. Shows like Tactical to Practical and Mail Call were always there to give me something intereseting to watch when I was bored.

But I noticed before the 2nd Gulf War began that they pulled a shift in their programing. For weeks before G.W. Bush announced his decision, while he was in the stage of "Preparing to make a crucial decision.", the History Channel abandoned their usual programing and started spamming documentaries on Hitler, Saddam, Facism and Patriotism. 24/7 you could not turn on THC and find images of dead jews, dead kurds, and victorious US soldiers parading down a boulevard with their flags or helping a needy child. I know I found myself hating Iraq and hating Saddam and getting behind G.W. and charging for a war to rid the world of those nasty chemical weapons and 30 year old tanks. Well, by the time GW announced his decision, the population was ready. Thanks in part to the History Channel.

It is happening again. I support Barak Obama. I support our troops and I support our country muscling around the rest of the world. There are limited resources, and we do not have them. In order for our country to survive in the future, we have to take steps now. I get it. I mean no offense if you live in another country. But Obama inherited a war started by a stupid child trying to fill his father's shoes. I mean... really... Afghanistan? Didn't the Soviets get their butts kicked in that country in the 80s? And Obama is now faced with having to deal with it. For weeks, he has been getting ready to "announce an important decision." Will he send more troops to Afghanistan or pull them out? Well, if the current programing on THC is any indicator, more of our boys will be on their way over there soon. This week has been all Hitler, and patriotism. Last night was WWII in HD with Rob Lowe voicing an American officer's diary. I watched a super interesting program about the assassination attempts on Hitler depicted in the movie Valkrye. Tom Cruise spoke about how honored he was to play the German responsible for leading the coup attempt. It goes on and on.

Something to think about.

Jawaballs

17 comments:

Kevin said...

Or the lead producers are trying to air programs that have relevance to modern day occurrences....

the other Kevin said...

I agree with Kevin.
Real world news is often the best commercial for movie stars and network programming. If you can tie in what you're broadcasting to what is currently in the interest of the population, then people will tune in.

Doug said...

It's a for-profit television channel, and does not have any responsibility to provide fair, accurate, or truthful coverage of any event.

I don't think they're actively seeking to manipulate people with their programming.

I mean look at all the Hitler, Nostradamus, and UFO crap they put on the air. They're just trying to make a buck.

eris said...

the stories may be 'relevant' to modern day events, but it's not accurate representation of modern day event. they do however present it as such, and therefore (just like fox news) is at best a waste of time and at worst dangerous.

spend your time watching www.theyoungturks.com instead. you'll get a far more accurate reporting of the news.

Jawaballs said...

THC and Fox News are both more entertainment then factual. I'm not saying that in fact The History Channels only purpose is to influence opinion for the Govt. But to give some more food for thought, here is a list of all of the companies owned by Time Warner, who is the company that owns THC:

Lol, I just tried to put the list here and it would not fit in the characters allowed...

Jawaballs said...

I put a new post up with the list of companies owned by the same company that owns The History Channel. Pretty intersting!

Doc Railgun said...

While I generally agree with what you're saying, I don't think that it's a case of the government actively trying to manipulate the media. Sure, they ARE doing so in lots of ways, but I don't think there was a directive to Time-Warner ordering them to air all patriotic coverage, all the time.

I think it's more a case of coverage being concentrated on certain channels. AN excecutive decided that there should be more military-themed shows, and some were showing on the History channel (and their number looked good) so they decided to concentrate the newer shows there. That moved the UFO and paranormal shows somewhere else, and they get concentrated there. So on and so forth. Companies like to be able to sell 24 hours of ad time to a specific audience because it's easier to sell that time to advertisers... especially when the channels cost them near nothing to produce.

I'm much more afraid of News Corp limiting coverage and blatantly lying because they can. Worse, Murdoch wants to get us back to the AOL dial-up days where everything one does online costs something.

Flekkzo said...

If you want to read the play by play book that the US politicians obviously must be reading look no further than m e i n K a m p f. Using media and influencing a nations use of langue is awefully powerful tools to direct them in whatever direction you want.

The day the US people wakes up a realizes that there is no war in Afghanistan the better. It is a huge humanitarian catastrophy with a high degree of lawlessness and criminal gangs that warrents a global response to stabilize the region. More bullying won't work. Also India needs to stop their fighting with Pakistan and kiss and make up before that situation turns pear shaped.

War should be fought on the tabletop and on the Internet where it belongs. And Chris (my wife doesn't like the name jawaballs:)), Mythbusters is more fun to watch anyways:)

Kevinmcd28 said...

please read all of this jawa.

wow jawaballs im depressed by this, you seem blinded by the same problem you are stating. Im a foriegn policy student and Its kind of funny watching manipulated masses, yet sad...

1. CNN is majorily liberal. this doesnt connect with what your complaining about. know a bit about the following.

2. the media has brainwashed the public to do what it wants since the 1890's. the spanish american war was started by 2 newspapers bashing spain and went against our standard foriegn policy and doctrine since our countrys founding.

3. You can easily say that the liberal media brainwashed people into supporting Barrack Obama, look at the major news networks, besides fnc have said anything against Obama. If you analyze what he's done little to nothing makes sense globally or locally.

4.You cannot blame Bush for the war. His hand was forced. look at it on this way. after the first gulf war the UN put in a policy on saddam making him have weapons checks since he illegally used chem. weapons. In 2002 he wouldnt let the inspectors in and spread rumors among his generals he had some (this he did in an attempt to gain back is former power). he also pretended to ship stuff around as if it were weapons. In order for the US to hold to its word and the UN they were obligated to giv sadam an ultimatum which saddam didnt give into. This forced our hand and got us into the mess. Bush couldnt leave the country after the war cause it was our responsibility since we lead the war.

all of these things were forced hands. And yes another reason all of the above happened was in fact oil. think about this, if our oil supply were to be destroyed or held away our country would be thrown into chaos in 2 weeks. After one week gas would go up to $40 a gallon, 2nd week the heat and electricity would be shutdown. Our economy would colapse and everyone would be in disorder.

Its sad but true, people say life needs water, food and shelter... really its food water shelter and oil.

5. It isnt nice that we got bogged down in the mideast. No one wants war or death but really you got to give Bush a hand for the political suicide he took for continueing it and trying to get it fixed. He shouldve defended himself although. He made all the decisions he had to, these werent malicious though and in a foriegn policy perspective make sense. Whether I like or dont like what is going on I cant argue with the decisions made.

6. The general media have been biased against this war since the start, the liberals by mjority just so they could give republicans a dirty name, notice how everyone compares republicans to bush when not too many of them are in line with bush's ideals? This is the same media propaganda your complaining about.

I dont like a convienent hypocrite.

Please analyize the news and not listen to oppinions. Maby youll be one of the majority of yound liberals that turn into republicans when they get a family and older and can look past the spin. I choose this side because it makes more sense and isnt a short term solution/long term problem.

-the other other kevin

Flekkzo said...

The other Kevin. What's your take on the contractors hired by the US to "rebuild and protect" Iraq? That must have been a decision made by the former vice president and it turned out awful. My theory is that Bush got shafted by everyone basically until he didn't have a clue on what was going on.

Jawaballs said...

Woah dude, that was all too heavy for a light hearted quasi political conspiracy post. Sure I threw a shot at GW. He deserves it. All I am really saying in these posts is:

A. Whenever the government gets ready to announce more war policy, you see an increase in the amount of anti nazi, pro patriotic programing on the History Channel.

B. As a suplement to A. A very, very huge amount of media is controlled by a very, very small number of people and they can use it to create the world atmosphere that they want. Most people dont realize just how massive it is.

Dont hate me for throwing around a little conspiracy! And dont call me a hypocrite. You gots no clues as to what my real political beliefs are. I just wrote something I thought was interesting. I guess thats why there is a rule about discussing politics on gaming blogs and forums. People start name calling once you say something they dont agree with!

CreativeName said...

The only hole I find in your conspiracy theory is that the GW administration held a neo-conservative view to foreign policy. The Turners and it's many media outlets are steadfast globalists. These two world views clash especially on issues of resolving conflict so I can't see why they would work in concert to propagandize a war.

Flekkzo said...

I know some like to complain about GW, but do remember all the good as well. All those moments of joy that we all have felt because of GW. It is not just war and arguments about right and wrong. There are also the marines, and the aliens, and the kustomizing and painting. GW is trying their best and they do bring war to the tabletop.

Alea eacta est!


PS feel free to correct my Latin.

Kevinmcd28 said...

Well contractors are hired in every war, for multiple purposes forever. Whether they screw up is thier own beef. It wasnt an atypical decision on the vp.

I get what you mean by the whole so much in the power of few. You really just gotta look past the spin to get whatsgoing on to anylize the situation. I dont meen to be an ass Jawa, haha can we please go back to talkking bout 40k plz.... GO anarchy!!!!

Jeff said...

Leave the politics off your 40k blog. Seriously bad for business. However since the forum has been opened I would like to add a few nuggets.

1. Obama is not a leader, he is a GOD. Not able to make a mistake or if he does he meant to for reasons you can not possibly understand.

2. FNC is everything it should be. The country is almost divided 50-50 lib vs conservative, and fox news is almost the only conservative leaning cable network. That is why 50% of news watchers watch it, making it the #1 network news channel.

3. Propaganda is nothing new(Rosie the Riveter and many others) used by people that have goals but needs the hearts and minds of a group or nation to succeed.

4. Carbon is plant food!

5. Dante + Corbolo = WIN!

Kevinmcd28 said...

I like this Jeff Character, except Id place Obama as more like Horus, seemingly Hero of Imperium but really corrupted by the chaos gods!!!!

more to my theory the chaos gods are trying to take over america!

Anonymous said...

Interesting article. All cable news is fail. Fox news is 24hr editorial page. People like how it simplifies issues down to name calling, shouting matches, fear mongering and well placed question marks. CNN is pathetically pandering to get more viewers while sacrificing real substance in half the stories. MSNBC... yeah... Their day time programing is as lame as CNN and prime time is loaded with pundits, some who I do agree with but I take it for what it is and that is entertainment. Its speaking to the choir and a kinda political masturbation I guess.

Long story short. NPR rules! I'm sure Dante being the old dude he is would love A Prairie Home Companion ;)

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