Propaganda and Disinformation
Why am I not surprised that the current war-of-words between the USA and Iran has spun off some of the most obvious propaganda for a long time?
Could it be because we are in the middle of a "New Cold War" - where claim and counter claim are coupled with increasingly outrageous accusations on both sides?
Anyone who might have noticed the Fauxtography Scandal - where an AP photographer was caught red-handed using Photoshop to doctor photographs of the recent conflict between Israel and Lebanon - will not be surprised at this latest stunt ...
First off - look at this picture from the LA-Times - from an article entitled Iran Alleges US Link to Militant Attack"
Bullet cartridges bearing a U.S. insignia and English lettering were among the weaponry seized last week from Sunni militants suspected of killing 11 members of Shiite-dominated Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, Iranian officials said Sunday.A photo of the cartridge box, along with an array of other ammunition, was published by Iranian newspapers and news agencies.
Now lets look at a recent photgraph from the Iranian Fars Agency
These arsenals have been confiscated during a raid on the hideout of a terrorist group known as Jondollah in the provincial capital city of Zahedan on Thursday.Earlier a source said that the relevant documents, photographs and film footages showing that the explosives and arsenals used in the attack were American would be presented to the public and media in the near future.
Now I can't really express much surprise that the Iranian Fars press have run this "fauxtograph" - and I have to say hats off to the LA-Times for finding the "smoking gun" (or should that be "missing gun") - because the LA-Times photograph clears up the issues I had with the Fars photograph quote nicely.
I am talking about the stock and strap of a gun that, while being clearly visible in the LA-Times photo, has mysteriously vanished in the Fars photo - leaving only part of the stock and strap.
It doesn't make any sense - unless you see the LA-Times photo - and then it makes heaps of sense.
But even though propaganda and disinformation are the order of the day in the New Cold War - what surprises me most is that it takes a site like Little Green Footballs to actually uncover this piece of photo manipulation - surprised because it has long been a truism amongst us long-haired moonbat types that "the media is corrupt" and that "we are being lied to".
It turns out we are right - we are being lied to - but not in the way we would expect.
Why are there no Left wing sites that engage in the kind of investigative reporting that Little Green Footballs and other right wing sites routinely engage in?
You would think that the left would ensure that every time there was evidence of the media lying to the public they would denounce it as evidence that they were right all along, the media is as corrupt as they say it is, and they we are "being lied to" on a daily basis.
Unless it doesn't fit their agenda of course ...
All of this leads to me to conclude two things:
i) We shouldn't shoot the messenger - even if they are bringing the message to promote their own agenda - because they might be right.
They were in this case - and revealed a classic piece of disinformation from the Iranian Fars news agency in the process.
ii) In the "New Cold "War" - just like any other war in history "truth is the first casualty" ...
Tags: little green footballs, fauxtography, propaganda, disinformation, iraq, la-times