Propaganda: How the DOJ manufactured outrage over Trayvon Martin shooting

[Magnus]

On March 23, 2013, after the Florida State Attorney for Seminole County to decline to press any criminal charges against George Zimmerman, Obama made prepared, rehearsed statements to the media about the Trayvon Martin shooting.  After first pretending that he wouldn't comment on the case, Obama said: 

"I can only imagine what these parents are going through," Mr. Obama
said from the White House Rose Garden, "and when I think about this boy,
I think about my own kids, and I think every parent in America should
be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we
investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together,
federal, state and local, to figure out how this tragedy happened."

Mr.
Obama said he is glad the Justice Department is investigating the
shooting and that Florida Gov. Rick Scott formed a task force in
response to the incident as well. The president suggested he was
sympathetic to suspicion that the shooting may have been racially
motivated.

"You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," Mr. Obama said.

 

These comments are, in themselves, is a masterstroke of propaganda.  He began by claiming to be reasonable, saying that he was not going to discuss the ongoing case in detail.  This is contrary to observable fact, since it was not an ongoing case at that time, since the State of Florida had already investigated and refused to prosecute George Zimmerman, and Obama then went on to comment on the case.  

Then, note how the very next words out of Obama's mouth were extremely emotional and relatable -- "I think about my own kids."  This is called a "hook."  At that point, the listening public had been effectively led to think of this case entirely from the perspective of Martin and the Martin family.  George Zimmerman, a man who claimed (with credible evidence to support him) to have been physically attacked and put in fear of his life, was not mentioned at all, not by name, and not even anonymously.  He did not exist as a person at all in Obama's retelling. He was a non-person.

More importantly, Obama's emotional comments caused all rational thought in 99% of the populace to cease.  The cessation of rational thought, by the stirring of intense emotion, is a critical component of all propaganda techniques. It renders the subject highly suggestible.  Goebbels discussed this at length in the 1930s.

Obama continued, by then leading the now-suggestible populace toward his desired action -- acquiescing (and enthusiastically supporting) government action: tasking the Attorney General Eric Holder, and his DOJ, to "look into" the case. 

Nothing was specified as to what this "looking into" would consist of.  There is no federal jurisdiction, not even on flimsy Civil Rights grounds, since Zimmerman was not a government agent.  The DOJ had no legitimate role to play at all in this case.  But now, despite the fact that the involvement of the federal government is entirely improper, unconstitutional and illegal, it would proceed apace, with full public support. 

No one has actually disclosed what the DOJ's activities consisted of as it "looked into" the case.  But Judicial Watch has obtained documents (lowly expense reports) showing that several DOJ operatives went to Sanford and remained there for three weeks, to help organize the protests.  They pressured the police chief to resign.  They bused in protestors from Daytona, for the cameras.

Protests are a classic pseudo-event.  The term "pseudo-event" was coined by Daniel J. Boorstin in his 1961 book The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America.  It is something that is created entirely for media consumption.  It creates some statement that the media can talk about, so that other media then talk about it.  It creates a self-referencing false reality, an echo chamber, that propagates a wave of energy for some political purpose. 

About a week after Obama's statement, a new prosecutor was appointed and Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder.

After all, Obama's only real job prior to entering politics was as a "community organizer."  His propaganda skills are as finely-tuned and sophisticated as any president's in my lifetime.

[Pepin]

Unfortunately, I still live with my parents, and my father watches MSNBC and he turns up the news quite loud. All it has been the last couple of days in constant coverage of the case, and the use of lanuage is really weird, like a lot of the phrases are in response to something in favor of Zimmerman will be something like "this case is not about that, this is about a 16 year old boy who was killed by no fault of his own, it is about the danger of firearms, this case is about justice holding up for minorities: blacks; hispanics; LBGT, it is about respecting the parents who lost a son they loved dearly, it is about truth in the face of adversity". I'm having a difficult time understanding why these sorts of propogandistic phrases are being dialed up to 11 for this.

To conclude, Reverned Al Sharpton is the worst excuse for a person I've ever seen.

[Magnus]

 

Unfortunately, I still live with my parents, and my father watches MSNBC and he turns up the news quite loud. All it has been the last couple of days in constant coverage of the case, and the use of lanuage is really weird, like a lot of the phrases are in response to something in favor of Zimmerman will be something like "this case is not about that, this is about a 16 year old boy who was killed by no fault of his own, it is about the danger of firearms, this case is about justice holding up for minorities: blacks; hispanics; LBGT, it is about respecting the parents who lost a son they loved dearly, it is about truth in the face of adversity". I'm having a difficult time understanding why these sorts of propogandistic phrases are being dialed up to 11 for this.

To conclude, Reverned Al Sharpton is the worst excuse for a person I've ever seen.

 

For propaganda purposes, the importance of an event is determined entirely by its power as symbolism, not by its practical or economic significance. 

It doesn't matter if a story affects one person or 10 or 100.  What matters is the quality of the story.  It's all theater.  The fact that this trial affects real people in real ways means nothing to the people who are running this theater.  The only thing that matters is the ability of the story to grab the audience's attention. 

Movie producers don't especially care they make a movie that's a touching romantic comedy, a super agent thriller or a post-apocalyptic epic. It's all fiction, and the point is to make money.  They'll utilize whatever subject matter will do the trick and put asses in seats. 

Likewise, politicians don't care whether it's a small-time local crime story like Trayvon Martin's death, or the demolition of a skyscraper -- whatever grabs people's attention and gets them to CARE is what they will utilize to advance their agenda.  This Zimmerman trial is, in the grand scheme of national government, extremely small potatoes.  It's practical importance is nearly zero.  Trials like this are conducted in nearly every county in America, all the time. 

But its POLITICAL value is incalculable.  The trial is just the propaganda delivery mechanism -- it's the vehicle by which the political message is transmitted. That political message is something along the lines of "You need government to protect you from chaos and murder-palooza breaking out in the streets!" That resonates nicely with similar messages, like: "You need government to prevent the unreconstructed racists who live among you from using the LGBT community as targets in human bloodsport competitions!"

The fact that Zimmerman will almost certainly be acquitted, and his acquittal will almost certainly lead to rioting, is a no-lose scenario for the Statist class -- they will have yet another opportunity to reinforce the original message: "You need government to protect you from chaos and murder-palooza breaking out in the streets!" 

[Alan C.]

DOJ actively worked to foment Trayvon racial unrest, spending thousands in taxpayer dollars

It’s now evident how the US federal government, led by Eric Holder’s
Department of Justice (DOJ), secretly spent tax dollars in order to
politically charge and inject race into the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman
case back in 2012 – according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch.
This came at a time where White House ‘advisor’ Al Sharpton organised
Afro-American protest mobs in Sanford to elicit national media coverage
and to racially charge the event.

This was the first such local crime case where a US President has forced
himself into the case early on, also injecting race for the purposes of
politically charging the conversation, where President Obama claimed,
“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon Martin.”

The facts now indicate that if the President, Sharpton and the DOJ had not
set the national media on fire with with radicalizing what would
normally be one of many daily local criminal cases in America – then the
country would not be facing the potential racially-motivated violence
on its streets that it is today.

So here we have three men Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and Al Sharpton
– each of whom have played a pivotal role in racially charging this
case in Sanford, Florida. Afro-American mobs are now gathering again and
threatening to riot and target any innocent bystanders in retaliation
should George Zimmerman not be convicted of murder. White House
broadcast network MSNBC is dutifully playing its role in putting
Zimmerman on media trial – in effect promoting a lynch mob verdict which
could lead to public violence across the country.

. . .

Records obtained by Judicial Watch in response to local,
state and federal public records requests show that the so-called
peacekeepers are part of a large and growing division within DOJ called
the Community Relations Service (CRS).

Though CRS
purports to spot and quell racial tensions nationwide before they arise,
the documents obtained by Judicial Watch show the group actively worked
to foment unrest, spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on travel and
hotel rooms to train protestors throughout Florida.  The peacekeepers
also met with officials of the Republican National Convention, scheduled
for several months later in Tampa, to warn them to expect protests in
connection with Martin’s death.

• CRS employee spent
  $1,142.84 to travel to Sanford, Florida from March 25-28, 2012 “to work
  marches, demonstrations, and rallies”;
• CRS
  employee spent $751.60 to travel to Sanford, Florida from March 30-April
  1, 2012 “to provide technical assistance to the City of Sanford, event
  organizers, and law enforcement agencies for the march and rally on
  March 31”;
• CRS employee spent $1,307.40 to
  travel to Sanford, Florida from April 3-12, 2012 “to provide technical
  assistance, conciliation, and onsite mediation during demonstrations
  planned in Sanford”;
• CRS employee spent $672.24
  to travel to Tampa, Florida from April 18-20, 2012 “to meet with RNC
  official related to possible protests and demonstrations during the RNC”

Judicial Watch link

If Obama had a son, he'd look like Trayvon

Al Sharpton: race baiter, shakedown charlatan, poverty pimp

Preparations in response to potential riots is racist

Trayvon supporters vow violence if Zimmerman acquitted

Mainstream media ignores death threats, racial epithets against Zimmerman

Referring to Whites as "crackers" isn't racist; it's culture

Sam Vaknin predicted that Obama would probably work to harm the country in a fit of narcissistic rage

[Pepin]

If anyone wants to see the effects of propoganda on the mind, read some of the comments on Stefan's video about the ordeal. 

[Alan C.]

The same kinds of comments can also be seen on Peter Schiff's channel.

This is the world we live in: the State ruins lives every day and these self-righteous hypocrites in the YT comments are nowhere to be seen.

[Lowe D]

They are around.  They're the ones who're having their lives ruined.

 

[Reason]

It really irritates me how the public is manipulated into caring about certain news stories. They'll care heavily about Trayvon Martin because the media has been playing personal stories about him and the family, etc. Yet they won't care about kids getting killed by wars, or people's lives ruined because of the drug war, etc.

[bwadman]

Check out this guys opinion

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9s900vZr_k&feature=youtu.be

http://youtu.be/L9s900vZr_k

 

oops