Saturday, August 13, 2005

NTGNTP (6th Draft): APPENDIX 2.1

2.1 During the outbreak of the Vietnam war, minor state department officials would deliver presentations at local schools and churches. The purpose was to espouse the en vogue cold war doctrine and justify intervention. False connections were drawn using the usual propaganda regarding communism and the "yellow peril." One could point out that the Vietnamese and Chinese were ethnically different and had been in conflict for thousands of years. In fact, the Soviet Union supplied the North Vietnamese, but only after the U.S. government refused to back the anti-french colonials. Indeed, China invaded northern Vietnam after the American withdrawal in the late 1970s. The minor state department official would turn slightly red, then chastise the dissenter as a communist sympathizer -- a fashionable label at the time.

These little chats were particularly effective by choice of locale. Chumps would sit in the pews and believe nobody would lie before the ears of God. Schools were equally effective because popular sentiment believes these places to be one of truth and learning. Hence, official history is believed. The backdrop, rather than the message, always ensures the success of propaganda. The personal touch is particularly effective. The Chinese communist party and the Third Reich utilized similar tactics. One must learn not just to question, but the proper question.

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