Richard Stengel: "I'm not against propaganda. Every country does it to their own population".

I couldnt place the entire quote into the subject line. Here it is in its entirety:

"My old job at the State Department, was what people used to joke as the Chief propaganda [unintelligible] job.

We havent talked about propaganda.

Propaganda, I'm not against propaganda, every country does it and they have to do it to their own population and I dont necessarily think its that awful..."

And there you have it.

Richard Stengel was Time magazine's managaing editor from 2006 to 2013 and Obama's Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs from 2014 to 2016.

He was essentially in charge of one of our nation's largest media publications not to mention his position in the Obama administration.

Speaking of propaganda, wikipedia defines this role as:

The Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs is currently the fourth ranking position[citation needed] in the U.S. Department of State that is intended to help ensure that public diplomacy is practiced in combination with public affairs and traditional diplomacy to advance U.S. interests and security.

The Under Secretary oversees three bureaus at the Department of State: Educational and Cultural Affairs, Public Affairs, and International Information Programs.

That sounds like a lot of influence and power.

How many times have we referred to our media and elements within our government as propaganda only to be shouted down or told that we're "conspiracy theorists".

The partisan folks will use this to point fingers. Obama, Obama. Yes this guy worked for the Obama administration but if anyone thinks that the use of propaganda is limited to Democrats, youre wrong. Even Stengel "jokes" about his unofficial job title which undoubtedly existed prior to his taking this role.

Lastly, he's making this declaration at none other than the Council of Foreign Relations...

What a piece of garbage.

Hmm, I think I know a young lady who thinks he may have sexually assaulted her 15 years ago.

Someone should investigate him.

a reply to: watchitburn

The Council on Foreign Relations are untouchable.

a reply to: gladtobehere

Obama actually repealed laws against propaganda.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Yep, re-wrote the Smith-Mundt Act on his 11th hour.

Hell of a guy.

Thank god Trump fixed it.

Wait, no he didn't

Propaganda, the US government is probably one of the most secretive and non-transparent on the planet, especially regarding what they p*ss away US taxpayer money on and when they're bombing the crap out of the innocent civilians of whatever country they're trying to mug next

a reply to: Mandroid7

Don't know if it is even on his radar. I wish rather than constantly dealing with fake news propaganda he was instead bombarded with changes that need to be made. Then I could fault him when he chooses not to.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

I'm in the camp of the media always being gov controlled and Trump playing savior based off peoples confidence of gov at election time, then pushing forth a candidate known to be bad(Clinton).

Now we are stuck in a neverending SmithMundt psyop that does 2 things, removes our right to be informed(killed the news) and it lets them continue rigging everything.

Trump threw us a fake bone with the temp tax bs, while taking way more from us using tarriffs.
He's taxing us at both ends now. Front end tarriff taxes, cost of goods increase from tarriff costs and increase in sales tax on top of it.

He's no savior.

Not to get too far off topic.
I've been hit with a 20k material price hike last year already. On one job. Towards the end of the year.
I'm building houses. That has to be passed down to customers to survive the tight margins.
Not cool, in a very tight market already, it's almost not worth it anymore.
Not making my life great again. Making me/customers broke.
I project a 140k material cost increase for 2019.
That's a direct payment to the gov.

a reply to: Mandroid7

I'm looking forward to building my house next year... shame the laws are written to make it practically impossible NOT to pay a contractor to... subcontract out all of the work, at a profit!

Yes, terrifs increase the cost of products- but they increase the percentage of money spent back into our own economy. It sucks, but it's the only way to level the playing field when competing against slave labor.

Well he's right. Kids are brainwashed with propaganda the moment they sit in a classroom.

You think a 6-year-old knows what a constitutional republic is?

Then why the hell are they swearing allegiance to it?

Propaganda.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: gladtobehere

Obama actually repealed laws against propaganda.

Dude was definitely for propaganda.

Is the premise that propaganda is inherently bad?

Is Voice of America propaganda?

Fox News?

MSNBC?

Is this propaganda?

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: gladtobehere

Obama actually repealed laws against propaganda.

Citation required. You could start with which laws were repealed.

a reply to: Phage

It's already been mentioned.

US Government-Funded Domestic Propaganda Has Officially Hit The Airwaves

The reform effectively nullifies the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which was amended in 1985 specifically to prohibit U.S. organizations from using information "to influence public opinion in the United States."

The new law enables U.S. government programming such as Voice of America (VoA) — an outlet created in 1942 to promote a positive understanding of the U.S. abroad — to broadcast directly to domestic audiences for the first time.

www.businessinsider.com...

a reply to: Phage

The premise is that government run propaganda is bad. Propaganda posing as news is indeed bad, and is largely responsible for the increasing feelings of hate spreading across the country for the past 10 years.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

So. No laws were repealed then. Smith-Mundt was amended to allow materials which the State Department produced for foreign dissemination to be released within the US, under very specific conditions. The idea being that we should know what we are saying to the world about ourselves. As written, Smith-Mundt prohibited that.

Obama didn't have a lot to do with it though, other than signing the 2013 NDAA into law. The act, which was incorporated into the 2013 NDAA, was introduced by Texas Republican William Thornberry.

“Information intended for foreign audiences may, upon request and reimbursement of the reasonable costs incurred in fulfilling such a request, be made available, in the United States.”

‘Sec. 501. (a) The Secretary and the Broadcasting Board of Governors are authorized to use funds appropriated or otherwise made available for public diplomacy information programs to provide for the preparation, dissemination, and use of information intended for foreign audiences abroad about the United States, its people, and its policies, through press, publications, radio, motion pictures, the Internet, and other information media, including social media, and through information centers, instructors, and other direct or indirect means of communication.

www.smithmundt.com...

Your source is somewhat off the mark, though. The amendment is quite specific.

(a) In General- No funds authorized to be appropriated to the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors shall be used to influence public opinion in the United States.

The premise is that government run propaganda is bad.

Why? Spreading the word that democratic freedom has more to offer than, say, radical Islam, is bad?