Homeland Security TV (HSTv) Meets George Orwell?

►Here is the "Homeland Security TV" Intro video, to me it seems Orwellian / 1984 in nature.

From the audio clip overlays (pounding, urgent fear inducing style of music) to the graphics and iconography and showing repeated images of fear (terrorists, terror threats etc) all seem like it is out of some new 'big brother is watching you' type of movie. Is it meant to instill fear and a sense of needing protection?



From all of the organizations named Homeland this and Homeland that, it just doesn't seem right somehow, just doesn't fit what the USA is all supposed to be about.

Is George Orwells Fictional novel (1984) coming true in the US?
(watch the entire movie '1984' here..


[color=gold]PERMANENT WAR

In 1984, the state remained perpetually at war against a vague and ever- changing enemy. The war took place largely in the abstract, but it served as a convenient vehicle to fuel hatred, nurture fear and justify the regime's autocratic practices.

Bush's war against terrorism has become almost as amorphous. Although we are told the president's resolve is steady and the mission clear, we seem to know less and less about the enemy we are fighting.

What began as a war against Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda quickly morphed into a war against Afghanistan, followed by dire warnings about an "Axis of Evil," the targeting of terrorists in some 50 to 60 countries, and now the beginnings of a major campaign against Iraq.

Exactly what will constitute success in this war remains unclear, but the one thing the Bush administration has made certain is that the war will continue "indefinitely."

[color=gold]MINISTRY OF TRUTH

Serving as the propaganda arm of the ruling party in "1984," the Ministry of Truth not only spread lies to suit its strategic goals, but constantly rewrote and falsified history.

It is a practice that has become increasingly commonplace in the Bush White House, where presidential transcripts are routinely sanitized to remove the president's gaffes, accounts of intelligence warnings prior to Sept. 11 get spottier with each retelling, and the facts surrounding Bush's past financial dealings are subject to continual revision.

The Bush administration has been surprisingly up front about its intentions of propagating falsehoods. In February, for example, the Pentagon announced a plan to create an Office of Strategic Influence to provide false news and information abroad to help manipulate public opinion and further its military objectives.

Following a public outcry, the Pentagon said it would close the office -- news that would have sounded more convincing had it not come from a place that just announced it was planning to spread misinformation.


[color=gold]BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING

The ever-watchful eye of Big Brother kept constant tabs on the citizens of Orwell's totalitarian state, using two-way telescreens to monitor people's every move while simultaneously broadcasting party propaganda.

While that technology may not have arrived yet, public video surveillance has become all the rage in law enforcement, with cameras being deployed everywhere from sporting events to public beaches.

The Bush administration has also announced plans to recruit millions of Americans to form a corps of citizen spies who will serve as "extra eyes and ears for law enforcement," reporting any suspicious activity as part of a program dubbed Operation TIPS, Terrorism Information and Prevention System.

And thanks to the hastily passed USA Patriot Act, the Justice Department has sweeping new powers to monitor phone conversations, Internet usage, business transactions and library reading records. Best of all, law enforcement need not be burdened any longer with such inconveniences as probable cause.

►Continued below◄

[edit on 2-4-2008 by battlestargalactica]

[color=gold]THOUGHT POLICE

Charged with eradicating dissent and ferreting out resistance, the ever- present Thought Police described in "1984" carefully monitored all unorthodox or potentially subversive thoughts.

The Bush administration is not prosecuting thought crime yet, but members have been quick to question the patriotism of anyone who dares criticize their handling of the war on terrorism or homeland defense.

►Take, for example, the way Attorney General John Ashcroft answered critics of his anti-terrorism measures, saying that opponents of the administration "only aid terrorists" and "give ammunition to America's enemies."

Even more ominous was the stern warning White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer sent to Americans after Bill Maher, host of the now defunct "Politically Incorrect," called past U.S. military actions "cowardly." Said Fleischer, "There are reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is."

What would it take to turn America into the kind of society that Orwell warned about, a society that envisions war as peace, freedom as slavery and ignorance as strength? Would it happen overnight, or would it involve a gradual erosion of freedoms with the people's consent?

So powerful was the states control over peoples minds in 1984 that eventually everyone came to love Big Brother. Perhaps in time we all will too.

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

[edit on 2-4-2008 by battlestargalactica]

well thats one tv channel that I will never watch.

This makes it more then one sentance.

Tela

edited for spelling

[edit on 4/2/2008 by Telafree]

reply to post by Telafree


The website has other videos there as well..
www.nationalterroralert.com...

Wow, just... wow. So this is what it's come to. I suppose things are gonna start gettin a bit rough over here in the states.

This is from the "About Homeland Security TV" page of the maker's official website:

Distribution Channels That Mean Something to Advertisers and Sponsors

Editorial Leadership

Homeland Security Television (HSTV) is the Internet's #1 destination for professional, broadcast-quality short films on all aspects of homeland and cyber security. Founded and run by award-winning journalist, Dan Verton, HSTV understands the issues involved in homeland and cyber security better than any other on-demand, online Internet television service.

And our interviews speak for themselves: Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge; former FEMA Director Michael Brown; controversial President of Somalia, Abdinur Darmin; Legendary FBI Agent Joseph Pistone (a.k.a. Donnie Brasco), former CIA Counterterrorist Center Director Ambassador Cofer Black; and many, many more.

Source

And here is what VMyths has to say about founder Dan Verton:

Hysteria roll call: Dan Verton
Duty status: active
Summary: a former intelligence officer who reports on cyber-terrorism for Computerworld. Washington's "beltway bandits" know they can rely on him to provide free ink whenever they want it. Verton destroyed his respectability with a string of absurd "exclusive interviews" with fire-breathing Muslim clerics and narcissistic hackers. His fetish to interview cyber-terrorists once led him to get duped by a reporter posing as one. (Computerworld had to retract one of his stories because of it.) Security experts can't really agree if Verton is dumb like Jethro Clampett or savvy like Geraldo Rivera. One thing is obvious -- Verton abandons a skeptical viewpoint for any "exclusive" story that falls into his lap. He recently inked a book on cyber-terror in which he relied on his own absurd Computerworld stories to make his case.

Source

I can't vouch for the reliability or credibility of either of those sources. I just felt that some more information might be useful. It sounds as though this is an independent operation that, while perhaps politically beneficial to DHS, may not be sanctioned, sponsored, funded, or created by any official government agency.

Star and Flag from me.


There are a lot of books written in rough times of the past. Especially the WW eras. They seem on point today, as if the writers had a vision of the future woes.

People need to wake up. Reading would be a great way, because it stimulates the mind, as opposed to television, which seems to dull the senses over time.


Anyone who can't see similarities needs to re-read the book, and those who haven't, should. Along with stuff from other great writers.

It is time I read this book again.

Originally posted by AceWombat04

Homeland Security Television (HSTV) is the Internet's #1 destination for professional, broadcast-quality short films on all aspects of homeland and cyber security.

Nice research, yes I feel too that there is a connection as well to the DHS and this organization and its movies.

There is also a clip on the partner site of the corporation Iridium, where the HSTV seems to be promoting Iridium phone use amongst 1st responders and other government / mil agencies. It is an interesting video, give it a watch if you can, fairly heavily promoting the sat phone corporation (iridium has heavy ties to the Dept. of Defense DoD).

Originally posted by FreeThinkerIdealist
People need to wake up. Reading would be a great way, because it stimulates the mind, as opposed to television, which seems to dull the senses over time.

Anyone who can't see similarities needs to re-read the book, and those who haven't, should. Along with stuff from other great writers.

It is time I read this book again.

I agree, but today people are about quick media (books are too slow for most anymore), so whatever media can get the information out is a-ok with me. Personally I have the book, the e-book and the DVD of '1984'.

There are also ebook readers (actually read to you, or read it and record the audio to a file) for an those that want to read this book or any other but don't have alot of time.







[edit on 2-4-2008 by battlestargalactica]

Was it necassary to mention dirty bombs there at the end?

Yes this video feels very Orwellian to me too

still wondering why dirty bombs was mentioned...is that kind of weird to anyone else.

oh, i'm glad they're analysts we can trust though

seems like they're really on our side...thats good right,

reply to post by Roland Deschain

I know what you mean-I want to live in fairytale land too, with all the crazy things going on now...

I'll see if I can find a link to the book for people who have not read it.
But in any case, for those who haven't seen the movie '1984' check the above link for the movie on youtube...

I hate seeing this happen all over again but this time in the USA.

If you have not read it, please do read Naomi Wolf's The End of America. She illustrates how the Bush/Cheney neocons are employing the same strategies that were used to bring the Nazis to full-fledged dictatorship.

The fact that there IS a HSTV channel should make people wonder.How could anyone watch it and take it as the "truth"?
The intro wreaked of propaganda from every pixel.

What's next? "Be a good citizen and tell your neighbours about HSTV."

I almost feel like throwing up.

Good find,Star and Flag.

reply to post by citizen truth


I'm sure there will be plenty of people with it on all day long as the perfect source of real "legitimate" news.

Just what our country needed. More fear and paranoia. Create an enemy image and scare the popluation into obedience. Bombard them enough and they will all believe.

Who owns the station? It has the feint smell of Rupert Murdoch and his thugs at Fox News.

reply to post by battlestargalactica


Here is a link to Orwell's 1984 book. Anyone can read it online in regular html format. There is nothing to download, and no pdf files to access.

www.george-orwell.org...

Sorry for the one line reply but I'm in a rush.

Homeland = Fatherland

These people never changed their colours, population just got lax and now we're all screwed.

reply to post by DrBones666


Yep, there's also motherland, which is a russian phraseword.

reply to post by battlestargalactica


I know... maybe they'll get O'Reilly and Hannity as well to do their "independent, reliable, fair and balanced super duper objective and totally awesomelly unbiased... no seriously we're totally unbiased! hey! come back!" news reports! How ANYONE can be stupid to actually think "hey this is a great idea!" is beyond me.

Anyone notice as well that they used the phrase "Information you WANT to know" as opposed to "information you NEED to know"? The reason I point out is because I can WANT all day long that (as an example) the "official" 9/11 story is the true story.Where as the information I NEED to know is all the facts behind it and how it happened (the science behind why the towers fell, WTC7 etc. etc. etc.) REGARDLESS of how you may feel about it.

There's a BIG difference between what you WANT to know, and what you NEED to know and I found it interesting that they chose "want" as opposed to "need"


[edit on 4-4-2008 by Question]

reply to post by Question

Good post

I will try to upload more of their 'honest, unbiased' video soon...