What is your best personal experience with government propaganda?

I apologize in advance for the extremely long post

It's not secret, even to the strongest skeptics of government conspiracies that the government to this day continues several propaganda programs, in their attempt to rally the American people to specific causes. Whether these programs are benign or immoral, is another story.

We have all seem commercials, billboards, movies, etc. A campaign commercial on TV, for example, is an obvious example of propaganda. No one is immune to it.

My personal experience has been with things I've come to observe as a gamer. I'm a strong gamer, PC and console, and I try to stay informed on current and future game development.

There's a game that has been out for a while, called "America's Army". For those of you who don't know much about this game, it is a First Person Shooter that was developed by DARPA with the help of several military officials, to be used by the U.S. Army as a recruitment tool.

While this in itself may seem as a pretty innocent attempt to simply recruit more soldiers for the US Army, as a gamer, I communicate a lot with other gamers, and have gotten a very clear picture of the "mindset" of a lot of gamers, and in fact, I even know a few gamers who have been and currently are in the US Armed Services, including myself.

The idea of using weapons, putting aside the moral implications of this, is HIGHLY glorified in the gaming industry. Talk of routinely "owning noobs" is pretty normal. For those that have come to enjoy games such as "Counterstrike Source", "Call of Duty 4", and many other titles, this enjoyment can eventually serve to absorb you into a "cannonfodder" type of mindset. Those gamers I know that serve in the military are obviously desensitized to the morality of what it is they are dealing with, which boiled down is basically the killing of other human beings.

In a podcast I was recently listening to, a gamer was able to directly contact a DARPA official, in order to pitch an idea that DARPA should fund a certain type of Star Trek game, to which this official was very receptive, and in fact hinted to the fact that DARPA routinely involves itself in videogame development.

I admint it shouldn't have, but I was shocked by this. Do we want an advanced military research bureau, such as DARPA, to help develop videogames that will basically help form the minds of future America? Considering that most, if not all, young Americans play some videogames on a consistent basis, does this not point a sad picture for the future of America (considering the nature of the games being developed? Ex. America's Army)?

Have you had a similar experience with something a specific government agency has involved itself with, specifically, in how it molds the opinion of individuals, both mature and young people?



[edit on 24-4-2008 by PX Iceman]

All you have to do is turn on the T.V. and hear the Decider say, for the billionth time, "We are not in a recession".

As a former government employee, I feel strongly that propaganda is as much what they don't say as what they do say.

It's all about controlling perceptions. As everyone knows, in politics and power struggles, perception is reality.

Beware the info-bomb, they use it to control our emotions, which ultimately effects our behavior.

[edit on 24/4/08 by kosmicjack]

In England, the Government's 'official' unemployment and inflation figures amount to propaganda. The 'unemployment figures are only those for people receiving 'Job seeker's allowance' [ 1.6 million] which lasts only for thirteen weeks, then you get nothing. The number of people unemployed is probably nearer to five million.
The inflation index calculates the costs of various items,many of which are non essential and the prices of some of these items actually go down [cheap Chinese imports] whilst the price of food steadily increases. This gives rise to a false impression that prices are stable.
Regards,
Horsegiver.

Originally posted by horsegiver
In England, the Government's 'official' unemployment and inflation figures amount to propaganda.

Same here in the good ol' U.S. of A. Those people that report they have stopped looking for work, are for reasons obscure, not counted as "unemployed"....

Handy little trick, idn't it?