October 5, 2003
Manipulating the public mind
There is a story behind the story of the Bush Administration's lying. That is the story of a corporate media that has largely played along with that administration. A recent study by the Program on International Policy Attitudes and Knowledge Networks shows that 60% of Americans believe one of three things:
"* U.S. forces found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
* There's clear evidence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein worked closely with the Sept. 11 terrorists.
* People in foreign countries generally either backed the U.S.-led war or were evenly split between supporting and opposing it." (Davies, Knight-Ridder, 10/03/03).
Massaging the message IS important as was also demonstrated by:
"The analysis released Thursday also correlated the misperceptions with the primary news source of the mistaken respondents. For example, 80 percent of those who said they relied on Fox News and 71 percent of those who said they relied on CBS believed at least one of the three misperceptions.The comparable figures were 47 percent for those who said they relied most on newspapers and magazines and 23 percent for those who said they relied on PBS or National Public Radio. "
Certainly a factor in the "misperceptions" is the old addage of "if you say it often enough it must be true." And certainly all of the above lies were said or linked in context often enough to influence reality. But the wide variance across news sources also demonstrates something else entirely. That it is not just what is stated, but the web of perception in which it is stated that has a dramatic influence. It isn't really surprising that 80% of those watching FOX news believe these lies about Iraq. After all, it was not only the reporting of these Administration lines that were reported, but the supporting commentary, the outright statements that those questioning the plan to invade Iraq were unpatriotic and aiding "terrorists."
What is frightening is that these polls are not reflections of the past, but go to perceptions on mid-September 2003. In other words, even as contradictory, and even invaldiating, information has hit the US corporate media, that large numbers of people are not changing what has now become a "belief."
It is strange that this is happening at the same time that I am hearing renewed proclamations of the influence of the "liberal media." Excuse me? If anything points to the corporate media being a "liberal media," this poll (and series of polls) shows that claim to be a fallacy. But what the renewed charges of "liberal media" do something perhaps more damaging. That is to encourage people to think that current "news" on Iraq's lack of weapons, ties to terrorists, etc." are the propaganda. This in turn may lead to an actual cementing of the lies in some people's minds.
It is one of those examples of broken logic that seems so common in human perception of the world. Listening to the corporate media and believing the message (including Fox's emphasis on the unreliability and bias of other news sources) then discounting new information from that same media because of perceptions of bias.
Many would look at these polls and what is happening in the US and shake their heads as to how people can't see what is going on. After all, "It's as plain as the nose on your face." But remember that it is very difficult to see the nose on one's face, and what one does see is highly distorted. Others can see the nose on our face, we can see the nose on our face if we look in a mirror (or other reflective surface." And this tells us something very important about perceptions which requires a reflective distance. Of course. we also have the problem that others perceptions of our nose may influence us in striking ways even if we do look in a mirror.
Resources
10/03/03 Davies, NY Times, Study: Misperceptions About Iraq War Contributed to Support For It
10/02/03 The PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll report in full Misperception, the Media, and the Iraq War