The Pentagon and Podcasting...

[mental-escher]

We Are All Conspiracy Theorists Now (http://www.mahablog.com/)

The Pentagon awarded three contracts this week, potentially worth up to $300 million over five years, to companies it hopes will inject more creativity into its psychological operations efforts to improve foreign public opinion about the United States, particularly the military. All together now: "WTF?"

"We would like to be able to use cutting-edge types of media," said Col. James A. Treadwell, director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, a part of Tampa-based U.S. Special Operations Command. "

SYColeman Inc. of Arlington Science Applications International Corp. will help develop ideas and prototypes for radio and television spots, documentaries, or even text messages, pop-up ads on the Internet, podcasting, billboards or novelty items.

[jeffoest]

Interesting idea...

Another possible concept to improve foreign public opinion about the US and the Pentagon might include such things as dropping less bombs on foreign people...

Nah.... in retrospect, I'd go for the podcast.... ;-) Paris, are you available? "...you guys, The US is hot...."

[camilian]

psychological operations efforts to improve foreign public opinion about the United States

Yeah... just foreign public opinion because if they were using psychological operations on us it would be wrong.

:)

[vox_monitor]

Can you imagine? 300 million for this? I can't imagine needing 300 million dollars to accomplish their objective. Give me one person who speaks arabic and understands the mindset of the people, and I could produce all the media they need for, oh, let's say... 10 million?

Does that sound fair? It's a really great deal, actually. The government is robbing me blind here on this contract.

eric

[vox_monitor]

Interesting idea...

Another possible concept to improve foreign public opinion about the US and the Pentagon might include such things as dropping less bombs on foreign people...

Nah.... in retrospect, I'd go for the podcast.... ;-) Paris, are you available? "...you guys, The US is hot...."


Oooh, ooh! I know! Let's drop MORE bombs, but we'll just call it "liberty and democracy". How about that? I bet that'll work.

[allthewhile]

The Pentagon is smart, and we all know it. Right or wrong (our present foreign policy), world wide public opinion of the United States is probably not too hot. And looking towards future foreign policies issues, its a good idea to promote the "America Brand". I'm however, fairly convinced by Bono (I know I know) when he says that the U.S. spending MONEY on foreign aide in African countries by providing medicine health care, and help in the fight against AIDS in Africa would improve our image way better than any psychological public relations campaign. Of course we SHOULD be motivated to do what we do because we think it's right, not because it'll make us popular.

But podcasting? I love the medium like anyone else, but heck, that's a stupid idea.

[jimk]

I'm however, fairly convinced by Bono (I know I know) when he says that the U.S. spending MONEY on foreign aide in African countries by providing medicine health care, and help in the fight against AIDS in Africa would improve our image way better than any psychological public relations campaign.

If only that were true.

When the Bush administration sent a frigging aircraft carrier (which, contrary to the antiwar viewpoint is a floating city, which means transports, hospital facilities and water purification just to name a few benefits in an emergency) to the tsunami affected regions, they were BLASTED by the international press and Democrats here at home.

When we donated more dollars than any other nation on earth, Kofi Anan and his staff called us cheap, while they stayed in four star luxury hotels and held two weeks of meetings before lifting a finger or spending a dollar in real relief.

That's just ONE example..

We *can't* do anything right. It doesn't matter what we actually do, we're going to be painted as the bad guy, or the guys that aren't doing enough, even if we're doing more than anyone else.

Maybe this "brand recognition" idea isn't so bad.

[mental-escher]

The Pentagon is smart

Then why is military intelligence considered an oxymoron?

Then why is Vietnam synonymous with US military failure... and thats being kind.

Then why are we still having 2-5 of our soldiers killed every day in a country we invaded without provocation?

Even the Soviets would have blushed at the audacity of a $300,000,000 propaganda campaign.

Shame on the US goverment for dragging podcasts into this unseemly business of propagandization. Whah! (sucks thumbs fevorishly)

[vox_monitor]

When we donated more dollars than any other nation on earth, Kofi Anan and his staff called us cheap, while they stayed in four star luxury hotels and held two weeks of meetings before lifting a finger or spending a dollar in real relief.


Perhaps the u.s. was vilified unfairly.

But let's look again. How much did we pledge to tsunami relief?

300 million? 400 million? That's a lot, no doubt about it.

How much have we spent killing iraqi's, destabalizing the region, and promoting terrorism against the United States in the process.

300 Billion +

Where are our priorities?

eric

[jimk]

See?

The real number we gave was so much higher, but whatever. Thanks for proving my point.




When we donated more dollars than any other nation on earth, Kofi Anan and his staff called us cheap, while they stayed in four star luxury hotels and held two weeks of meetings before lifting a finger or spending a dollar in real relief.


Perhaps the u.s. was vilified unfairly.

But let's look again. How much did we pledge to tsunami relief?

300 million? 400 million? That's a lot, no doubt about it.

How much have we spent killing iraqi's, destabalizing the region, and promoting terrorism against the United States in the process.

300 Billion +

Where are our priorities?

eric

[vox_monitor]

And what exactly is your point?

That "people" will criticize the US no matter what it does?

I'm not critical of our Tsunami contribution. I don't think it was too little.

But I'm critical of our brain dead war mongering leaders.

The arrogance is unthinkable. The conceit implicit in justifying mass homicide in the name of liberty, is, above all else, a presumption of magical foretelling powers. Let's see. Should we invade this country, kill 100,000 (at least) of them, and install a different regime?

Well, my guess is that
1. The current evil regime will last a long time.
2. The people of the country will never overthrow it themselves.
3. The subsequent regime will be better.
4. The people of the country will peaceably agree on a specific new regime. 5. The suffering caused by the old regime will, in the long run, be greater than the suffering caused by our war.
6. We have the resources and manpower to handle any and all postwar hostilities until our assistance is no longer needed.
7. We can afford to spend both.
8. That the people will be more free in the long run.
9. That the people of Iraq want us to do this to them.
10. That war is fun.

Well, based on my predictions here, I guess we better invade. Now let's get busy fabricating some justifications!!



eric

[kickasspodcast]

STOP THE LIES JIM

When we donated more dollars than any other nation on earth, Kofi Anan and his staff called us cheap, while they stayed in four star luxury hotels and held two weeks of meetings before lifting a finger or spending a dollar in real relief.

We gave much less of a % of our GDP than any other nation we can compare ourselves to. We also promised Billions that will never be paid, you see what is promised and what is given are always two very different things. And maybe if Kofi Anan and the UN hadn't been lied to by our entire administration time and time again, maybe he would cut our cheap asses some slack. But lets spend all the money we can on Abstinance only education for the Africa Aids Crisis. And don't forget, every month there is a Tsunami of Malaria victims who die month after month, but we don't care about that, we are building roads in Iraq and Heroin factories in Afghanistan. You may have me on the tech ****, but politically- i would be suprised reading what you wrote if you could even hang, just stop lying and then you can MAYBE try and keep up, ok? The reason we didn't do a political podcast is for us its too easy, we wanted to challenge ourselves, when otherwise brilliant people like Jim are chuggin coolaid its way, way too easy.

Sorry- but nothing upsets me more than people lying about politics to make themselves sleep better @ night.



Another possible concept to improve foreign public opinion about the US and the Pentagon might include such things as dropping less bombs on foreign people...


1000 points for the guy who gets it right!

Ding! Ding! Ding!

http://downingstreetmemo.com/


Bush Lied; Patriots, Children, Innocents Died.


jack

[allthewhile]

I generally refrain from engaging in political and or religious debates over the internet. 9 times out of ten, they end up being rants or smarmy fanatics trying to win points, and more often than not get personal too quick. Already here in this thread people are attacking the person and not the argument. Let's all try to at least avoid that

[kickasspodcast]

I generally refrain from engaging in political and or religious debates over the internet. 9 times out of ten, they end up being rants or smarmy fanatics trying to win points, and more often than not get personal too quick. Already here in this thread people are attacking the person and not the argument. Let's all try to at least avoid that


Straiten your halo dude.

There are real lives and people dying, starving, killing. You think its not worth getting personal? At long last, have you no decency? From your podcast I can tell you must be a man of supposed morals so why are you bashing those who are actually defending a: peace b: common sense c: the truth d: tolerance

I don't usually talk about politics on the net either; but when other people bring it up, I don't think i am being unreasonable by voicing my opinion, and if someone brings a steaming pile of cat-crap on a plate, am I not allowed to call it how it smells?

Sorry, but I actually care about the 100,000 people our bombs have killed and the 1700 volunteer patriots who have died. 47 this month alone.. Its too serious not to be personal, I wouldn't disagree if they kept politics near completely out of this forum, but I didn't bring this up. Its just that politics s my favorite sport, and some people fail to see the true patriotic beauty in that.


Jack

[jimk]

Wow. Personal attacks are certainly some people's forte' no?

High and mighty wins the day for some I guess, no matter how many lies they have to tell to get there.

So be it. I'm out of this one too. Should've known better than to expect maturity.

[Hittman]

I'm however, fairly convinced by Bono (I know I know) when he says that the U.S. spending MONEY on foreign aide in African countries by providing medicine health care, and help in the fight against AIDS in Africa would improve our image way better than any psychological public relations campaign. Of course we SHOULD be motivated to do what we do because we think it's right, not because it'll make us popular.

Money is a bad idea. The governments over there are so corrupt they make our congress weasels look like choirboys. If we give them money we'll be lucky if 10% gets spent on its intended target.

Just sending resources can also be problematic. For instance, if we send them AIDS drugs, the warlords running the place will simply confiscate them and sell them, pocketing the money and guaranteeing the people who need them the most will never see them.

It's a pretty tough problem all the way around.

Gratitude is the shortest-lived human emotion. If you need any proof, look at the French attitude toward the US. Now consider the fact that if it weren't for the US they'd be eating borscht instead of croissants and referring to the Eiffel tower as "derpointibildink."

No matter what the US does, good or bad, the world will continue to hate us. It comes with being a world power. If we don't take action, we get screamed at. If we do take action, we get screamed at. If we genuinely try to help a situation we get screamed at that we didn't spend enough, came too late, were insensetive to the culture, didn't do it perfectly, etc.

I'm tired of hearing about world opinion. The fact is many of the loudest whiners would be speechless if it weren't for American blood buying their freedom at some point in their history. I think our policy on world opinion should be "Who gives a flying ****?" We should do something because it either benefits us, or because we think it's the right thing to do, and turn a deaf ear to the inevitable complaints from the rest of the whiny world.

[kickasspodcast]

Wow. Personal attacks are certainly some people's forte' no?

High and mighty wins the day for some I guess, no matter how many lies they have to tell to get there.

So be it. I'm out of this one too. Should've known better than to expect maturity.

Good Lord Hittman, Spending too much time with John Bolton?
We are as free as we are responsible to one another.

This is about as lame as it gets.. its not only completely inarticulate but its only slightly coherent. In fact we are all dumber having read this. Typical Carl Rovian device, acuse your acusers of what they are acusing you of. Nice try.

The truth is a bitch isnt it?

OMG! Talk Radio Callers have invaded PCA! Beware Fylying Monkeys Beware!

http://downingstreetmemo.com/

[vox_monitor]

well, I'm of two minds regarding this. A large part of me - the majority I'd say - is with KAP 100%. The only appropriate response to these horrific, brutish policies is outrage. It was, after all, the paucity of outrage by people who ought to have known better that made Bush's kill-a-thon possible in the first place.

And the scope of the evil is such that there can be no middle ground regarding it. It was and is wrong, immoral, self-defeating, murderous, and just plain stupid to attack another country unprovoked. Military might is the least subtle form of diplomacy and is the method most certain to produce unpredictable outcomes. Only idiots like GW use it as the option of choice.

On the other hand...

Righteous indignation is the bad habit of the far right. Ideally we'd take a different approach - a more results oriented one. Now if heated rhetoric of the sort I demonstrated just above is the approach most likely to produce a change of opinion, and result in another voice of opposition to the leadership and their flawed philosophies, then I say go for it.

However, I'm not convinced that it is the approach most likely to change opinion. I dunno, though. I mean, like KAP, I'm pissed. And I'm tired - very very tired - of the last 6 years of lies, secrets, corruption and murder.

[dcolanduno]

No matter what the US does, good or bad, the world will continue to hate us. It comes with being a world power. If we don't take action, we get screamed at. If we do take action, we get screamed at. If we genuinely try to help a situation we get screamed at that we didn't spend enough, came too late, were insensetive to the culture, didn't do it perfectly, etc.

All true...

Probably why I get into arguments with folks on both sides of 'isle' in the political sense.

The last line of Dave's quote up there is the one I hang onto most. What I hate the most is when people feel like they have the right to not be offended. Culture is a 'choice', you have no right to not feel offended or complain that someone is insensitive to your choices.

This is an oft used argument these days to inflate almost any action into something akin to bigotry or racism. Cultures can be bad, many of them are... And I don't care about being insensitive to them, usually they are VERY insensitive to anyone that isn't a part of their world.

However, I'm not convinced that it is the approach most likely to change opinion. I dunno, though. I mean, like KAP, I'm pissed. And I'm tired - very very tired - of the last 6 years of lies, secrets, corruption and murder.

AND I agree with that... I think most of what Hittman said is compatible with that mindset. I am usually frustrated with foreign media manipulating the worlds opinion of us. AND I am pissed about some of the blatant secrets and such.

It might be hard to prove murder and lies. (Depends on your philosophical views on war, that is a long topic) But I *CAN* be pretty much set against the current administration for its indignation about the mistakes they have made. They can't even admit when asked that they sold the Iraq war as a WMD hunt... I would actually have been understanding if they fully accepted the mistakes that were made.

<sigh>

Our next Interview show is so much about this whole topic, which is the irony here.

[vox_monitor]

This is an oft used argument these days to inflate almost any action into something akin to bigotry or racism. Cultures can be bad, many of them are... And I don't care about being insensitive to them, usually they are VERY insensitive to anyone that isn't a part of their world.

The sort of far left liberty-inhibiting behavior you refer to here is, indeed, very bad. It is also, however, very much dead and buried.

The politically correctness zealots, like all zealots, made a single core mistake in their thinking. They believed that good could come of trying to control others.

Mind your own business. If you see a tragedy, and want to donate time or money to make it better, good for you. If someone attacks you defend yourself.

The same rules that are true for individuals, ought to be true for countries.

And that is the issue at hand here. What difference does it make what world opinion says? Should that dictate to us our willingness to help people in need? No.

Nor should it be used to justify dismissing other cultures. Because, ultimately, that just means dismissing other individuals en masse.

[dcolanduno]

The sort of far left liberty-inhibiting behavior you refer to here is, indeed, very bad. It is also, however, very much dead and buried.

I can come up with many examples where I don't think that is completely true... but, for the most part, the 'general' PC drivel has ended.

Mind your own business. If you see a tragedy, and want to donate time or money to make it better, good for you. If someone attacks you defend yourself.

The same rules that are true for individuals, ought to be true for countries.

And that is the issue at hand here. What difference does it make what world opinion says? Should that dictate to us our willingness to help people in need? No.

I can agree with the general idea of this.

[mental-escher]

Hey- I've got a novel idea: Stop venting and start the change yourself.

If the Pentegon wants to propagandize, then why not step up the heat using the Platform of Podcasting to drive your political agenda?! Or are you afraid of loosing precious subscriptions and the possiblity of a bigger "paycheck" from a corporate sponor?

The Guys at VOX certainly do their share of op-eding, and I believe others do too- but prolly not pc'ers who are trying to make a sheckle from this medium, since they will be hamstrung to their corporate paymasters (oh yeh- and thats why radios dying- so beware!).

BTW -cyberpunkradio #6 is done, so have a listen -

Evolution or Devolution? Did we evolve from monkeys, or are we evolving to monkeys? TTBC.com officially sponsoring cyberpunkradio! Planet of the Apes. Musical interlude by capteredbyrobots.

http://www.mental-escher.net/cyberpunkradio/
http://www.mental-escher.net/cyberpunkradio/podcasts/cpr_2005-06-17_episode6-devolution.mp3

[kickasspodcast]

heh,

All I have to say is.. if you don't care about what the the rest of the world thinks, then stop buying anything not made in the US. Including all of your equipment, computers, cars, shoes, underwear, and houses. We as a nation are in debt up to our ears so don't you think we ought to listen to some of the people we owe money to?
But before I go ANY further..

I am going to take 1 big step back and away from all of this.
I like some of your shows far too much to talk politics. Where I am from you don't really discuss religion or politics, but I know forums are a place for that.

So have fun and thank heavens we can all believe whatever we want.

jack

[vox_monitor]

It might be hard to prove murder and lies.

There are three kinds of killing: Legal (death penalty, self defense, some war, etc) Illegal (criems of passion, genocide, other wars, etc.) and Accidental.

This war is not accidental.

Is it legal or illegal, then?

What constitutes legality?

1. Provocation by attack or by the immediate, serious threat of an attack, or 2. Sanctioning by the appropriate international body.

Is this war legal?

No.

Therefore it is illegal. And illegal killing? We call that murder.

As far as the lies go?

Please.

[vox_monitor]

I'm going to follow the wisdom here in extricating myself from this discussion. I apologize if my rhetoric got at all overheated. I didn't mean to attack anybody at all, I'm sorry if I approached that line.

eric

[kickasspodcast]

I'm going to follow the wisdom here in extricating myself from this discussion. I apologize if my rhetoric got at all overheated. I didn't mean to attack anybody at all, I'm sorry if I approached that line.

eric

Vox- we havent always agreed on everything, but on this we certainlydo. I hope you check this thread 1 last time because i completely feel your struggle.

I even got you covered on proving the lies

http://downingstreetmemo.com

Thats proves the biggest lie of all.


Btw- to everyone.. we don't call ourselves the Kickass Podcasters and Kickass Podcast for fun.. we..... Kickass.

And don't miss the Vox promo on KAPC #11

Fosco AND jack

[Craig]

I have deleted several posts from this topic. Once again, from the forum rules:

* While debating and discussion is fine, we will not tolerate rudeness, insulting posts, personal attacks or purposeless inflammatory posts. Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated.

* We reserve the right to remove offensive posts without notice.

* We also reserve the right to ban anyone who willfully violates the forum rules.

Craig
Moderator

[dcolanduno]

<sniff>

and I liked my last post... :)

[mental-escher]

er... I kinda liked my last (deleted) post too :(

"Let it go and you shall be free"

[Craig]

OK, let it hereby be known that the two deleted posts by dcolanduno and mental-escher were both sheer genius and are but innocent victims of the selfish acts of others.

Craig

[kickasspodcast]

This is a note specifically for Mental Escher,

Hey like Ghandi said:
"We must become the change we seek to find in the world"

-i'm right there with ya

but also-

We play alot of Tradesafe music on our show, its not the same thing as Podsafe at all- basically we can't make a dime (even break even) and still play all the music we do. So you can rest assured we aren't in it for the money, we are in it for the love of the notion of podcasting.


Jack

[ferg]

Hey like Ghandi said:
"We must become the change we seek to find in the world"


If I may paraphrase:
"I seek freshness, therefore, I must be fresh."

[allthewhile]

Ferg, Do you belong to the Church of the Fresh?

[vox_monitor]

KAP

I did listen to our promo on your show.

It's weird how exciting it is to hear one's promo on another person's cast. I mean, maybe it shouldn't be, but I can't help but feel that way. Very cool.

Thanks, KAP


eric

[kickasspodcast]

ferg you are getting it right, time and time again, I am sure glad you were smarter than alot of us who got sucked into some serious negative energy forums tonight.. eep! Could have used your levity but wouldn't have wished the evil feelings on you at all.

Vox, I know exactly what you mean.. I saw a referral from a site today that actually has a great podcast, I have to give it props its

http://kiwipc.blogspot.com

I saw 3 ppl hit my site from that as a referral and checked it out, low and behold 11:30 seconds into Kiwi Podcast #6 they said we weren't 1/2 bad, it really is awesome the community, I wish there was some way to focus on the positives of all we are doing, but as a group who meets adversity on an hourly basis, I think we are overall doing ok, considering.

Freshness is key, I am my own worst critic, if you ask me, all 10 shows suck, only because they fail to meet my ideal for the creation. But thats a good thing because it keeps us demanding more and more of our selves.. I don't REALLY think the show sucks, I have been told by most that its on par, if not decent.

But nonetheless we released another one.


http://kickasspodcast.com/kapc10.mp3

features 2 mashups, 3 tradesafe tunes, promos, its 62:38.

recorded on this ->
http://kickasspodcast.com/799setup.jpg

Later Ferg,


jack

this post is 100% sarcasism free, Sorry P. Melton ;)

[Hittman]

It is a pity that we're not allowed to comment on someone who has constantly shown themselves to be completely ignorant in virtually every post, but this isn't my sandbox, so I'll play by the rules. My post was a rather long one about foreign policy, with some of goofing on someone who deserves it, but I'm not going to type in all the political stuff again.

Readers Digest Condensed Version: We will be hated as long as we are a world power. Will we continue to be vilified when we do good things, when we do bad things, and when we don't do anything. With that in mind, we should base our foreign policy decisions on what is best for us, both long term and short term, and on doing things because we think they are the right thing to do, not because someone else thinks we should do them or because it might improve their opinion of us. It won't.

Here's a longer article that says pretty much what was in the deleted post:

http://www.davehitt.com/feb03/scream.html

[kickasspodcast]

Where is the love?!?!??!


jack

[mental-escher]

Oh Darn! Just when I thought we were back to LoveFest2005 :(

Be One With Ghandi

It's better to be constructive than destructive, yeah?

Set an example instead of pointing out shortcomings in others...

and my personal fayv- "Monkey See, Monkey Do!"

etc, etc, (smooches from M-E!) :wink:

[obtuseangle]

I'm still hung up on the term "novelty items."

Souvenirs ... novelties ... party tricks ...

****, now I can't think of the name of that movie ... Val Kilmer ...

Anyway, maybe they could drop NERF bombs on various countries with a slogan on it, when translated into Arabic, etc. would be something like:

Big joke! Ha ha! You the Bomb!

[mental-escher]

Release is imminent

Microcasting Alliance #1

[mental-escher]

Microcasting Alliance Podcast #1

"Podcasters On Podcasting"

Feel free to link, distribute, etc.

Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ucast

Website: http://www.mental-escher.net/MA/

MP3 file: http://www.mental-escher.net/MA/MAP-001_on-podcasting.mp3

- EscapePod, Mental-Escher Pluri Media, Feel good Girl - Joe Hansen, apocalyptic "preacher", Viking Youth Power Hour, Presidential Weekly Radio Address, NPR - LOE, NPR-SciFri, Tinkoff Radio, Behind The Scenes - VideoGameNews Radio - VOX Monitor, ABC - Australian Broadcasting Corp., Area 51, Misadventuresintaiwan-remix - Adam Curry - This and That Podcast -

[laboheme]

Hello,

just wanted to know if anyone had come across any good political satire podcasts? thanks.

Daniel