It remains, as ever, an axiom of conventional wisdom that the use of propaganda as a means of social and ideological control is distinctive of totalitarian regimes. Yet the most minimal exercise of common sense would suggest a different view: that propaganda is likely to play at least as important a part in democratic societies (where the existing distribution of power and privilege is vulnerable to quite limited changes in popular opinion) as in authoritarian societies (where it is not). It is arguable that the success of business propaganda in persuading us, for so long, that we are free from propaganda is one of the most significant propaganda achievements of the twentieth century.
At a national level, the coordinating body of the Liberal Party is the Federal Council. It comprises 14 delegates from each state and the Australian Capital Territory. These include the…
The recent Singapore summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un is still blowing up my (Blotreport’s Melbourne correspondent) newsfeed, and, more ‘interestingly’, brought out some Trump fans (trumpettes) among my…
You can tell there is an election coming up, probably in September, as the Murdoch yellow press and other outlets have dramatically lifted their ‘Kill Bill’ stories to try to…
Just about everybody knows the ‘beetrooter’ story of Barnaby Joyce and Vikki Campion now that it has been plastered over the newspapers for months1 and has been on television, including with…