What Is A “Spin Doctor”?

I am sure this ought get some interesting comments….that is if the post is read….most times the title alone gets the juices flowing for some.

We hear the term ‘spin’ daily….every issue that we think is important has a group that will make you believe their spin (propaganda)…..

But what is a ‘spin doctor’…..a spokesperson employed to give a favorable interpretation of events to the media, especially on behalf of a political party.

But let’s look at the idea…..

Ever since the ideological mastermind of modern public relations – Edward Bernays – suggested to modernize the word “propaganda” by calling it public relations, PR and Spin (a form of propaganda) had been with us. And, today, our world is overflowing with ideas that are shaping “professional” spin doctors.

The top ten firms employing rafts of spin-doctors are companies, for which most of us have probably never heard of, namely: Edelman, Weber Shandwick, BCW, FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, Brunswick, MSL, BlueFocus, Real Chemistry, (and my personal favorite) Hill+Knowlton. They are ready to give the pathologies of capitalism a nice face.

These propaganda companies – euphemistically re-labeled “PR firms” – employ thousands of communication experts. These firms seek to achieve what PR’s Godfather, the aforementioned Edward Bernays, had set out for them to do when he said:

“the significant revolution of modern times is not industrial or economic or political but the revolution which is taking place in the art of creating consent among the governed.”

Creating consent among “the governed” (as he called us) to have a positive, if not supportive, attitude to capitalism, is the job of public relations. Its spin is a form of propaganda. This is achieved, for example, through knowingly providing a biased interpretation of an event. Unsurprisingly, this also includes corporate campaigning to influence public opinion – creating a positive image – about companies, corporations, and ultimately – capitalism.

What Spin Doctors Do

There is no better example of ‘spin’ than the current situation in Ukraine…..the media with the help of ‘spin doctors’ have the American people oozing with admiration for Ukraine’s leader…..they helped turn chicken manure into sirloin for the defense industry and in turn created a ‘hero’.

I admit that I have been leery of the Zelensky admiration society….there is something more there…..more than the orchestrated appearances and speeches.

It must be understood that escalation takes us in the wrong direction, because a war against a nuclear armed power can’t be won. Without this crucial realization the most impossible things become possible, like a hero saving the world. Of course it’s essential to have inspiration and motivation in trying times, but it’s also essential to be practical.

The reason why we should not admire Zelensky is because he doesn’t seem very committed to de-escalating the war. He has said that acquiring more weapons will definitely make him win the war; a powerful argument on its own, but when one considers that only a negotiated settlement can end the war, it dissolves into an impossible promise.

Zelensky’s seeming intransigence makes the possible solutions to the war even more bewildering. If a noble goal is to prevent a nuclear war, shouldn’t there be more emphasis on diplomacy? Yet Zelensky relentlessly implores the world for more and more weapons. Without any appearance of alternatives it’s very easy to assume that more weapons are the answer to ending the war and bringing peace.

Why We Should Not Admire Zelensky

I am not saying that we should totally abandon Ukraine….all I am saying is that there is always two sides and so far our cracker jack media gives one side and one side only….they seldom do what they were trained to do….look beyond and beneath every story.

‘Spin’ is just a more acceptable term for propaganda…the problem is few bother to check the stories out as a complete report of one side of the coin.

Where does your opinion come from….?

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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On To ‘Cybergeddon’

Cybergeddon?

WTF?

Allow me to help you out…..

refers to cataclysm resulting from a large-scale sabotage of all computerized networks, systems and activities. It combines cyberterrorism, cyberwarfare, cybercrime, and hacktivism into scenarios of wide-scale internet disruption or economic collapse. Economic or industrial infrastructure could be targeted, such as banks or industrial control systems. Since 2012, the amount of Internet-based attacks and their complexity have increased.

“Cybergeddon is a possibility,” FireEye CEO Ashar Aziz explained in an interview with Bloomberg: “Attacks on critical infrastructures such as the power grid or financial institutions could wreak havoc not just on United States economy, but in fact, the world economy.”

Since 2005 (maybe earlier) we have been warned of that massive army of Russian hackers…allegedly run by the GRU (Russian intelligence) just positioning for the massive hack of our vital systems…..

So for damn near 20 years we have been warned and we have been waiting for ‘cybergeddon’….so what are they waiting on?

Now with the war in Ukraine and the growing sanctions on Russia imposed by most of the Western alliance…..I ask again….what are they waiting on?

Russia’s war in Ukraine, now nearing its 10-week mark, has been devastating, killing thousands of civilians and forcing millions to flee their homes. Thus far, this devastation has been wrought primarily by conventional military means, without Moscow launching the “full-scale cyber assault” or “cybergeddon-scale attacks” feared early on. As various authors have pointed out, “Ukrainian air defense and aircraft didn’t appear to be affected by cyber disruptions, and there are no reports of critical infrastructure damage from cyberattacks”; “Ukraine’s electricity grid, its communications systems and other infrastructure are still largely up. Its president is streaming from his government office.” Why?

One group of scholars has long argued that expectations of cyber apocalypse have been overblown, with doomsayers ignoring that cyber and military campaigns serve different purposes. Cyber operations, these experts say, are neither “catastrophic weapons of destruction” nor good for “managing destruction at scale”—meaning they’re unlikely to be the game-changers many anticipated in modern warfare. “It’s much simpler,” four of these authors write, “for Russia to launch an artillery barrage at a [Ukrainian] power substation than to hack it from Moscow.”

https://www.russiamatters.org/analysis/why-hasnt-russia-unleashed-cybergeddon-its-war-ukraine

Even more thoughts…..

https://www.cigionline.org/articles/ukraines-missing-cybergeddon/

Would not now be the time for Russia to unleash ‘cybergeddon’ as a retaliation for all the woes the West is imposing on Russia?

Is it possible that the whole ‘cybergeddon’ was just another political smoke screen?

Just and few thoughts…..

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”