Propaganda, It is Hard to Identify? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    There is an abundance of information. It is here, it is there, it is everywhere. Sometimes I feel like I am floating in a sea of information, reports, news programs, writings and whispered messages. All of this information is packaged in attractive ways that are non intimidating and pleasantly acceptable. How are we to know what is true and what is false? Even worse, there are people who want to cause our thoughts and concerns to drift in certain directions. There are three categories into which this abundance of information can be placed. Truth, lies and propaganda. Today, I am more concerned with propaganda than with truth or lies. Propaganda is usually a combination of truth and lies.

    One of the definitions of propaganda is: "The systematic presentation of selected information reflecting the view and interests of those advocating a cause". During the cold war the US Government and much of the press labeled almost all the information presented from the USSR to the American public, the world as a whole and those behind the iron curtain as propaganda. Those who lived behind the iron curtain were constantly told how much better their living conditions were than those in the free world, especially the United States. The USSR central moth piece was a newspaper called "Pravda". Gradually, communism failed as the truth came out. The free world spent a lot of money combating propaganda.

    We have not heard the word "propaganda" used a lot in the United States since the iron curtain fell. However, we have a lot of propaganda now being used on the American Citizen. Today, we are told that the economy is improving, jobs are being created at a rapid rate and the jobless rate is falling. We are prosperous and our future is bright. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our Federal Government is cooking the books. Unemployment looks like it is improving because a lot of people who have not found a job have been removed from the labor pool to force the unemployed rate down. We are still creating fewer jobs than is necessary to keep our increasing population fully employed. None of the problems causing the depression that began in 2008 have bee solved. More people are receiving food stamps than ever. So, why do things seem to be better? Propaganda. The government is now telling us things are better, over and over and over.

    We have propaganda on a local scale. The Washington Daily News suddenly started covering court trials. Several recent articles have been printed with an unusual amount of harping on inmates who spit on jailers. This is a crime, usually classified as an assault. Spitting is a despicable act. Spitting on jailers tells a lot about the inmate. A book, none of it good, could be written about the psychology of those who spit on other people.

    The Daily News takes great pains to quote the judge as he sentences inmates for spitting. Not much is said about the other criminal acts of the inmate. Does this mean it is less criminally offensive to society to use narcotics, sell narcotics, steal property, physically beat and batter women, and commit crimes involving sex than it is to spit on a jailer. Of course not. This is propaganda at its finest.

    One of the biggest issues used to justify the construction of a new jail was the accusation that jailers could be spit upon, and have urine and feces thrown on them. These are insulting, humiliating and personally offensive acts that definitely get the attention of all of us. Judge Sermons issued the order that the county provide a safe jail for both inmates and jailers. He is cautiously supporting his Democrat Commissioner buddies who are Langley, Booth and Belcher along with RINO (Republican In Name Only) Klemm in their efforts to build a new jail by calling attention to the despicable act of spitting on jailers.

    This is propaganda. The commissioners installed screening in the jail more than one year ago so that inmates can no longer throw, reach or spit through the bars to assault jailers. I guess the Judge and the Daily News did not get the memo. The only way a Beaufort County jailer can be spit on is to be close to the inmate as when cuffing the inmate. Building a new jail will not stop spitting. The jail has not been built in which a clever inmate cannot assault a jailer.

    I believe the law enforcement propaganda has a more wide spread goal than justifying the new jail. Why after several years of not reporting on court cases did the liberal Washington Daily News suddenly decide to begin reporting on court cases. They start printing more stories about arrests by the Sheriffs Department. There is a sheriff's election coming up. Hopefully Alan Jordan will keep his word and not run again. Beaufort County now elects Republicans as well as Democrats. We have had several Democrats and Republicans announce for the sheriff's office. That means we will surely have a primary election during May of 2014. The Daily News is a liberal newspaper having supported Sheriff Jordan without a word of criticism through several of his calamities. The propaganda machine at the Daily News is gearing up to make sure we continue with a long line of Democrat Sheriffs.

    We need to break up the Democrat machine in the Beaufort County Court house. There is no question that Democrats and Republicans watching each other will go a long way toward eliminating the favoritism, lawyer club, and selective prosecution that has been the norm in Beaufort County during the last 30 years.

    The public should be alert to propaganda from now until after the primary elections are over. There is nothing unusual about a particular incident or story being run one time. However, when any emotional subject is repeated several times, concerned citizens should ask "Why"? When the content of newspapers make significant changes in coverage as elections approach, concerned citizens should ask "Why"? The Washington Daily News is a liberal Democrat paper.

    I have shown on many occasions, using the facts, that Beaufort County does not need a new jail and if we do there is no justification for building it on the south side of Chocowinity.

    Yes, we have propaganda in both Washington, DC and Washington, NC. Don't get taken in by those who want to steer your thinking in order to accomplish their personal political goals.