Fridley Uses Propaganda Techniques to Publicly Justify His F 9/11 Ban
Behind The Scenes at Democracy for Iowa
Last week when news of the Fridley ban of “Fahrenheit 9/11” came out, Trish Nelson, Co-coordinator of Rapid Response – Iowa,
and I took up a little project. Trish researched the 31 towns
with Fridley theaters in Iowa and located a local newspaper for almost
every town. She set up a system to fairly quickly email or fax
these newspapers. For my part, I wrote up a press release from
DFIA objecting to the Fridley ban, and sent it over to Trish, who then
sent it out to the local newspapers.
We do
not know how far our protest will reach, but we received confirmation
from the Manchester Press that they will be running a story on the
Fridley ban today and they will be quoting me (no Internet access to
the story, I’m afraid). I found from personal experience during
the Dean campaign that Iowa’s local papers frequently provide excellent
coverage of issues that are overlooked by the big, corporate-owned
media, and that many a reporter welcomes a fresh source for lively
quotes.
Towards
the end of last week, R.L. Fridley, owner of the Des Moines-based
Fridley Theatres, issued a press release because, it seems, he was
being bombarded by emails, faxes and phone calls regarding his decision
to prevent rural Iowa from viewing the documentary. He requested
that this be the end of the matter. Trish and I, however, could
not let it drop.
Trish
did some more research and added to her list of local newspapers to
include not only the Fridley towns but also towns with newspapers in
the surrounding areas. I, in the meantime, set about writing
another press release from DFIA. This press release is a little
different and probably a bit too long, but hopefully, it will attract
some attention and perhaps get a few folks to work on their “critical
thinking” skills.
I’m
including the full text of the press release below, with sources.
I know it sounds a little strange to be quoting myself since I’m the
one who wrote it, but in any BIG operation, I would not be the one
writing the press release. And besides, I always make myself very
available to me for comment! Here, in its entirety, is the most
recent DFIA press release that went out yesterday.
Linda Thieman
Fridley Uses Propaganda Techniques to Publicly Justify His F 9/11 Ban
Storm Lake, Iowa (July 12)
– When R.L. Fridley, owner of the Des Moines-based Fridley Theatres,
banned the showing of Michael Moore’s documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11,”
from 31 small-town Iowa theaters, Fridley opened a Pandora’s Box of
dissent. One point in the flurry of controversy that seems to
have been overlooked was the blatant propaganda techniques that Fridley
himself used in issuing his statements to his company managers and to
the press – a huge irony since Fridley claimed that he would not show
the film because it was “political propaganda.” Here is an inside
look.
Claim: Fridley Theatres do not “play political propaganda films from either the right or the left.”
According
to propagandacritic.com, “the name-calling technique links a person, or
idea, to a negative symbol. The propagandist who uses this technique
hopes that the audience will reject the person or the idea on the basis
of the negative symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence.”
In Mr.
Fridley’s case, the term “political propaganda” is the negative symbol
that he chooses to link to Moore’s film. “This particular claim
of Mr. Fridley’s is also highly debatable,” says Linda Thieman of Storm
Lake, co-founder of Democracy for Iowa, a grassroots organization
formed as an off-shoot of the Howard Dean presidential campaign,
“since, if a ‘political propaganda film’ from the right were to come
out, Fridley would no doubt not define it as propaganda.”
This
“either from the right or the left” claim is a propaganda technique
called a “Glittering Generality.” According to the Institute for
Propaganda Analysis (IPA), “the Glittering Generality is, in short,
Name Calling in reverse. While Name Calling seeks to make us form a
judgment to reject and condemn without examining the evidence, the
Glittering Generality device seeks to make us approve and accept
without examining the evidence.”
Thieman
explains. “The unsuspecting victim of Fridley’s propaganda
technique says to him or herself, ‘Yes! In all fairness, he wouldn’t
show propaganda from the RIGHT or the LEFT,’ making Fridley’s decision
seem reasonable. It then appears as an acceptable excuse to
Fridley’s larger audience while at the same time obscuring the real
issue – that Fridley refuses to let his would-be audiences in
small-town Iowa make up their own minds.”
Claim: “The film incites terrorism”
Claim:
“Our country is in a war against an enemy who would destroy our way of
life, our culture and kill our people,” Fridley wrote. “These
barbarians have shown through [the September 11 attacks] and the recent
beheadings that they will stop at nothing. I believe this film
emboldens them and divides our country even more.”
These
two claims of Mr. Fridley’s use a propaganda device called “appealing
to fear.” Here, Fridley excuses his banning of the film by
warning small-town Iowa that disaster will result if he does not follow
this course of action. Fridley preys upon the deep-seated fears
of terrorism that have held this country in its grip since September
11, 2001.
Claim:
“Since our decision to not play ‘FAHRENHEIT 9/11’ we have been deluged
with e-mail, telephone calls and letters … about 50 percent praising
us for our position and about 50 percent damning us for our position.”
Here,
Mr. Fridley uses a combination of propaganda devices – glittering
generality from above and another device known as the “bandwagon
technique.” Since we have no way of knowing how many people
actually wrote in to support the Fridley ban, the 50/50 claim is
designed to make everyone happy that his or her point of view is being
expressed while at the same time providing a big enough piece of the
pie for each side to claim rights to jump on the bandwagon of proper
public opinion.
But,
says Thieman, look at the choice of words. “Praising” vs.
“damning.” “The word ‘praise’ is a glittering generality full of
good will for the position Fridley is defending,” she says. “The
word ‘damning,’ on the other hand, is emotional, strong, and negative,
akin to the name-calling technique. No simply-stated and
bland, unemotional term like ‘disagree’ for Mr. Fridley!”
Claim:
“In view of the tremendous amount of strong feelings pro and con we
have received, we urge both those who praise and those who damn our
decision, to go see Mr. Moore’s film and decide for themselves.”
Citing
those who disagree as “damning” his decision again is one example of
another propaganda technique – that of using repetition of the above
techniques and claims. This claim is also “blatantly
disingenuous,” says Thieman, as it is Mr. Fridley’s decision to ban
“Fahrenheit 9/11” from 31 small-town Iowa theaters that is preventing
the vast majority of rural Iowans from seeing the film in the first
place.
“This
‘just go see it somewhere else’ attempt to divert rural Iowans from the
reality of the situation is a propaganda technique called a ‘logical
fallacy,’” Thieman explains, “since for most of us in small-town Iowa,
the demands of family, job, and church prevent us from making the long
trek to see the banned film.”
In The Fine Art of Propaganda,
one in a series of books exposing propaganda techniques published by
the IPA in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the IPA stated that “it is
essential in a democratic society that young people and adults learn
how to think, learn how to make up their minds. They must learn how to
think independently, and they must learn how to think together. They
must come to conclusions, but at the same time they must recognize the
right of other men to come to opposite conclusions. So far as
individuals are concerned, the art of democracy is the art of thinking
and discussing independently together.”
“It
seems clear that Mr. Fridley is determined to deny small-town Iowa the
very right that is the foundation of a great democracy like ours,” says
Thieman.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Iowa Towns with Fridley Theatres
Algona,
Ankeny, Atlantic, Boone, Carroll, Cherokee, Clarion, Creston,
Decorah, Emmetsburg, Estherville, Humboldt, Indianola, Iowa
Falls, Jefferson, Knoxville, Manchester, Marshalltown, Mt. Pleasant,
Muscatine, Oelwein, Oskaloosa, Perry, Pleasant Hill, Red Oak, Sioux
Center, Spencer, Storm Lake, Washington, Webster City
Sources:
Theatre chain bans Michael Moore doc
Fridley issues statement regarding ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’
The Institute for Propaganda Analysis
Linda Thieman, Co-founder and Webmaster
Democracy for Iowa
Blog for Iowa
http://www.blogforiowa.com
Blog For Iowa 
Excellent work, Linda. I'm glad you were available to comment for your press release. If the editors who receive it are the only ones who read it, it will have been well worth your effort.
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nice job Linda…………….you go get em!
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“I'm glad you were available to comment for your press release.”
Thanks, Jerry. I do have a policy to always pick up when I call myself. LOL
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Great job Linda. Someone with smarts who knows how to “break it down” when it comes to lies and false rhetoric is needed.
The main problem is that they then get mad, and when they can't shout you down, who knows what they'll try next.
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Very interesting, indeed! I never heard of the Institute for Propaganda Analysis. I'll have to check it out. Could come in useful when dealing with the junta. I just use the up-is-down and black-is-white rule when interpreting Bush's speeches. Whatever he says, switch it to the opposite and you will find the truth. Hence, in his recent speech stating “Americans are safer” 8 times (thank you Jon Stewart), the truth is “Americans are less safe.” Very simple. But not as scientific as the IPA, I'm sure.
Alta Price
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