Category Archives: Introducing DFIA

News and Notes from Deanland and DFIA

Posted on September 1, 2004 by bfialindathieman

New Book Out Soon: “The Tea Is In The Harbor” Scott Goldstein, a DFA 2.0 intern, and active member of Generation Dean, has announced that his new book, “The Tea Is In The Harbor,” will be out in October. “The … Continue reading →

Posted in Dean News, Introducing DFIA, Local Events, Main Page | 3 Comments

DFIA Gets Noticed by The Mothership

Posted on August 13, 2004 by bfialindathieman

DFIA Gets Noticed by The Mothership In case you missed it, yesterday morning Democracy for Iowa was featured on Blog for America, the blog of Gov. Dean's organization, Democracy for America. The article seemed to be well received, and folks … Continue reading →

Posted in Introducing DFIA, Main Page | 1 Comment

Iowa in the News: Environment

Posted on August 7, 2004 by bfialindathieman

DFIA Environmentalist Throws Her Hat in the Ring In her first race since college days, DFIA Environmentalist Molly Regan has taken out nomination papers for the Scott Soil and Water Conservation Commission. There are 5 people on the Scott County … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Introducing DFIA, Iowa in the News, Main Page | Comments Off

Reflections on DemocracyFest by Darrell Lewis

Posted on August 5, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Reflections On DemocracyFest by Darrell Lewis I packed up my truck and left early on Wednesday morning, July 21st, on my adventure to experience…well, I guess I wasn't too sure what I was going to experience when I left. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Introducing DFIA, Main Page, Progressive Community | 2 Comments

DFIA Launches New Events Calendar!

Posted on August 3, 2004 by bfialindathieman

DFIA Launches New Events Calendar! Democracy for Iowa has our new Events Calendar up and running. You can check here daily to find Democratic events around Iowa. Our candidates have already begun adding their events. Check them out! Click on … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Tools: IOWA, Introducing DFIA, Main Page, Meet Up Central - Iowa | 1 Comment

News & Notes from Iowa & The Progressive Community

Posted on August 1, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Take a look at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s new movie: “Choice Chick vs. the Judgebots.” Click here. Choice Chick has an amazing resemblance to Janeane Garofalo, with Angelina Jolie's lips thrown in for good measure. I got an email … Continue reading →

Posted in Candidates, Introducing DFIA, Iowa in the News, Main Page, Progressive Community | Comments Off

Where Do We Go From Here?

Posted on July 30, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Where Do We Go From Here? Apparently, the GOP is not the only party that seeks to rewrite history to suit its own self-interest Well, the convention has passed. The steamroller of the insecure DNC/Kerry Kamp has flattened all memory … Continue reading →

Posted in Introducing DFIA, Main Page, Progressive Community | 9 Comments

Alta Reports in from the QC House Party

Posted on July 29, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Alta Reports in from the QC House Party Democracy for the Quad Cities, watching Dean speak © 2004 Democracy for Iowa. All rights reserved. About a dozen DFQCers gathered at my house Tuesday night to watch Howard Dean address … Continue reading →

Posted in Dean News, Introducing DFIA, Main Page | Comments Off

DFIA To Join Progressive Democrats of America

Posted on July 21, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Democracy for Iowa is pleased to announce that we are joining a new alliance of progressive grassroots organizations called Progressive Democrats of America. PDA, a coalition of Dean, Kucinich, and other progressive groups, has the distinction of being recognized by … Continue reading →

Posted in Introducing DFIA, Main Page, Progressive Community | 12 Comments

Fridley Uses Propaganda Techniques to Publicly Justify His F 9/11 Ban

Posted on July 13, 2004 by bfialindathieman

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.”
Continue reading →

Posted in Dean Rapid Response - Iowa, Introducing DFIA, Iowa in the News, Main Page, Media Bias | 5 Comments