Comments by "Harry Stoddard" (@HarryS77) on "Jeffrey Sachs Schools BBC On Their Own Propaganda" video.

@unknownsample9280 In the midst of the Floyd protests, activists were rounded up by police. Federal officers essentially kidnapped protestors off the street. Note the media double standard in praising, for instance, the Hong Kong protestors as "pro-democracy," while activists fighting in the US for racial/gender equality or labor rights are never characterized as "pro-democracy," but often as disruptive enemies of democracy who at best may have a legitimate grievance but have "taken things too far" by doing what it is the prerogative if not the duty of every activist—transgress the boundary of what is acceptable to power. Then there's people like Snowden, Reality Winner, or Chelsea Manning who faced or are facing years of trauma, torture, and persecution for exposing the government. And if you happen to be a country that defies the US, expect crippling economic sanctions, embargo, or invasion.
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@coastcity7029 America is a democracy? Is that why we have single payer healthcare? Because by some estimates a majority of people support it. Is that why the wars in and occupations of the Middle East dragged on for decades despite dwindling support that only existed in the first place because of propaganda and state/media deception? Is that why the popular vote is so often thwarted by gerrymandering and outdated racist procedures like the electoral college? Is that why you and your coworkers organize and run your workplace democratically and not under the arbitrary thumb of a boss? Because America is a democracy, right? In truth, America is a democracy in only a very attenuated sense within the political sphere and to differing degrees for different kinds of people. Even other states which I would be loath to describe as "democratic" in any strong sense have long since surpassed the US. In America and every other state, democracy, as an aspiration or a set of laws, exists insofar as it serves the interests of power. When democracy does not serve those interests, when there is a "crisis of democracy," democracy is rescinded until it can be made to comply or until power can find a way to recalibrate itself in a "compromise."
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"The propagandistic deception often lies, not in the false claims of enemy atrocities, but in the pious depiction of such behavior as peculiar to the other side." John Dower
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@martinfiedler4317 Take your meds grandpa.
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@unknownsample9280 You seem to be trying to avoid the actual point of contention. Here are Sachs's words: "The whole premise of this story is a little bit odd. I found the framing of it not to be what I expected. I thought we were going to talk about climate change. But the idea that there's one party that is so guilty, how can we talk to them? is just a strange way to address this issue." Sachs is pushing back against the propagandistic framing which positions China as uniquely evil and therefore perhaps not worthy of our collaboration in the effort to mitigate climate change. Sachs is pointing out that if that framing were applied universally, no one, including China, would collaborate with the US on climate change. Whether we're talking about China or the US, human rights abuses have to be addressed on their own terms and not be exploited for excuses why countries can't work together against the most significant threat to human civilization. Glad you understand now.
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@unknownsample9280 How is China going to be able to navigate negotiations with the US while being critical of its human rights abuses? is a question that could've been asked, or the question could've been framed as, how do these countries work together given their conflicts in other areas? but neither was. It was instead framed as, here's China with its rights abuses; how can the US work with them? And you either can't or are unwilling to understand that basic fact. Propaganda doesn't have to be explicit.
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@mystman7722 Oh god, the sideline centrists have arrived.
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@unknownsample9280 That's not what he was doing. Watch the clip again.
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@unknownsample9280 You can't possibly be this dense.
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