The point of public relations slogans like “Support our troops” is that they don’t mean anything. They mean as much as whether you support the people in Iowa. Of course, there was an issue. The issue was, Do you support our policy? But you don’t want people to think about that issue. That’s the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody’s going to be against, and everybody’s going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn’t mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy?
Noam Chomsky, Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
So true. This is definitely by design also. It has the effect of making you look real bad if you make any type of deviation from the norm. They certainly have made it so even disagreeing with the policy means you are against the troops! It is actually very difficult to get people to detach themselves from this very concept!
The point of public relations slogans like “Support our troops” is that they don’t mean anything. They mean as much as whether you support the people in Iowa. Of course, there was an issue. The issue was, Do you support our policy? But you don’t want people to think about that issue. That’s the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody’s going to be against, and everybody’s going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn’t mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy?
Noam Chomsky, Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
So true. This is definitely by design also. It has the effect of making you look real bad if you make any type of deviation from the norm. They certainly have made it so even disagreeing with the policy means you are against the troops! It is actually very difficult to get people to detach themselves from this very concept!