Month: February 2018

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SpaceX Launch image

SpaceX – Engineering and Technology Awe & Wonder

What an incredible achievement by private enterprise that inspires and strikes me with awe and wonder . . . (video starts at 8:00 minute mark) I just love the way SpaceX does their launch coverage: allowing a huge crowd inside mission control, young energetic people to describe what’s going on, people of both sexes working within mission control, and video cameras mounted everywhere showing you live what’s going on, before and throughout the actual launch. […]

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Fake News graphic image

Astroturfing – a Slick 21st-Century Manipulation of Fake Support

On the heels of my segment on Propaganda, it makes sense to also share this methodology of modern propaganda called “Astroturfing.” What is Astroturfing?  Essentially it’s the attempt to create an impression of widespread grassroots support for a policy, individual, or product, where little such support actually exists. I stumbled on this excellent video by Sharyl Atkisson, an ex-CBS investigative journalist who apparently still holds the ethics of journalism in high regard (a rarity in

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Propaganda definition imge

Propaganda – An Introduction

My last article on Social/Cultural Conditioning naturally leads into a discussion about Propaganda. While Social Conditioning is concerned with the life-long process of molding people’s thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors to what society and peer groups want them to be, propaganda can be viewed as the continual fuel to keep those minds and emotions in line.  And specifically, to condition people to follow the desired directives of those in power “selling” the message. Most of us, it

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