The Next Hurrah: bermanfacts.com

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February 16, 2006

bermanfacts.com

Matt Stoller over at MyDD does a nice job of tying the hacktacular "Union Facts" website back to astroturf warrior Rick Berman. Berman is the guy behind "consumer-supported efforts" like the campaign to convince pregnant moms to eat tuna (on behalf of the tuna industry), the push to keep Pepsi machines and pork rind dispensers in school cafeterias (on behalf of the junk food producers), and the fight against Mothers Against Drunk Driving (on behalf of the booze lobby). In short, he creates allegedly consumer-driven front groups for some of the most unpopular lobbies in America. Which got me thinking -- what astroturf groups would Berman have created had he only been lucky enough to live in various eras in history?

Some ideas below the fold:

If Berman had been alive in a border state like Kentucky in 1860, and if the internet had existed at that time, he'd have been the proprietor of AbolitionistFacts.com (ostensibly funded by "concerned free white citizens, Irishmen, and Negro slaves", but in actuality secretly funded by the Consolidated Slavers League).

If Berman had lived in South Africa in the '70's, and the internet had existed, he'd have run the MandelaExposed.com site (ostensibly funded by "concerned citizens, Cape coloureds, Indians, cricketers, springboks, and blacks", but in actuality secretly funded by a coalition of DeBeers and the National Party).

If Berman had lived in 1940's India, he'd have founded a broadsheet called "Congress Watch," dedicated to exposing the scat-fetishism of the diaper-wearing Gandhi.

Any more?

February 16, 2006 at 18:36 in Contributor--Trapper John, Ideas and Ideology, Labor, Public Policy Process | Permalink

Comments

thanks for the info.

but please don't stop here.

tell us more about berman.

he sound like one of those folks like barbara comstock that e'wheel was writing about recently:

republican operatives that show up in republican thought control (or "fact manipulation") campaigns, over and over again.

Posted by: orionATL | February 16, 2006 at 22:20

one more thing (he said):

it is centrally and fundamentally important to the direction politics takes in this country

that the out-of-sight, off-the -radar, clandestine, orwellian

manipulation of political information and discourse that is occurring in this society be described and analyzed for others to read and evaluate for themselves.

this would be analogous to the information and analysis next hurrah has provided on the h5n1 virus.

thanks again for the information!!

Posted by: orionATL | February 16, 2006 at 22:35

You're right, orion.

But I imagine that everyone reading this blog (with the possible exception of a few RW trolls) agrees with you, and already knows this. So the issue is how to give this idea wider exposure. Lately there has been some debate here about themes, memes, metaphors, and stories. This is the "Wag the Dog" story, but much bigger. How do we get more people to realize that "Wag the Dog" was not just an interesting movie, but a window on today's realities?

The "Courage Mom" news campaign was minor compared to the breadth and depth of the manipulation of information sources today. Orwellian is the right adjective indeed.

Posted by: Chris Loosley | February 17, 2006 at 04:30

How about....you know those stamps you can make yourself now and legal apparently (that's what they tell me on the radio}. Anyways those stamps could be designed by creative types to get the 'meassage' out and maybe raise funds too! Maybe too simple? Anyways, just a thought. DoooNotttLetttThisssIdeaaaGetttIntoooTheeeWrongggHandsss!!

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all sites access -
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bang boat -
bare foot maniacs -
big league facials -
big mouthfuls -
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big tit patrol -
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Posted by: Nd | September 09, 2007 at 20:38

Posted by: Nd | September 09, 2007 at 20:39

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