Would Jimi Be Proud of what Abbie and Jane did ?
Propaganda …
It merely means ( or used to mean ) to promote in a positive way.
Advertising is propaganda. Political campaigns are propaganda.
It tends to force a decision with only two possible options.
It does attempt to sell happiness. Force an opinion. Speak the obvious.
Yet – not all positive (or negative for that matter) presentations are indeed propaganda.
In this time of making our language into something no one can agree on any meanings or truly understand each other, propaganda is now just evil in intent.
Positive messages were what propaganda was mainly about not very long ago.
Somewhere along the way it has been turned to define deception.
Sure, propaganda can be used for evil just as any tool or methodology.
On a certain major search engine, if you search for the definition, you get this:
PROPAGANDA
Noun
Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.The dissemination of such information as a political strategy.
Synonyms : publicity – propagation
Merriam-Webster gives a bit more meat on the bone –
PROPAGANDA
1 capitalized : a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary territories and related institutions
2 : the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
3 : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect
It appears propaganda can mean anything.
If we pay someone a complement, does that count as propaganda ???
These definitions are simply too simplistic and misleading on their own.
Could these definitions of propaganda be a form of propaganda ?
The irony is indeed delicious !
There is an interesting
study on …
SO – on this day in 1971, the communist operated radio station “Radio Hanoi” used the Woodstock performance from Jimi Hendrix on solo electric guitar of “The Star Spangled Banner” ….
To some, the Hendrix guitar solo is an inspiring and patriotic version of the tune, while others consider using an electric guitar to play a patriotic song equal to blasphemy – there doesn’t ever seem to be any other opinion out there.
Abbie Hoffman sent a tape of the guitar solo to Radio Hanoi to be played – so it can be only assumed the guitar solo “Star Spangled Banner” by Jimi Hendrix was considered an insult by Hoffman.
Who the heck was Abbie Hoffman you ask ?
He was the leader of the “Yippies” … He was one of the leaders of the violent protests at the 1968 Democrat National Convention in Chicago.
Hoffman was expelled from high school after jumping on and thrashing a teacher who tore up a paper Hoffman had turned in and called him “a communist punk”. Hoffman’s paper said “God could not possibly exist, for if he did, there wouldn’t be any suffering in the world.” An extremely skewed view.
Abbie Hoffman is also the guy that wanted to use psychic power to levitate the Pentagon to the point the building would turn orange in the air and when it began to vibrate the war would stop.
Abbie Hoffman graduated in 1959 with B.A. in psychology.
Hoffman was a student of the marxist theorist Herbert Marcuse. Hoffman said Marcuse had a profound effect on his political outlook. Hoffman often cited Marcuse’s marxist influence.
Hoffman admits to having “bad LSD trips” like when he tried to interrupt The Who performing onstage at Woodstock. These are just a very small number of examples.
So we can plainly see how skewed Abbie Hoffman’s view of reality was.
So it is only obvious that Abbie Hoffman saw Jimi Hendrix’s guitar solo and anti-American.
Did Jimi Hendrix mean the solo to be an insult and anti-American ?
We will probably never know for sure …
… since Hendrix left us just a few short months afterwards.
In MY humble opinion, it is quite inspiring and a positive contemporary rendition.
Regardless …
Abbie Hoffman sending a tape of the Jimi Hendrix guitar solo to Radio Hanoi …
… is an example of how …
… one person’s propaganda is another person’s propaganda.
( sorry – pun intended as an example of how our language is becoming more abused )
But there is a direct reference to propaganda on this same Radio Hanoi soon after –
On July 26, 1972, “American actress” Jane Fonda‘s voice was broadcast on communist North Vietnam Radio Hanoi in a message to South Vietnamese students:
“We have understood that we have a common enemy -– U.S. imperialism. We have understood that we have a common struggle and that your victory will be the victory of the American people and all peace-loving people around the world.”
“Recently in the United States we’ve been doing a lot of political propaganda work among the students and the soldiers with your Vietnamese comrades.”
– Jane Fonda on communist Radio Hanoi ( July 1972 )
This wasn’t Fonda’s only broadcast on Radio Hanoi. There were many …
Of course this message was directed toward the students in the non-communist held portion of Vietnam (at the time), because as Socrates said: “Youth is so easily deceived because it is so quick to embrace”.
Obviously, her use of the word “propaganda” in the phrase “political propaganda” was meant to be something positive … obviously. So then how can the word “propaganda” be seen as something negative and evil by communists / socialists / marxists / actors ?
The contemporary answer is “yes” …
Category: Tony Rollo Blog
