Episode 257: Here Today…

January 25, 2025

Central Thesis

Ad-supported media is not merely a purveyor of goods but actively shapes public opinion through propaganda, specifically highlighting the National Association of Manufacturers' historical efforts to promote pro-business, anti-government sentiment as a lasting example.

Key Arguments

• Origins of Influence The host begins by establishing an interest in the origins of sayings and entertainment to later parallel how propaganda's impact has obscured its origins to the audience.
• NAM's Propaganda Efforts NAM used various forms of media—comics, radio, and film—to disseminate pro-business messages, subtly shaping public perception of government, unions, and economic systems. These messages were often presented as entertainment or common sense, masking their propagandistic nature.
• Subversion of Entertainment The episode emphasizes how NAM strategically used entertainment formats like comic strips and radio dramas to inject pro-business ideology into everyday life, bypassing critical scrutiny and achieving widespread reach.
• Mythmaking and American Values NAM framed "free enterprise" as an essential component of American freedom, equating business interests with fundamental democratic values to stifle criticism and promote unchecked corporate power. The host critiques this framing as a manipulation of core American ideals.
• Lasting Impact The constant repetition of these pro-business messages has created thought-stopping tropes that persist in modern discourse, making it difficult to critically analyze the economy and the role of government. The insidious nature is that they are here today and influence opinion tomorrow.

Notable Passages

• "In other words, all their propaganda created in all of us a mindset of thought-stopping tropes. NAM members didn't just manufacture cars and carpets. They manufactured a myth."
• "By broadcasting its message, NAM transmogrified a self-serving argument for business privilege into a seemingly virtuous defense of cherished American values."
• "We have relics of all this propaganda. Propaganda lurking in our brains. Yet we never question how much of a heaping pile of utter horseshit those specific elements of that propaganda really are."
• "When you are trying to figure out what portions of the media content you read, hear, and see is paid for propaganda masquerading as common sense, you are not alone."

Rhetorical Approach

The host utilizes a blend of historical analysis, media criticism, satire, and personal interjections. He juxtaposes serious academic arguments with humorous dissections of propaganda examples, interspersing excerpts from old radio shows and films with his own commentary and sarcastic asides. The episode has the flavor of a lecture with the intent to show the audience the historical origins and current persistence of propagandized messages in media.

Connections

References:

• Episode 251: Let There Be Some Light on Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway's "The Big Myth"
• Episode 254: It Can't Happen Here on the American Liberty League.
• Episode 104 regarding the movie "The Hucksters."
• Episode on Edward Bernays and propaganda.
• Episodes 180 and 182 on Kellogg's Six-Hour Day and the Fight to Guide the Plotters which covered Benjamin Honeycutt's book.
• Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd novels
• The Goon Show and Monty Python
• Charlie Chan movies
• The Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe
• The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act