Althouse: "Things like chanting 'death to America,' burning effigies of Uncle Sam and painting murals of Lady Liberty with a skull as a face lost their impact long ago..."

August 27, 2017

"Things like chanting 'death to America,' burning effigies of Uncle Sam and painting murals of Lady Liberty with a skull as a face lost their impact long ago..."

"... particularly among younger Iranians. Forced to adapt or fizzle out, Iran’s propaganda machine has sought to embrace the latest trends and technologies to try to tailor messages to the sensibilities of a new generation."

The NYT examines Iran's new propaganda.

Example:

Sample line: "Silence is for statues." (Man, everybody hates statues.)

And look at this:

I got chills when he caught the flag at 4:40, so I'm judging this video to be very effective.

63 comments:

Curious George said...: Good thing Obama kept these goatherds from getting the bomb.; 8/27/17, 8:47 AM
n.n said...: Fire, statues, and resist... transnational themes.; 8/27/17, 8:50 AM
rhhardin said...: No virgins for you.; 8/27/17, 8:53 AM
Virgil Hilts said...: How the hell did they get Mark Wahlberg to agree to do this?; 8/27/17, 9:00 AM
gilbar said...: Good thing Carter kicked out their Shah!; 8/27/17, 9:24 AM
Greg Hlatky said...: Is Iran taking advice from Antifa?; 8/27/17, 9:30 AM
MadisonMan said...: Man, everybody hates statues

For good reason. Don't Blink!

(Really, that's of the best episodes ever); 8/27/17, 9:32 AM
Narayanan said...: Remember ... Reagan came after and made it better with Iran-Contra??!!!

Obama was more Reagan than Reagan - who ran away from Lebanon after the Marines were bombed.

American political class botchery is world class.

People of course pay the price with their lives for this stupidity.; 8/27/17, 9:35 AM
chickelit said...: Now what about those "peaceful" threats to annihilate Israel, Althouse? You are a sucker for propaganda. You may have gotten the chills from the man catching the Iranian flag, but I got the chills hearing the women ululate -- that's the same mating call of death that Middle Eastern women make when their men are slaughtering infidels.; 8/27/17, 9:42 AM
The Godfather said...: So Iran gave up its nuclear program because they have flags, is that it?; 8/27/17, 9:51 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: Iran is aging fast, which may solve a lot of problems in time.; 8/27/17, 9:57 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Bring back the Shah; 8/27/17, 10:09 AM
Mary Beth said...: Where are the tumblr posts complaining about the lack of diversity in their videos?; 8/27/17, 10:13 AM
William said...: Michael Collins, the IRA revolutionary, refused to play soccer because he considered it to be a British garrison sport, I was saddened to see the young boys of Iran at play with the sport of imperialists. How much better if the children were shown to be having fun in a rousing game of kick the goat head. Iran must embrace its true heritage. The ways of the imperialist are subtle and insidious. They must be destroyed, root and branch......,.I also noticed that while the women wore modest, traditional garb, many of the men wore modern, western clothing. That must be stopped. If you wish to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet, you must travel in his sandals. You are not grounded in the true Islamic faith, if you're wearing Nikes. Back to basics.; 8/27/17, 10:16 AM
David Begley said...: I wonder if Ben Rhodes has seen this?; 8/27/17, 10:19 AM
Michael K said...: I saw videos from Iran in 2009 that were much more impressive.; 8/27/17, 10:21 AM
CJ said...: Their culture seems completely alien to me. The French national anthem, the Russian, the English all give me chills, but This plays like Baghdad Bob.; 8/27/17, 10:21 AM
CJ said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/27/17, 10:22 AM
CJ said...: Ben Rhodes probably produced it and Fusion GPS funded it.; 8/27/17, 10:23 AM
MD Greene said...: Propaganda promoting "peaceful nuclear power," armed occupation of the Persian Gulf, the fantasy that Iran stays out of other countries' affairs, and paranoia about American aggression are all fine and good, I guess. But none of it articulates a national purpose.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.; 8/27/17, 10:26 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "Is Iran taking advice from Antifa?"

Well, I dunno. "Things like chanting 'death to America,' burning effigies of Uncle Sam and painting murals of Lady Liberty with a skull as a face" are still pretty popular among the Antifa.

Iranian young people do in fact have a legitimate gripe against the US. In 2009, when they bravely protested the election results, Obama ignored pleas for help from those opposed to the Iranian government. The opposition was brutally repressed.; 8/27/17, 10:30 AM
gspencer said...: "Iranian young people do in fact have a legitimate gripe against the US. In 2009, when they bravely protested . . ."

Maybe that should have an edit, "Iranian young people do in fact have a legitimate gripe against the Democrat Party. In 2009, when they bravely protested . . ."; 8/27/17, 10:36 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/27/17, 10:36 AM
DanTheMan said...: I would me much more concerned if the Iranians were recruiting transgendered soldiers, drastically stepping up their diversity and inclusion training, and had their generals focused on combatting race privilege.

These are the keys to building an effective military.; 8/27/17, 10:41 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: Zero chills. State of the art production values - quite slick. But no chills. I'll reserve that horror for Iranian teenagers being jerked off their feet and hung for the "sin" of being homosexual in today's Iran.; 8/27/17, 10:56 AM
Michael K said...: "Obama threw under the bus, because he was more interested in kissing the asses of the mullahs."

I still don't understand that, I assume he thought he could woo the mullahs away from their radical plans but why would he think so?

I suspect Jarrett sang him a song about how they were just misunderstood.

It just seemed to be going against all logic. Maybe he was just the empty suit I suspected in 2008; 8/27/17, 10:59 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: I deleted my second comment (which is the one Michael K. responded to) because it basically repeated my first one. Every so often on this site, comments don't immediately post, so people repost them or write another one saying essentially the same thing. Then you come back to the thread and see both comments are up.

It's a minor glitch but appears to be fixed now.; 8/27/17, 11:28 AM
Jupiter said...: Michael K said...

"I assume he thought he could woo the mullahs away from their radical plans but why would he think so?"

I suspect that like a lot of Lefties, Obama actually drank the Kool-Aid. He really *believed* that evil was something white men had brought into the World, and other cultures, which are naturally peace-loving and good, would respond favorably to his assurances that he wasn't going to let the bad white men hurt them any more. It's our fault, Michael. Once we're gone, and those pesky Israelis, the vibrant Sun Peoples will all live happily ever after. Not sure where the Chinese fit in all this. Perhaps Obama could explain.

Anyway, Obama paid for that video, with American tax dollars.; 8/27/17, 11:36 AM
Michael K said...: "It's a minor glitch but appears to be fixed now."

I thin she had moderation on for a while.; 8/27/17, 11:58 AM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: It's interesting that Ahmadinejad reportedly got into trouble with the Mullahs because he wanted to emphasize Persian history and pre-revolutionary Iranian figures and events. And he wanted less of a role of the clerics in politics. Khamenei and the clergy would not allow that.

In this video it looks like we can see more of a nationalist and Persian message and symbols, ideas/symbols not connected to the revolution. It's defending Iran and Persia and not the revolution and Islam. Appeals to nationalism NOT Islam.

Reports are that the Iranian people, especially the young generation, are enormously proud of their nuclear program and achievements. This is directed at them.; 8/27/17, 11:59 AM
Wince said...: Auto-tune devices should be added to the list of banned technologies subject to sanctions.

Auto-Tune is an audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies which uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances.; 8/27/17, 12:11 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Islamist Iran is a Potemkin propaganda state. Sure, they can get up to the usual guerilla mischief, but as far as projecting real power goes they have all the reach of an 18th century Zulu kingdom. Nuclear weapons or not, it's a house of cards.; 8/27/17, 12:38 PM
Achilles said...: The average leftist thinks I am more of an enemy than the people in these videos. Hillary is proud to call us enemies.

The average leftist believes in freedom about as much as these people.; 8/27/17, 12:53 PM
bagoh20 said...: That's how you get your people killed. Tell them they are invincible.

Wouldn't your first question be "Why are the American forces attacking my peaceful village?"

It might have something to do with the people behind the propaganda aimed at making you willing to get killed.; 8/27/17, 1:07 PM
SukieTawdry said...: Is it the contention in the second video that Allah will drown the advancing American warships much as Jehovah drowned Pharaoh's army in pursuit of retreating Jews?

In the early aughts, I regularly read several Iranian blogs for a while. It was my impression that while young Iranians wanted more personal autonomy and fewer dictates from the Mullahs, they did quite sincerely believe that Persians are the natural leaders of the Mideast and there was no reason why they shouldn't have The Bomb.

Mary Beth said...Where are the tumblr posts complaining about the lack of diversity in their videos?

You will note that the hero of the second video is quite "western-looking" (he's also very handsome and appealing). This is a phenomenon I noted when I was in China. All the Chinese featured on billboards, in magazine ads, on television as news presenters and in ads were very light-skinned and had round eyes. Such apparently sells.; 8/27/17, 1:09 PM
Jupiter said...: bagoh20 said...
Wouldn't your first question be "Why are the American forces attacking my peaceful village?"

"It might have something to do with the people behind the propaganda aimed at making you willing to get killed."

Hmmmmm.... You mean, my first question, when those planes flew into the Twin Towers, should have been, "What horrible thing have we done, that these peaceful Muslims feel they must attack us?"; 8/27/17, 1:18 PM
SukieTawdry said...: bagoh20 said...Wouldn't your first question be "Why are the American forces attacking my peaceful village?"

There appears to be a power plant or refinery in the background. Maybe that's what we were after.

EDH said...Auto-tune devices should be added to the list of banned technologies subject to sanctions.

There are auto-tune blockers available. The one I use blocks HTML.5 autoplay. Which means it doesn't block all auto-play, but it did block both of these.; 8/27/17, 1:19 PM
Fernandinande said...: SukieTawdry said...
There are auto-tune blockers available.

It's "auto-tune", which is music software, not "auto-play".; 8/27/17, 1:29 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Sukie,

In the early aughts, I regularly read several Iranian blogs for a while. It was my impression that while young Iranians wanted more personal autonomy and fewer dictates from the Mullahs, they did quite sincerely believe that Persians are the natural leaders of the Mideast and there was no reason why they shouldn't have The Bomb.

Oh, yes, they ruled the ancient Mideast for many centuries & see no reason why they shouldn't do so now. They also see the Arabs as, to use a polite sobriquet, "Sand N****rs", a fact that the Arabs know well & explains their mutual loathing.

It will be a glorious day when the Iranian people rid themselves of Khomeinism. It is a complete aberration in their history & has done irreparable harm to the spirit of Shia Islam. Assuming of course, it doesn't get replaced by something worse. On the other side of Khomeinism probably lies some Iranian variant of Fascism, like the Ba'athist regimes in the Arab world. Sadly, that sort of soft spot for nationalist Fascisms is in the Persian character, too.; 8/27/17, 1:31 PM
William said...: This demonstrates that the Iranians are capable of making music that is more annoying than rap. That's a major technological breakthrough right there.....The production values were sleek but the destruction of the American fleet demonstrated nowhere near the special effects you see in Marvel movies. I'd like to see Hollywood green screen the Hulk taking a dump on these assholes.; 8/27/17, 1:34 PM
YoungHegelian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/27/17, 1:42 PM
YoungHegelian said...: The downing of Iran Air 655 by a missile from the USS Vincennes in 1988 absolutely stunned & horrified Iran. There is a certain mentality in the world that believes that the US, like Satan, always accomplishes their evil plans, & they don't make mistakes. As such, the US Navy didn't, like every other military in history, fuck up in a big way. It was an intentional act to murder innocent civilians.

What stunned the Iranians even more, is that the world didn't seem to give a shit. No condemnations at the UN. No call for a war crimes investigation. Nothing. They saw themselves as alone in the world in a big way.

Apparently, that realization that absolutely no one had their backs led them to seek peace to end the Iran/Iraq War. The I/I War, although not covered much here, had, in terms of number of troops fielded, the largest land battles since WWII & it featured every atrocity you can name. If the deaths of the passengers IA 655 ended that awful war, they did not die in vain.; 8/27/17, 1:58 PM
Jupiter said...: So, what's with the dark-skinned kid, and the single dark-skinned man? They don't look negroid, more like Egyptians, but I am surprised to see them in a "Persian" propaganda video. Do the Iranians have token Negroes? More like token Kurds, or Baluchis, I would think.

I don't believe that is a very effective video. No babes. I suppose it's possible that young Iranian men prefer 72 virgins in Heaven to a half-dozen bikini-clads on the beach, but if so, it's not because the latter possibility has never occurred to them. They've got the internet, just like the rest of us.; 8/27/17, 2:15 PM
Steve said...: I assume that young, hip Iranians think of these videos about the same way that folks in the US feel about God Bless the USA!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEDdAI_soPM

Lee Greenwood and the guy catching the flag could tour together in The Good Faith Tour(TM) celebrating our two countries and Christianity and Islam.

Peace in our time.; 8/27/17, 2:20 PM
mockturtle said...: I don't know why we can't just leave these ME countries alone to fight each other as they see fit. There are no hearts and minds to be won there by pro-'democracy' interlopers. Were I in their shoes, I would be Anti-American, too. Oh, sure, the argument is that Russia will step into the vacuum if we vacate. If they are stupid enough to return to the quagmire that is Afghanistan, then let them.; 8/27/17, 2:34 PM
Michael K said...: " If they are stupid enough to return to the quagmire that is Afghanistan, then let them."

I agree. I would vert carefully plot target coordinates for future use and leave them to kill each other.

The Pakistanis are the problem.

I've been wondering with this weird DNC IT thing if the ISI has been running our foreign policy the past 8 years.; 8/27/17, 2:38 PM
Narayanan said...: After we leave, We would have to sever ties with Europe as they will be feeding weapons to the terrorist states.; 8/27/17, 3:27 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Every bit of technology in that video was engineered in the West. It's a monkey-see-monkey-do culture.; 8/27/17, 3:31 PM
Narayanan said...: Ba'ath is translated as rebirth or make my country great again .. US is in that mode right now.
Choice of political system can devolve into statist variant... Or hopefully individualist.?; 8/27/17, 3:41 PM
Jupiter said...: mockturtle said...
"I don't know why we can't just leave these ME countries alone to fight each other as they see fit. There are no hearts and minds to be won there by pro-'democracy' interlopers. Were I in their shoes, I would be Anti-American, too. Oh, sure, the argument is that Russia will step into the vacuum if we vacate. If they are stupid enough to return to the quagmire that is Afghanistan, then let them."

I have to agree, except .... doesn't that boil down to going back to what we were doing in 2001? You recall how that turned out. Unless we are planning to nuke Tel Aviv for them, "leave them to fight each other" is a very optimistic assessment. But yeah, given the short list of things that might work, which we are not going to do because "That's not who we are", bugging out may well be the best option. Let India worry about the Pakis. God knows, if I were India, I would be worried about the Pakis.; 8/27/17, 4:04 PM
bagoh20 said...: "Hmmmmm.... You mean, my first question, when those planes flew into the Twin Towers, should have been, "What horrible thing have we done, that these peaceful Muslims feel they must attack us?"

I believe that WAS our first question. Honestly, wasn't it yours? Isn't it always the first question when you are attacked? Why are you doing this? Of course, the Muslims were not peaceful, and the same could be said of us from their perspective.

The answer may be similar for both sides, but if my nation picked a fight with one that could easily destroy us, I'd be a little angry at my own leaders too. Propaganda is designed to get you to do things or support action that you would not if you considered it thoughtfully.

The 9/11 murderers may have had a valid motivation from their point of view, but I don't think it paid off in the end. Nearly everyone associated with it is dead, or in prison, as well as thousands of their comrades and families.; 8/27/17, 4:14 PM
Jupiter said...: "I believe that WAS our first question. Honestly, wasn't it yours?"

It was certainly the first - and last - question asked by the American Left. As I recall, it was a couple weeks before I calmed down enough to give it much thought. Then I determined that Osama Bin Laden had attacked us because he didn't like the fact that the corrupt monarchy that had made his father wealthy beyond calculation had hired out its defense to Christians. In short, they did it because they are Muslims, and when Muslims can't get along, they kill some Christians. Jews work, too. Hell, if all they can find to kill is other Muslims, they'll do. Anyone can be a kaffir if you check the right hadith.

And while it is true that they all got killed, remember, they regard that as a feature, not a bug.; 8/27/17, 4:36 PM
The Godfather said...: My first question after 9/11 was Who the Hell ARE these people? Al Qaeda (sp?) -- never heard of them. It wasn't long before I started hearing some whining weiners asking What did we do to provoke them, and I thought of my best friend's widow who worked in the World Trade Center but happened to take that day off. What did SHE and thousands like her do to provoke some rich sheikh and his goons?

Don't tell me about how there's collateral damage in legitimate military operations. The World Trade Center was not a legitimate military target. It was a terrorist target. We can't afford to lose sight of the distinction.; 8/27/17, 4:58 PM
bagoh20 said...: Americans haven't really been in that position since the Revolution, where they had to stand up to a vastly superior force with success seriously in doubt. The founders took a huge risk, and being wealthy and easy-to-find men, it was pretty ballsy, not blow- yourself-up ballsy, but I-want-to-live-and-I-still-risk-it-all ballsy.

Let's say we were overrun by Antifa types, and unable to stop them, resulting in them taking power and destroying our freedoms and Constitution, and also threatening our neighboring nations and committing atrocities. How would we feel about the powerful foreign nation of Feedonia invading us to free us of them, even if they had to blow up a lot of stuff and kill innocents. Knowing Freedonia's history, we could assume that they would give us our independence once the NAZIs were eradicated. Would we welcome and help them, or maybe support the NAZI's because at least they were Americans? I assume we would be split on that as a people. I hope and think I would support the invading Freedonian forces, opting for values over blood, but it's not at all clear depending on what the invading forces did to free us and how careless they were about it. Has anyone ever written a novel with that premise? Basically America in the Iraq role.; 8/27/17, 5:05 PM
bagoh20 said...: I mixed up Antifa and NAZIs. An easy mistake if you think about it.; 8/27/17, 5:08 PM
Darrell said...: Not a good idea to turn off a transponder in a civilian aircraft and buzz warships.; 8/27/17, 5:11 PM
mockturtle said...: I mixed up Antifa and NAZIs. An easy mistake if you think about it.

Yep. Same thing. They've copied the Brownshirts' manual page for page.; 8/27/17, 6:12 PM
FIDO said...: So they are counting on Songs, Flags and Allah do defend them.

Sounds like a winning plan. Then again, it worked against the Mongols; 8/27/17, 8:36 PM
Big Mike said...: Things like chanting “death to America,” burning effigies of Uncle Sam and painting murals of Lady Liberty with a skull as a face ...

Oh, they were writing about Iran and not about Berkeley rioters. Fooled me there for a moment.; 8/27/17, 9:07 PM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: Big Mike said...
Things like chanting “death to America,” burning effigies of Uncle Sam and painting murals of Lady Liberty with a skull as a face ...

Oh, they were writing about Iran and not about Berkeley rioters. Fooled me there for a moment.

8/27/17, 9:07 PM

Yeah, when I read that intro I thought, Here's an article about democrats.; 8/27/17, 11:03 PM
Skyler said...: Pretty good propaganda.

However, there are a lot of very fine people in Iran. We just haven't killed enough of the other kind yet. There will be no other way.

My only regret in my career in the Marine Corps is that my entire purpose for joining, which was to invade Iran and punish them and hopefully allow them to prosper in freedom, was not realized until before I retired. I think the current generation doesn't have the same intensity of hatred for the Ayatolloh that was once assumed.; 8/27/17, 11:27 PM
Rusty said...: The Ayatollahs have a 25 year plan for the elimination of Israel.
Thanks Obama.
Putz.; 8/28/17, 6:13 AM
Richard said...: The lawyerphobia in me screams, "Dad, pad that tree!"; 8/28/17, 5:00 PM