FDR, Karl Rove, Jack Valenti, and Hollywood

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FDR, Karl Rove, Jack Valenti, and Hollywood

Postby Hugh Manatee Wins » Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:54 pm

The open source history of Hollywood as an arm of the US government since WWII is so basic to understanding TV and movie psy-ops that I can't believe I'm getting called a "schizo paranoid conpiracy theorist" on THIS website of all sites that should know better.

Right after 9/11 Karl Rove held a pow-wow with Hollywood's honchos.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/11/08/rec.bush.hollywood/

White House sees Hollywood role in war on terrorism

November 8, 2001

From John King
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's top political strategist plans to meet with an array of entertainment executives Sunday to discuss the war on terrorism and ways that Hollywood stars and films might work in concert, in ways both formal and informal, with the administration's communications strategy.

The effort is spearheaded by senior Bush adviser Karl Rove and Jack Valenti, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, who attended a White House meeting earlier this week to lay the groundwork for the session.


The meeting is set for 11 a.m. local time at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. A final roster of attendees is not set, but an industry source said major studio executives and and network entertainment chiefs were invited along with "top tier" creative minds from Hollywood.

"This will be a summit-level group of people who make things happen -- a serious discussion," the industry source said, predicting about 40 people would join the discussions.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Thursday the meeting was organized by Sherry Lansing of Paramount and said CBS television, Viacom, Showtime, Dreamworks, HBO and MGM were a few of the companies expected to be represented.

Fleischer compared the Hollywood outreach to meetings that White House has held with other U.S. communities to shore up support for the U.S. action in Afghanistan, such as the disabled community and NASCAR.

"Across America every community is looking to pitch in, Hollywood included, and this White House is pleased" to be meeting with entertainment executives, Fleischer said.

One senior administration official familiar with the planning said Rove had a number of thoughts about how the entertainment industry could "be part of the spirit" in the country.

The official said Rove "anticipates the industry would be doing a lot of things on its own, but also sees an opportunity to do some things together."

Among the ideas that have come up in informal discussions: public service announcements saluting U.S. troops, or discussions of homeland security efforts here in the United States.

Another possibility is for prominent Arabs and Muslims to make statements reflecting the White House line that it is a war against terrorism, not Islam. Such "shorts" -- brief productions -- might be aired in movie theaters before feature films or provided to media outlets as public service announcements.

Rove also wants to give industry executives a general outline of a multifaceted campaign "because it is clear that the topics the president and the world are dealing with are topics the entertainment industry is going to deal with in its full spectrum of programs and other products," the official said.


This official said there was no effort to pressure the industry, but that as issues like homeland security, terrorism, and chemical and biological warfare are portrayed in entertainment and other media programming and products, "it is our hope that these issues are handled in a responsible manner and providing information on what we are up to and what we see as the challenges hopefully is something they will find useful."

Many Republicans were scathingly critical of former President Clinton's close ties to Hollywood and the entertainment industry's deep Democratic fund-raising reservoir.

But Rove has worked to have at least cordial if not better relations with many industry officials, and Valenti is a periodic visitor to the White House for briefings on major issues and initiatives. He was described as eager to help arrange Sunday's meeting in Los Angeles.

The industry source credited the president and Rove with building solid relations with the industry and said, "It is a relationship of respect. Clinton liked to mine us for money, but we have accomplished more with this administration than we ever did with Clinton."

"We don't expect them to ask 'Make movies glorifying the president or the troops' and that is not something we would be receptive to if they did ask," this source said. "But there is a high level of interest in being supportive and informative and these are the people who give things the green light and get projects moving along."

In addition to programs aimed at domestic audiences, this official said the discussion was almost certain to include "things that can be tailored for more of an international view, and also things for the Armed Forces networks so we can reach the troops overseas. ... This will be a solid brainstorming session."
CIA runs mainstream media since WWII:
news rooms, movies/TV, publishing
...
Disney is CIA for kidz!
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Postby orz » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:58 pm

The open source history of Hollywood as an arm of the US government since WWII is so basic to understanding TV and movie psy-ops that I can't believe I'm getting called a "schizo paranoid conpiracy theorist" on THIS website of all sites that should know better.

The fact that everyone here would agree that the mass media has been saturated in US gov propaganda since WWII, yet nobody agrees with your specific 'theories' on the matter should give you pause for thought.
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Postby Penguin » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:13 pm

Well, I for one agree somewhat. Like what I said about MacGuyver series - one of my favorite series - in another thread. Its chock full of stuff Hugh talks about - including keywords, but of course thats just one aspect of it, and Ive noticed this a long time ago. I see it in many present tv shows as well, movies.

Thou I think at times you Hugh go out on too little basis. Devil is in the details - and he gets to you if you squint too much for too long ;)

One example of mine would be the movie 300. I dont think anyone can deny it was a war propaganda movie, pure and simple. Plain male bonding and patriotic photogenic slaughter. With added bonus of Persia/Iran/sexual deviant/barbarians vs. the Beacon of Freedom Sparta. "HUAH! HUAH!"
And beautiful portrayals of male bodies - at the same time disparaging homosexuals - permitting bonding only thru shared violence.

I think its most important to try to be calm and friendly towards each other in discussions here. We dont need to push agendas on each other - were here to communicate. And communication is only possible between equals.
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Postby orz » Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:17 am

One example of mine would be the movie 300. I dont think anyone can deny it was a war propaganda movie, pure and simple.

Totally, but the propagandistic aspects of that movie are overt and can be explained without having to resort to untenable theories about CIA control over every movie down to the level of individual words in the script, names of the actors and composition of the poster.
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Postby Penguin » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:37 am

Yes. I know this, and agree. But there are plenty of examples of perfectly genuine uses of Hughs suggested keyword hijacking as well (just take a look at MacGuyver we discussed with Hugh). I just think Hugh sees it also where there is none, and sometimes pushes it on other people - but that happens to the best of us. I hope you Hugh can give yourself some slack - I know Ive had tendencies of compulsiveness at times regarding ideas.

Its better to hold only fluid beliefs, that you are not emotionally attached to defending. Ideas are just memes replicating in your mind - both for good and for bad. Sometimes harmful memetic material can infect healthy memes as well in an individual.

Besides, no method of those used in TV series and movies is foolproof. Some people piece the things together even unconsciously, in others something causes them to start noticing the overt and covert memes planted in seemigly innocuous things. Overt methods are mostly effective against people who arent very critical or highly educated in the function of their minds. Overt propaganda does not work well at all against people who are on the lookout for it.

Covert propaganda is more effective against a wider audience. When covertly inserted memes slip past the minds censor/analyzers, theyre digested as normal material, with no defining flags attached for analyzing the goals of the meme. They get associated with existing material and combined into memory patterns. Afterwards their use is automatic when associative memory pulls out references to something you are experiencing at the moment. Covert influence is most effective when its kept at a level that escapes the notice of most people, and when its as pervasive as possible. Associative networks are greatly stregthened by repetition in differing contexts. It is enough to plant single cell memes of a negative thing in a positive context to cause the associative memory to link to a positive feeling when the meme trigger is seen in some other context.

Just my two wooden pennies.

"Communication is only possible between equals" - the resonant frequencies of the mind must be at the same level for entrainment and exchange to happen effectively. I can sometimes be condescending without noticing it - and speak in a righteous tone. I must work on this.
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Postby brainpanhandler » Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:36 am

orz wrote:
The open source history of Hollywood as an arm of the US government since WWII is so basic to understanding TV and movie psy-ops that I can't believe I'm getting called a "schizo paranoid conpiracy theorist" on THIS website of all sites that should know better.

The fact that everyone here would agree that the mass media has been saturated in US gov propaganda since WWII, yet nobody agrees with your specific 'theories' on the matter should give you pause for thought.


For God's sake... This is a perfect example of how so much of the misunderstanding and failed communication on this board takes place.

Hugh sets up a strawman, ~" Hollywood is not an arm of the USG". (Who the hell says/said that?)

Orz rightly points out "the fact that everyone here would agree that the mass media has been saturated in US gov propaganda since WWII" and should have finished with "yet not very many agree with your specific 'theories' on the matter should give you pause for thought."
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr.
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Postby orz » Sun Mar 09, 2008 4:42 pm

Yeah, but it's wishful thinking, it hurts my brain to believe that some people do agree with him so I'm rhetorically discounting them. :)
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Postby Hugh Manatee Wins » Sat Aug 08, 2009 3:44 pm

The skeptical assertion that 'psyops is only really coarse obvious stuff so why would this subtle word game strategy be used' fails to take into account that-

People come in many cognitive sizes, styles, and capabilities.
Children, adults. Very different. See 'Piaget' just for starters on developmental stages of a child's mind on the way to adult functioning.

And even among adults there are vast neurological differences.
Some people don't get metaphor. They just don't. They need psyops to be obvious.

But the educated Left, which is heavily represented in the middle-class management demographic and is 'dangerously war-averse,' does get metaphor. In fact, too well, to the point of distracting diffusion resulting in lack of focus, the flip-side of the coin of literalism vs allegory.

Persuasion theory has for decades recognized the value of insinuation combined with assertion to 'get the best of both worlds' to synthesize as a sum greater than the parts.

So psyops has to be multi-functional and layered to reach the cognitive variations in the audience. CIA-Disney is designed for both children and their typically young adult parents.

Psyops is most effective when it is subliminal, when it avoids the front desk subjective perception filters and instead comes in the back door unfiltered and unnoticed. Entertainment scripts are perfect for this function. After all, 'it's just a show.'

See-
Hovland and Mandell (1952)
Fine (1957)

See-
"non-explicit conclusion" in advertising, which is the same as subliminal psyops.

See-
'Persuasive Effects of Open-ended vs. Closed-ended Advertising Messages and Level of Consumer Involvement'
CIA runs mainstream media since WWII:
news rooms, movies/TV, publishing
...
Disney is CIA for kidz!
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Re: FDR, Karl Rove, Jack Valenti, and Hollywood

Postby MinM » Tue Jul 19, 2016 8:57 am

Sunday, July 17, 2016
Newly released documents on Jack Valenti
See - http://www.spyculture.com/cia-state-dep ... k-valenti/

Image

Recently released documents on former White House consultant and MPAA capo Jack Valenti strongly suggest that his appointment as president of the MPAA in some way involved the CIA. The new documents on Valenti come from the CIA and the State Department. Though they are tiny fragments in themselves the details they do contain are eye-opening. Valenti was a State Department consultant with a Top Secret clearance in the early months of taking over at the MPAA. At the same the CIA were interested in Valenti ‘in connection with certain sensitive matters’.

The State Department Document on Valenti

Released to The Black Vault under FOIA, the only State Department record on Valenti that they were willing to provide is a 2-page FBI airtel relating to investigations into Valenti done by the State Department’s Office of Security. This airtel does not appear in the FBI release on Valenti. It says:

The files of the Office of Security (SY) Department of State, reviewed by Special Agent (redacted) on October 11, 1974, disclose that on 5/5/66 the appointee was under consideration for appointment as a Consultant to the Secretary of State; SY in May 1966 reviewed his personnel and security files at the White House and utilized a previous full field investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
SY granted him Final Clearance for Top Secret on 5/25/66 as a Consultant, valid for 180 days only, unless appointed in the meantime: SY again granted him Final Clearance for Top Secret on 5/31/67 as a Member of the Board of Foreign Scholarships.

It was announced in April 1966 that Valenti would be leaving his White House position to take up the vacant job as head of the MPAA, so why was he simultaneously being granted a Top Secret security clearance? Valenti began his new job in June so he was a consultant to the State Department in the early months of his new job at the MPAA.

The CIA Document on Valenti

While this was going on the CIA’s Office of Personnel Security sent a memo to Marvin Watson, a special assistant to President Johnson. They requested a copy of the FBI’s investigation of Valenti (complete with rumours that he was secretly homosexual and a pervert) on the grounds that:

Subject is of interest to this Division. He is not being considered for staff employment but rather is of interest in connection with certain sensitive matters in which the Agency is involved.

Naturally, this could mean anything. But the date is significant – after Valenti’s new job at the MPAA had been announced but before he took up the role. This cannot be related to his role at the State Department because they had reviewed the FBI’s investigation for themselves. Given that Valenti’s predecessor Eric Johnston was some kind of CIA asset, was this CIA request made because Valenti was being considered for recruitment by the Agency? Was this because CIA director Richard Helms planned to approach Valenti, as he subsequently did? Did they want dirt on Valenti for possible blackmail purposes?

While not conclusive, these new documents add yet more weight to the contention that Valenti was not just friendly to the government but was an active CIA asset in Hollywood.

Documents
US State Department – FBI airtel on State Department investigations into Valenti, October 11th 1974
CIA – Memo to Marvin Watson re Valenti, May 17th 1966
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