We are surrounded by propaganda. 'propaganda' is a politically-charged term that scares a lot of people, but it can be for good,
in which case many'd hesitate to denote it as such: examples include anti-speeding billboards, warning labels on cigarette packaging.
These show that 'propaganda' can be a force for good. However, more sinister and subversive forms are hidden in plain sight,
through media consumed by millions every day. It doesn't take a historian to know that the U.S. Military has influenced Hollywood
for decades now: a clear violation of the 1st amendment, as pro-war messages are inserted into scripts, and uncomfortable
realities censored. In exchange for access to military facilities and equipment, a studio must allow modifications to be made,
which is used to paint a positive picture of U.S. Military and its actions, removing any truths that it regards inconvenient.
It's obvious that 'free speech' in the USA doesn't exist, when whistleblowers like Snowden and Assange are chased around the world and,
in the case of the latter, imprisoned for life. All for the heinous, unforgivable crime of 'leaking' state secrets which revealed the
extent of the atrocities willingly perpetuated by the American war-machine.
It's easy to see who profits: the state which transfers valuable resources from occupied territories (by various justification,
the U.S. allowed the harvest of opium in Afghanistan to continue during its occupation, a trade which in 2021 represented 7500 tons
worth $2.7 Billion USD), and corporations which recieve large sums to manufacture military equipment and explosives (Lockheed Martin,
Boeing, Raytheon to name a few). War profiteering is not limited to contractors: the invasion of Iraq allowed Shell to continue siphoning billions worth in petroleum.
As with industry as a wider whole, the U.S. as a nation rarely gets 'wealthier' — only its financial and political elite do.
This is why, though propaganda in films such as Top Gun and Marvel's Captain America franchise, the government sells a
distorted, glorified narrative in which its organs of violence are represented heroically: to sell the public war, gain popular support
for foreign intervention and extend its global influence.
The american dream of freedom of entreprise, equality of opportunity and liberty was sold out long ago by crooked and dishonest
politicians who only ever mislead the american public, demanding more young men to be sacrificed on the altar of eternal violence.
« State is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters.
Coldly it lies; and this lie slips from its mouth: 'I, the state, am the people'. »
- Friedrich Nietzche
