12 Quotes by Nancy Snow

The public's dilemma is to know how to consume the news with an ability to extract opinion from the simple facts and evidence... The best solution to the fact/opinion dilemma is to acquire more diverse information across the ideological and geological divide. If you find yourself relying on one source of information for the news, whether right or left, you are likely to be exposed to more opinion that reinforces rather than challenges your own.

Democracy cannot function or survive without a sufficient medium by which citizens remain informed and engaged in public policy debates.

Much of our media now are so image-rich and content-poor that they just serve to capture the eye, manipulate our emotions, and short-circuit our impulses. The propaganda and advertising industries therefore function increasingly like adult obedience industries. They instruct their audiences in how to feel and what to think, and increasing numbers of people seem to accept and follow the cues without question.

A civilian-based diplomacy supports noncommercial, nonprofit, and publicly-subsidized media to counteract the corporate-controlled, for-profit, private media that dominate political discourse; and works to place media control, ownership, and lobbying at the center of public policy debate.

Three important characteristics of propaganda are that ( l ) it is intentional and purposeful, designed to incite a particular reaction or action in the target audience; (2) it is advantageous to the propagandist or sender which is why advertising, public relations, and political campaigns are considered forms of propaganda; and (3) it is usually one-way and informational (as in a mass media campaign), as opposed to two-way and interactive communication.

The pursuit of truth, as a form of political action, is inherently disruptive, anti-authoritarian, and dangerous to those content with the way things are.

Historically, propaganda has always merged with recruitment because people must first be conditioned to become soldiers and fight strangers in distant lands. It's not a natural condition but must be manipulated to get people to join unpopular realities.

People have had it with all the annoyance and cost of going out when they can be in so much better control of what they see at home, and for cheaper. That means fewer and fewer want to put up with the hassle unless they know the movie will be outstanding. So they have higher standards and expectations.

Especially with young people, they want an immediate return on their investment.