{"id":64311,"date":"2021-05-08T17:30:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T21:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=64311"},"modified":"2021-05-08T17:30:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-08T21:30:18","slug":"professor-dissects-massive-msm-covid-propaganda-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=64311","title":{"rendered":"Professor Dissects Massive MSM Covid Propaganda Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Academic Exposes Media Propaganda<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola<\/p>\n<div id=\"bcr_UpdPnlStory\">\n<div id=\"bcr_pnlStoryAtAGlance\" class=\"story-glance\" data-swiftype-name=\"saag\" data-swiftype-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"story-highlights\">\n<h3 id=\"expanderHead\" data-jsid=\"expanderHead\">STORY AT-A-GLANCE<\/h3>\n<div id=\"expanderContent\" data-jsid=\"expanderContent\">\n<ul>\n<li><span id=\"bcr_rptStory_cslStory_0\">Professor Mark Crispin Miller has taught classes on mass persuasion and propaganda at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development for the last two decades<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span id=\"bcr_rptStory_cslStory_1\">After challenging students to investigate current propaganda narratives surrounding mask mandates, Miller was placed under conduct review for spreading \u201cdangerous misinformation\u201d \u2014 one of three key propaganda strategies used to suppress academic and scientific inquiry<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span id=\"bcr_rptStory_cslStory_2\">Miller recently sued 19 of his department colleagues for libel after they signed a letter to the school dean demanding a review of Miller\u2019s conduct<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span id=\"bcr_rptStory_cslStory_3\">Miller says his colleagues falsely accused him of \u201cexplicit hate speech,\u201d \u201cmounting attacks on students,\u201d \u201cadvocating for an unsafe learning environment,\u201d \u201caggressions\u201d and discouraging his students from wearing masks<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span id=\"bcr_rptStory_cslStory_4\">Miller\u2019s case goes beyond mere freedom of speech. It goes into the issue of freedom of inquiry itself \u2014 the freedom to ask questions and ponder an issue from multiple angles<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"bodytext\" class=\"bodytextdiv\" data-swiftype-name=\"postbody\" data-swiftype-type=\"text\">\n<p>In the video above, James Corbett of The Corbett Report interviews<sup><span id=\"edn1\" data-hash=\"#ednref1\">1<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0professor Mark Crispin Miller about mass persuasion and propaganda \u2014 topics he\u2019s been teaching at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development for the last two decades \u2014 and the current state of free speech.<\/p>\n<p>Miller recently sued 19 of his department colleagues for libel after they signed a letter to the school dean demanding a review of Miller\u2019s conduct. He points out that his course on propaganda is not focused on historical examples of mass persuasion but, rather, teaches his students to recognize and resist propaganda in real or recent times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis can be quite challenging,\u201d he says. It\u2019s rather easy to identify examples of propaganda that you do not agree with. It\u2019s much more difficult when it\u2019s something you care about, agree with or believe in; when it pushes your buttons. It requires you to detach, to take a bird\u2019s-eye view and develop impartiality. You have to \u201cmake an attempt to think about it, critically,\u201d Miller explains, and to look at both sides of the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, as noted by Miller, getting the other side of the story is now becoming increasingly difficult, thanks to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/articles.mercola.com\/sites\/articles\/archive\/2021\/04\/28\/twitter-censors-peer-reviewed-mask-study.aspx\">Big Tech censorship<\/a>, which oftentimes filters out or blocks all but one viewpoint.<\/p>\n<h2>Identifying COVID Propaganda<\/h2>\n<p>At the beginning of this last semester, Miller suggested his students take a deep dive into the current propaganda narratives at work. He pointed out that the COVID-19 crisis, which justified distance learning, self-isolation and separation from family and friends, was driven by very powerful propaganda narratives.<\/p>\n<p>He stresses that he\u2019s not saying the COVID-19 pandemic is a fraud or that the narratives are false \u2014 propaganda can be factually accurate \u2014 only that propaganda tends to be one-sided. It offers just one, nearly always biased, side of the story. Miller offered up the example of mask mandates. Previous randomized studies show that masks are ineffective as barriers against respiratory viruses such as influenza.<\/p>\n<p>He instructed his students to read those papers, as well as more recent studies that might suggest there\u2019s some benefit. He also instructed them to analyze potential conflicts of interest that might have influenced the findings, such as funding by Big Pharma or the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/articles.mercola.com\/sites\/articles\/archive\/2020\/04\/21\/bill-gates-political-power.aspx\">Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation<\/a>. He also warned them that when using\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/articles.mercola.com\/sites\/articles\/archive\/2019\/06\/24\/google-latest-algorithm-update-buries-mercola.aspx\">Google search<\/a>, biased articles will typically show up first, \u201cas Google owns two pharmaceutical companies,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n<h2>Cancel-Culture Strikes<\/h2>\n<p>As it turns out, one student asked to join his class late, which he accepted. Having missed these preliminary instructions and discussions about how to identify and study propaganda, the late-entry student took to Twitter to complain about the assignment to investigate mask narratives and demanded Miller be fired.<\/p>\n<p>The department chair, without consulting with Miller, responded to the student\u2019s tweet, saying the department would prioritize the matter and take steps to address it. The next day, the doctor who advises the NYU on its \u201cinsanely draconian COVID rules\u201d and the dean emailed Miller\u2019s students, without copying him on the correspondence, saying he had given them \u201cdangerous misinformation\u201d about masking.<\/p>\n<p>Next, they demanded he cancel his propaganda course for the following semester. \u201cI had no choice but to do that,\u201d Miller says, \u201cbut I told them I\u2019m doing it under protest.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"productad\">\n<div class=\"label\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Petition for Academic Freedom<\/h2>\n<p>If this scenario strikes you as typical of the kind of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/articles.mercola.com\/sites\/articles\/archive\/2021\/03\/05\/web-elite-extremists-behind-censorship-of-mercola.aspx\">intellectual and scientific censorship<\/a>\u00a0we\u2019ve seen all around the world over the past year, you\u2019re not alone. Miller recognized it too, and created an academic freedom petition,<sup><span id=\"edn2\" data-hash=\"#ednref2\">2<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0which at the time of this writing has been signed by nearly 36,000 people.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cAll it asks is that NYU respect my academic freedom and set a good example for other schools,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Miller says<em>. \u201cBut I did it in the name of all professors, all journalists, all scientists, all doctors, activists and whistleblowers who have been gagged or punished for their dissidence, not just last year, but really, for decades.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Review of Conduct<\/h2>\n<p>A month later, Miller received a letter from the dean, listing a number of accusations raised by 25 of his department colleagues, including \u201cexplicit hate speech,\u201d \u201cmounting attacks on students and others\u201d in the community, \u201cadvocating for an unsafe learning environment,\u201d \u201caggressions,\u201d \u201cmicroagressions\u201d and discouraging his students from wearing masks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a very succinct description of the OPPOSITE of what I teach,\u201d Miller says. \u201cEvery single one of these charges was false.\u201d His colleagues had also demanded that a review of Miller\u2019s conduct be performed to address these issues, which the dean approved, at the insistence of NYU lawyers. While the review was scheduled to wrap up in December 2020, Miller has yet to hear from the review board.<\/p>\n<p>In response to that letter from the dean, Miller wrote a \u201ccordial rebuttal,\u201d in which he asked his colleagues to retract their accusations and issue an apology. He received no response. Getting no response after a follow-up letter, he then decided to file a libel suit against 19 of his 25 colleagues, excluding the junior members from the suit. He did it, he says, \u201cbecause this kind of thing needs to end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time of this writing, Miller is waiting for the judge to rule on the defendants\u2019 motion to dismiss the case. All of the documents relating to this case can be found on Miller\u2019s website, MarkCrispinMiller.com.<sup><span id=\"edn3\" data-hash=\"#ednref3\">3<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0If you want to make a donation to help fund Miller\u2019s legal case, you can do so on his GoFundMe page.<sup><span id=\"edn4\" data-hash=\"#ednref4\">4<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Donations are held in an escrow account managed by his attorney and are reserved for legal expenses only.<\/p>\n<h2>The Censorship Trifecta \u2014 Common Repression Tactics<\/h2>\n<p>As noted by Corbett, some of Miller\u2019s students have clearly failed to live up to the adage that \u201cIt is the mark of an intelligent mind to entertain a thought without accepting it.\u201d Indeed, this failure appears rampant these days, and is certainly not limited to the most na\u00efve of students.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, Miller cites a Japanese student, who some years ago told him that \u201cHigher education in the United States is teaching students how to take offense,\u201d which he thought was quite astute. \u201cThat\u2019s absolutely true,\u201d Miller says, \u201cand students such as this young woman are used to being rewarded for saying these kinds of things.\u201d He goes on to list \u201cthe censorship trifecta\u201d \u2014 repressive tactics \u2014 that he was hit with:<\/p>\n<div class=\"indent\">\n<p><span class=\"bullet\">1.<\/span>\u201cAssailing my students with non-evidence-based arguments.\u201d Basically, they accused him of being a \u201cconspiracy theorist,\u201d which is \u201cthe oldest and most effective means of silencing inconvenient opinion,\u201d Miller says.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the CIA weaponized this catchphrase in 1967 to discredit writers who questioned the veracity of the Warren Report about the Kennedy assassination. To learn more about how conspiracy theory became \u201ca thing,\u201d read \u201cConspiracy Theory in America\u201d by Lance deHaven-Smith.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"bullet\">2.<\/span>\u201cHate speech and microagression,\u201d which are a form of \u201csocial justice puritanism\u201d that forbids discussing or questioning certain ideologies. Doing so means you\u2019re mocking or ridiculing certain groups of people. This too is simply a way to shut people up and dissuade honest discussion that might reveal problems or chinks in whatever one-sided argument you\u2019re told to blindly accept.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"bullet\">3.<\/span>Spreading \u201cdangerous misinformation.\u201d Presently, and since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, questioning any part of the official narrative, no matter how incongruent, scientifically baseless or socially destructive it may be, means you are putting people in danger. Of course, at any other time, \u201cdangerous misinformation\u201d could refer to any narrative that the ruling class wants to maintain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Part and parcel of all three of these tactics is the labeling of any science that deflates or disproves the propaganda narrative as \u201calternative science\u201d or \u201cfringe science.\u201d It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals. It\u2019s still dismissed as unreliable at best and misinformation at worst, incapable of standing up to the wisdom of the Dr. Fauci\u2019s of the world.<\/p>\n<h2>The Deeper Significance of This Case<\/h2>\n<p>The problem with normalizing these\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/articles.mercola.com\/sites\/articles\/archive\/2020\/12\/01\/anti-vaccine-propaganda-censorship.aspx\">weapons of censorship<\/a>\u00a0is that it makes education impossible, it makes science impossible, it makes democracy impossible. Everything is reduced to compliance versus noncompliance.<\/p>\n<p>As noted by Corbett, Miller\u2019s case goes beyond mere freedom of speech, which everyone ought to have, it goes into the issue of freedom of inquiry itself \u2014 the freedom to ask questions and ponder an issue or problem from multiple angles. Without the ability to think freely and express those thoughts, life itself becomes more or less meaningless.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mboxMidPost\"><\/div>\n<h2>Who\u2019s Running the Show?<\/h2>\n<p>An obvious question is, what is the source of this cancel-culture, censorship-embracing phenomenon? With regard to his own case, Miller believes it has been \u201csteered,\u201d although it is unclear by whom.<\/p>\n<p>With just 79 followers on Twitter, the dissatisfied student\u2019s tweet somehow spread like wildfire, resulting in three separate smear pieces in mainstream media. So, \u201cit got some help,\u201d Miller says.<\/p>\n<p>Miller also questions the advice by NYU lawyers, who insisted the dean must set up a conduct review in response to the student\u2019s complaint, even though the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) sent the president of NYU a detailed letter explaining why there were no legal, Constitutional grounds for Miller\u2019s review.<\/p>\n<p>Miller admits there may be several reasons \u2014 including financial and political \u2014 for the attacks on him, and reviews some of those details in the interview, but none of them has anything to do with what or how he teaches.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"takeaway tamiddle\">We have to take the bull by the horns and say, \u2018Yes, we\u2019re conspiracy theorists if the alternative is swallowing this preposterous narrative you\u2019re trying to push.\u2019 That\u2019s a badge of honor as far as I\u2019m concerned. ~ Mark Crispin Miller<\/aside>\n<p>More broadly, it\u2019s clear that the entire global COVID-19 narrative has been created and is steered from or by a core, unelected nongovernmental body. I often refer to this group as the technocratic elite, members of which are found in global NGOs, think-tanks, big business, academia, media, scientific centers, regulatory agencies and political strata around the world.<\/p>\n<p>It is this thorough infiltration that allows for the global coordination we now see and experience \u2014 this lockstep activity around the world \u2014 which includes censorship of counternarratives and divergent points of view, without regard for an individual\u2019s background or expertise. Officially recognized, credible sources have been identified, and all others are dismissed as misinformation.<\/p>\n<h2>You Can\u2019t Resist Propaganda if You Can\u2019t Recognize It<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t imagine a more important moment for the study of propaganda than the present,\u201d Miller says, because we are bombarded with it every moment of every day now. Once you learn to recognize it, you\u2019ll find there\u2019s hardly anything else.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cI used to think it was vulgar to compare the contemporary American media with Dr. [Joseph] Goebble\u2019s practices [editor\u2019s note: a German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945],\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Miller says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cI no longer think so. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a stretch at all. The daily dissemination of absolute 100% falsehoods by The New York Times on every single page, and by CNN and the rest of them \u2014 it\u2019s breathtaking to me.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To learn more about the journalistic failures and staggering fabrications published by The New York Times, read \u201cThe Gray Lady Winked\u201d by Ashley Rindsberg.<sup><span id=\"edn5\" data-hash=\"#ednref5\">5<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Miller wrote the foreword to this book.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cWe have to talk back,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Miller says.\u00a0<em>\u201cWe have to take the bull by the horns and say, \u2018Yes, we\u2019re conspiracy theorists if the alternative is swallowing this preposterous narrative you\u2019re trying to push.\u2019 That\u2019s a badge of honor as far as I\u2019m concerned.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><em>It\u2019s people like us, who insist on telling the truth, who are really essential to the survival of not just democracy but humanity itself. I know that sounds a bit grandiose, but I sincerely believe that now, because we are at a very dire crossroads in the history of Western civilization and have got to fight back for our children\u2019s sake and the sake of everything we hold dear.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"bcr_divfootnote\" class=\"sources-references narrow-width\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"heading\" class=\"title link16\" data-jsid=\"sourcesReferencesBtn\">&#8211;\u00a0Sources and References<\/h3>\n<div id=\"contentrefsources\" class=\"contentrefsources\" data-jsid=\"sourcesReferences\">\n<div class=\"sources sourcesfoot\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"bcr_divReferences\" class=\"references\">\n<ul id=\"footnote-references2\">\n<li><sup><span id=\"ednref1\" data-hash=\"#edn1\"><span id=\"lblReferenceNo\">1<\/span><\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<a id=\"lnkReference\" href=\"https:\/\/www.corbettreport.com\/interview-1633-mark-crispin-miller-exposes-propaganda-in-the-academy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Corbett Report April 20, 2021 Interview 1633<\/a><\/li>\n<li><sup><span id=\"ednref2\" data-hash=\"#edn2\"><span id=\"lblReferenceNo\">2<\/span><\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<a id=\"lnkReference\" href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/under-attack-at-nyu-mark-crispin-miller-needs-your-support-for-academic-freedom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Change.org, Academic Freedom Petition<\/a><\/li>\n<li><sup><span id=\"ednref3\" data-hash=\"#edn3\"><span id=\"lblReferenceNo\">3<\/span><\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<a id=\"lnkReference\" href=\"https:\/\/markcrispinmiller.com\/?s=libel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MarkCrispinMiller.com MCM\u2019s Libel Lawsuit<\/a><\/li>\n<li><sup><span id=\"ednref4\" data-hash=\"#edn4\"><span id=\"lblReferenceNo\">4<\/span><\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<a id=\"lnkReference\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-mark-crispin-miller-sue-for-libel\/donate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gofundme.com Help Mark Crispin Miller Sue for Libel<\/a><\/li>\n<li><sup><span id=\"ednref5\" data-hash=\"#edn5\"><span id=\"lblReferenceNo\">5<\/span><\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<a id=\"lnkReference\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thegrayladywinked.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thegrayladywinked.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/articles.mercola.com\/sites\/articles\/archive\/2021\/05\/06\/academic-exposes-media-propaganda.aspx?ui=937155cbdce4d66c04efd273e525b9b92dc4c5fec06f30668aa1da13e47f9e49&amp;sd=20040305&amp;cid_source=dnl&amp;cid_medium=email&amp;cid_content=art1HL&amp;cid=20210506_HL2&amp;mid=DM877326&amp;rid=1150581590\">https:\/\/articles.mercola.com\/sites\/articles\/archive\/2021\/05\/06\/academic-exposes-media-propaganda.aspx?ui=937155cbdce4d66c04efd273e525b9b92dc4c5fec06f30668aa1da13e47f9e49&amp;sd=20040305&amp;cid_source=dnl&amp;cid_medium=email&amp;cid_content=art1HL&amp;cid=20210506_HL2&amp;mid=DM877326&amp;rid=1150581590<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Academic Exposes Media Propaganda<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}