The Pentagon Engaged in Propaganda?

There’s an interesting article from the New York Times that exposes a part of the Pentagon’s propaganda machine that is easily overlooked by the viewing public. Former high-ranking military personnel that contract to the major networks as military analysts.

[ Read the N.Y. Time Article]

This approach to propaganda plays on at two major rhetorical fallacies:

1. Appeal to Authority – These analysts are former military personnel. Of course they know what they are talking about.
2. Appeal to Belief – Because all former/retired/ex military types are no longer associated with the military, and are allowed to speak on issues that are sensitive in nature without retribution.

These fallacies overlook some important facts. Like the supposed authority that these people are providing is coming from a system that brainwashes its members into believing that the system is right and just. Additionally, the members of said system are legally owned by the system for the duration of their term and are not allowed to question the system for fear of retribution. These men are life-long members of the military, even in retirement they are hard pressed not to adhere to the requests from the military.

And for the marginals who might have a moral-complex with the whole situation, money can fix everything. The military has the ability to pay out in sums far greater than the wealth of all the networks combined.

Additionally, we assume that that the military has no hold over these people in other forms because they are now “civilians”. Pick-up a military handbook from any branch of the government. These are life long contracts of non-disclosure that prevents the “civilian” from truly representing their experiences in the military, especially when they’ve reached ranks of a classified nature.

In short we’re hard pressed to find former military personnel that can speak publicly and not have a bias toward the military-industrial agenda.

NOTE: Check out The Nizkor Project for information about rhetorical fallacies and their applications.