I'm not sure focusing on a single asshole will do much. I've been skimming through Brock's _Republican Noise Machine_ which I'd seen on the shelves at the library, so I figured what the hell. (someone I respect says Brock was a lying asshole and remains a lying asshole....) I've mostly been skimming through it, but Brock outlines the conservative effort to shift the center of debate by taking over the media:
1. manufacturing intellectuals (think tanks) which was promoted by Lewis Powell in a widely circulated memo back in 1971 or so.
2. red-baiting the media and media figures, particularly through Accuracy in the Media
3. establishing alternative media outlets.
4. demanding equal time in the media by first claiming that the media represented the left and excluding anything right of center
Of course, a lot of these folks were former marxists and heavy users of marx, some disaffected Liberals. They claimed, especially Kristol, they were using Communist agit prop techniques (as if agit prop is the domain of a particular ideology. whatever)
I don't know. Fahrenheit 9/11 is agit prop, good agit prop. I've argued before that I think Bowling for Columbine was bad agit prop.
It seems to me that it involves, at the very least, embracing our own forms of lying by omission and manipulation.
I've been pondering your media projects, actually. Ever thought about putting together some sort of media education handbooks. Something that teaches people how to spot logical fallacies. You know, take an article a day and pick it apart to expose the fallacies?
Maybe I'll win the lottery and I can start funding my own think tank. Funny, before I even knew about the rightwing spin machine history, I've always wanted to do that: start a think tank. Hmmm. We should work on a business plan. Maybe we can get the Heinz foundation to fund it. heh.
Kelley
"We're in a fucking stagmire."
--Little Carmine, 'The Sopranos'