Propaganda, the Media, and the Madness: From France & Beyond

Propaganda, the Media, and the Madness: From France & Beyond

 

The recent occurrences in Paris, France in which more than a hundred people were killed during multiple terrorist attacks at multiple locations has created a storm of media coverage. While the media coverage has considerable significance to what will be presented here today, it is important to provide the framework that is necessary to establish the proper context through which the truths revealed here are presented.

I am a black man who embraces his blackness, and I love my people unapologetically. The work I do, I do with them in mind. I hold no animosity or ill will against anyone who is not hostile towards me or my people; however, for those who have ill intentions and execute pernicious assaults against my people, I see you as the enemy and will treat you as such, and I have no reservations in doing so.

As I address the enigmatic issues that blacks are facing within the confines of an illusional reality created within think tanks formed by the wealthy elite who make up the white power structure, my focus will be settled on bringing a sense of elucidation to the multitudinous elements at play within this complex dynamic. What I desire to communicate to my black brothers and sisters is the fact that what you see on the surface, in our communities, schools and homes, are simply the manifestation of a reality that is the consequential expression and demonstration of cognitions that have been immensely influenced by the information that is disseminated through numerous propaganda channels.

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An astonishing and empowering book in which Dr. Wallace offers powerful solutions to the enigmatic issues plaguing the black community in the quest to holistically educate our youth, restore the black family nucleus, overcome economic impotence, eradicate black self-hatred and more. This powerful book is a blueprint to discovery and empowerment for the black community at large.

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“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in a democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” ~ Edward Berneys (Propaganda, 1928)

“Blacks not only dance to the beat of family destruction we patronize films by black producers and directors that bombard our brains and reinforce all of the bad we’ve been fed about ourselves — first by the white ruling class, and now abetted by our brainwashed brethren. Whether it’s sagas like Chris Brown and Rihanna, or negative self-demeaning movies, or characters like those depicted in HBO’s gritty urban drama, The Wire — black relationships and families are seen as hopelessly at odds, dysfunctional, violent and unsubstantial.” ~ Tom Burrell (Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority, 2010)

Dr. Umar Johnson has suggested that the reason that propaganda has been hyper-effective (beyond the normal effectiveness of this proven mechanism) against the black collective is the fact that blacks have a proclivity to view the channels and mediums through which the weapon of propaganda is disseminated as entertainment. We insist that it has no impact on our perceptions of reality and behavior, despite there being a wealth of pragmatic and empirical evidence to the contrary.

In my dissertation, “The Influence of Cognitive Distortions on the Social Mobility and Mental Health of African Americans (Rick Wallace, 2014),” I go to great lengths in uncovering the motives, intentions and the mechanisms through which the white power structure has influenced the cognitions of blacks at a level that has negatively impacted their reality. Additionally, in my latest book, The Mis-education of Black Youth in America, I address the multifarious vulnerabilities created by our inability to create our own reality (Rick Wallace, 2015).

It was Carter G. Woodson, who said that if you are able to control what a man thinks, you do not have to be worried about his behavior (Woodson, 1933). As blacks, we have been conditioned to confront our problems and issues through the conduit of emotion; however, emotion is an indicative mechanism, designed to indicate a certain reality. It is not a response mechanism, having the capacity to facilitate a legitimate and efficacious response to these enigmatic problems and issues that we face individually and collectively. Emotional reactions do not require critical thought, and when critical thought is abandoned, it exposes the weakness of the individual or group that abandons it.

To most blacks, it is simple, if you like something, you will defend it without really understanding why. If you don’t like or understand something, you will attack it, because of the discomfort it creates. Additionally, through a process that has taken place over several centuries, blacks in this country have been conditioned to be followers of trends, and supporters of causes that they don’t understand. What we fail to realize is that those who are diametrically opposed to our empowerment and advancement understand that we are emotional, and that we, for the most part have an altruistic spiritual center.

It is the innate altruism that often gets us in trouble. We have a proclivity to take on the causes and fights of others, even when it’s not in our best interest. In fact, we take great pride in doing so. So, whenever there seems to be a point in which the black collective appears to be developing a sense of cohesiveness and a focused agenda, we are given some pseudo-cause to support, in lieu of the real work that is in front of us.

As exposed in both, my most recent dissertation and The Mis-education of Black Youth, the machinations that are being used to thwart black empowerment are multitudinous — far too many to discuss here, but there are several that are worth taking a look at.

An Identity Crisis

Three of my published works spend a significant amount of time addressing the devastating force of the black identity crisis, and how it has rendered the black collective dysfunctional and vulnerable to many of the machinations of white racism. Because we have lost contact with our history, we have no true sense of self. When there is no solidified sense of self, it becomes easy for others to tell you who you are — through direct and subliminal suggestions.

Earlier this week I addressed the potential negative impact of blacks identifying with the French flag in an attempt to show support for more than 100 people who were killed during a terrorist attack. What blacks identifying with the French flag is indicative of is the fact that most blacks are not aware of their history or the history of France. It is indicative of the fact that we are able to identify more with others than ourselves. Additionally, it is reflective of the ignorance of the role that France has played, and is playing in the exploitation, degradation and oppression of Blacks, especially in Africa. It fails to acknowledge the ability to show support for the individuals who were killed without identifying with a country that may have well been the catalyst behind the attack in the first place.

While we are aware of the atrocities against American slaves in the U.S., and the apartheid oppression launched by Great Britain, very few are aware of France’s role in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, as well as its present influence on the continent of Africa.

First of all, for years, the media has sanitized and romanticized France, especially the city of Paris, which explains why so many people, not only blacks, have no problem identifying with it. However, we must learn to examine the history of any country, organization or person in which we plan to be identified with. The propaganda that has served to caste the nation of France in a positive light has served its purpose well; however, it has not erased the past, only obscured how people view it.

In order to provide an idea of just how involved France was in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, I have compiled some basic numbers for you to examine.

• Slaver voyages: France 4,200; British North America/United States 1,500
• Slaves transported: France 1,250,000; British North America/United States 300,000
• Slaves Delivered to: French West Indies: 1,600,000; British North America 500,000.

To put these numbers into proper perspective, during the Atlantic slave trade, the nation of France enslaved four times as many Africans as did America, while building a strong presence and influence in West Africa (Unknown, 2014) (Ali-Dinar, 2010). To express this succinctly, the French may very well have been the most nefarious and inimical force launched against Africans and their descendants in the history of mankind. To identify with that flag is tantamount to hanging a KKK hood in your bay window at home.

The Mis-education of Black Youth

It is important to understand that when I use the terms “education and “mis-education,” I am not referring solely to the attainment of academic skills, but to the holistic process of preparing our youth to be competitive and successful in their world as adults. Holistic education begins at the moment of self-awareness, and it is initialized by the beginning stages of developing a positive self-image in the child.

Long before black children enter the public school system, they have already achieved an educational deficit, especially when it comes to the development of a positive self-image and elevated self-worth — fostering exorbitant amounts of self-hatred and diminished self-worth. As Tom Burrell points out, by the time that our youth reach school age, they have become laden with inferiority complexes that causes them to hate themselves, while praising and aspiring to be like their oppressor.

Without a holistic education, blacks are at a distinct disadvantage — not even having the capacity to understand the numerous machinations that are being used against them.

It is the ideations that are formed through the birth of micro-cognitions that control the behavior of the masses. These cognitions are formed on the basis of what information infiltrates the subconscious most frequently. If our children have not been properly educated, they are not even in a position to allow their consciousness to stand guard over their subconscious, which is immensely vulnerable to the suggestions of persistent propaganda.

The Destruction of the Black Family Nucleus

At the beginning of this year I was contacted by a person who found themselves facing a substantial dilemma. She was a native of Wilmington, DE — a city that had recently been dubbed Murdertown USA by the media. This small town was, and is, experiencing an exponential explosion in their gun violence and murder rates. This person wanted to gain a better apprehension of what was taking place, as well as come up with an efficacious plan to engage this complex dynamic. Since then, I have been working with this lady and others to develop a strategy for engaging the devastation and loss that has become far too common for the inner city residents of Wilmington. While there are always common elements that are present when a community begins its decline, including the mis-education of youth, and an identity crisis, it is my assertion that it all begins with the disintegration of the black family nucleus that has made the schemes that are machinated by the enemy so efficacious. This truth is actually reflected in the fact that it was a woman who contacted me to help with this issue instead of a black man.

Over the last five decades, the black family nucleus has completely disintegrated. The black man has exited the home. He has found it to be an acceptable course of action to procreate and then abandon his progeny. He now embarks upon self-centered pursuits that serve his own egocentric agenda.

The black woman has become convinced that she does not need a man, so she continues to raise young black boys with feminine characteristics that cause them to react emotionally instead of responding intellectually and rationally as a leader. The black family is the initial training ground for black children to develop the skills and mindsets that will ensure their success; however, the black home lacks the balance of masculine and feminine energy that is so integral to creating well-balanced and prepared youth, who become empowered adults.

What is taking place in Wilmington is the result of a complex dynamic that includes poverty, mis-education, self-hatred, over-incarceration and more, but at the core, what you have are young black males that are attempting to establish their authority and dominance, which is a natural urge of the male in almost every species. Unfortunately, when there are no mature males to teach these young males how to manage that natural aggression, when there is no mature male present to teach these young men the importance of filial responsibility and the value in protecting their community, they will continue to destroy one another and their community as they fight to take the respect that they must earn.

The power of propaganda to set in motion all of the negative realities in the black community is made easy by two things: black ignorance and black compliance. We have been conditioned to identify with entities and forces that are antithetical to the narrative that we should be looking to write. We have become too accustomed to allowing others to write our story, living within a narrative that has been formulated and presented as reality by our oppressors. We seek harmony with a group of people who have historically expressed, through their words and their actions that they have no desire to live in harmony with us.

The vast majority of what blacks believe is actually the result of a reality that has been accomplished by either obscuring the truth, withholding or hiding history and the dissemination of false propaganda. We must invest the time and energy into conducting in-depth research for the purpose of discovering the totality of who we are as a people. We must then be willing to rewrite the narrative of the black existence. We must be willing to tell our story our way. We must learn to celebrate our genius, our beauty and our power. We must abandon the need to apologize for our blackness because it makes others uncomfortable.

The madness spawned by the propaganda machine has actually provided the blueprint by which we will overcome our erroneous thought processes. As Tom Burrell said:

“Propaganda is the outer layer of this brainwashing onion. In the marketing world, propaganda is the first tool of persuasion. Brainwashing is the outcome, but propaganda got us here, and its continued use keeps the inferior/superior mind game in play. Instead of using torture and other coercive techniques, the stealthy, media-savvy propagandist uses mass media and other forms of communication to change minds and mold ways of thinking. I have no intention of shying away from the term propaganda. I say we use it — take what has been thrown at us, shuck it off, and replace it with “positive” propaganda.”

This is something that we must give a significant amount of attention to. While I have been adamantly advocating for the development of media strategies, especially in the arena of music, spoken word, documentaries and written work, I have not been the only one. Dr. Claud Anderson has been persistent in his suggestion that controlling the media message is essential to the holistic empowerment of the black collective. Dr. Umar Johnson and Dr. Na’im Akbar have also stressed the importance of using the media to change the narrative of the black experience.

At the end of the day, blacks must take ownership of their destiny. We must abandon the habit of begging the oppressor to provide what is not in his nature or best interest to do. We must be willing to be accountable to one another. I challenge each of you to make it a point to begin writing a new narrative — one of power, ownership elevation and self-love. I challenge you to infect our youth with hope — supporting their natural yearnings to pursue unbridled visions and dreams. We have the ability to create a positive message that will permeate every orifice of the black psyche. So, what will it be? ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.

Dr. Rick Wallace is a man who has committed his life to investigating, examining and anatomizing the struggles of African Americans for the purpose of developing comprehensive strategies that are capable of efficaciously resolving the enigmatic issues that are at the forefront of the African American experience.

Dr. Wallace has written 19 books that include: The Invisible Father: Reversing the Curse of a Fatherless Generation, When Your House is Not a Home, and his latest release, The Mis-education of Black Youth in America: The final Move on the Grand Chessboard and he is currently working on his latest project, The Black Community Empowerment Blueprint, a comprehensive step by step strategy that has the capacity to facilitate the complete elevation and empowerment of Blacks in America and abroad.

You can support the work of Dr. Wallace by donating to The Odyssey Project! Your donations will be directed to the numerous existing programs, the development of future programs, further research and studies associated with improving the Black Experience. Thank you in advance for your support.