TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Propaganda, Disinformation, Voter Suppression, Foreign Interference

Monday, June 25, 2018

Propaganda, Disinformation, Voter Suppression, Foreign Interference

Some thoughts on Foreign Interference in the US: The attack on Democracy is via the creation of chaos and division, which eventually leads to destabilization. Passions will run higher now as the midterm election approaches. We need to stay calm and cool and take the high road. We should remain focused and that is to protect our Democracy. We want to avoid division among us, because "divided we fall" as a nation.

The constructive things to do are: to volunteer, to work against voter suppression, to register voters, to educate others about this mind-game attack on all Americans, which has the goal of creating chaos and division. We ourselves have to check our media sources to make sure we're reading verified news, not propaganda.

We need to focus on the big issues, and not allow our emotions be toyed with. Remember, chaos, distraction, confusion, anger, hatred, are encouraged to weaken the US as a Nation.

Here are some links about Russian Interference and Propaganda. We need to pay attention to this, as it continues to date. We had been warned even in 2015 but we did not listen. We need to take this seriously, or else we could lose our precious Democracy.

Authoritarian Media and the Era of Disinformation: Here's a good interview dated July 2015. it's an excellent study on authoritarian means of media manipulation as a weapon to attack democracies. Specifically it cites Russian and Chinese methods of propaganda to cause.division and destabilization. The site is connected to the National Endowment for Democracy.

Times of Israel: Critics say Trump's Talk of Immigrants "infesting" US recalls Nazi Propaganda

CNN: Trump is on a tear about Immigration. What's really behind it.

Vanity Fair: Is Trump's Chaos Tornado a Move from the Kremlin's Playbook?

CNN: Cambridge Analytica ran voter suppression campaigns

Bloomberg: US Lawmakers Release Thousands of Russia Today Twitter Ads

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Russian Election Interference: Europe's Counter to Fake News and Cyber Attacks

NPR: Former Diplomat Warns China is Emulating Russian Political Interference

Editorial Cartoon grabbed from the Net

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.