General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsReagan's white identity politics: Reagan lied about "welfare queens" intentionally (1976)
Former Gov. Ronald Reagan of California has referred to her at nearly every stop, using her as part of his citizens press conference format.
There's a woman in Chicago, the Republican candidate said recently to an audience in Gilford, N.H., during his freeswinging attack on welfare abuses. She has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veterans benefits on four nonexisting deceased husbands. He added:
And she's collecting Social Security on her cards. She's got Medicaid, getting food stamps and she is collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax‐free cash income alone is over $150,000.
Mr. Reagan never mentions the woman by name. But the effect is the same wherver he goes. During his second campaign swing through the state last month, for example, he startled people in Dublin and Jaffrey and Peterborough and Salem and in all the other little towns where he appeared. They were angry at welfare chislers. Mr. Reagan had hit a nerve.
The problem is that the story does not quite check out.
https://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/15/archives/welfare-queen-becomes-issue-in-reagan-campaign-hitting-a-nerve-now.html
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)But we are not -- and were not then -- a decent nation.
We are that same worthless rabble that Hitler inspired.
Maybe without the weekly insanity sessions -- called church services -- we'd have a population that deserved to exist.
EndGOPPropaganda
(1,117 posts)Germans, Americans, Chinese, Britons -- we are all susceptible to propaganda.
There are two things that make this moment unique in American history:
- Billionaires have figured out how to use media they own to manipulate uneducated white people to get them to vote for billionaires' tax cuts
- For some reason, our real media is so deeply committed to bothsideism they have failed to communicate the truth. At least in 1976 the Times said it was a lie. I don't even know if this strong a story would be published today.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)There must be more to it.
EndGOPPropaganda
(1,117 posts)There are two things that make one more likely to believe rightwing propaganda:
- Low education levels (note that the BIGGEST predictor of trump vote is low education level)
- "Authoritarian" personality type: https://www.theauthoritarians.org/
But it takes those things PLUS rightwing propaganda media to create Trump voters. We can stop rightwing propaganda. We can't change peoples' personility types.
The right knows propaganda works too - that's why Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine, and that's why Murdoch leaves money on the table at Fox.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)Based on many conversations here, I'd say we can only stop propaganda by re-thinking what is and isn't protected speech.
Many think lying is protected.
Then all propaganda is legal and stopping it is not.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Just so happens,I had a Part Time Job at the Hennipen County Social Services Department when this POS hit the press. In the Twin Cities we had a Shock Jock spewing a similiar POS stating this so called Welfare Queen lived in Milwaukee and rode the Greyhound back and forth to Minneapolis to collect all her Welfare Checks from here Friends and Relatives mailing Address's. As someone who did only Intake of Clients and did prequalifying for both Housing and Monetary needs. This story about the Welfare queen is totally bogus. Yes there were people who tried to pull this off in various ways,but,when I would run the back ground,and things did not add up,their case was moved to a internal review group and maybe they would get a emergency Assistance with a return for further action with a Case Worker Assigned and if they did not show up for a follow up status,we turned these folks over to a special investigative unit and if contact in person was not made with in two days,and no further payments were to be made and a Court Order for fraud was issued.
EndGOPPropaganda
(1,117 posts)Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)All about selling Soap.