Putin and Tucker Talk 02/13/24 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Inexplicably, the band Spyro Gyra came to my mind yesterday. I honestly couldn't remember anything about them--only their name was rattling around in my memory, disembodied. So, I looked them up and listened to a few songs. As I was appreciating the particularly dense and substantial 80's vibe in the music video for Shakedown, I noticed that the saxophonist (Jay Beckenstein) looked a lot like Tucker Carlson. Just in this video, mainly. You'll see it around 3:35, if you want to have a look. This reminded me that I was meaning to write a little something on Carlson's recent interview with Vladimir Putin. I don't think my brain brought Spyro Gyra forward for this reason, but that was the net effect. Before I make a couple observations, I'd like you to understand that I know about as much about Tucker Carlson as I know about Spyro Gyra. I've never heard his voice, and I've only read a few of his words. I know about him, more than I know him. To me he is just one of the many heads of the government indoctrination machine, so readily consumable for so many--and so utterly replaceable and unoriginal. That's harsh, considering that I already told you I don't know the guy, and yet that's my pre-judgement of him. Might as well be honest about it. To me, Carlson represents a special niche in propaganda media. He is, for many, a Julia or Mr. Charrington. He allows people to feel that they can rebel, and he is therefore very useful. He tells them what they want to hear, in a way that makes them feel like he is on the same page as they are. Is it harsh to call him a Julia? Does he seduce his viewers into the forest away from the monitors, to take what he wants from the equation and leave them miserable? Beats me. I just see that he, like every other facet on that same shiny gemstone of talking media heads, is in it for himself and for the message. Everyone needs their own brand of forest to run to, it's a level of control that must be provided for, if Big Brother is to be considered intelligent. But I've strayed from my point. I just wanted you to know, I neither hate nor love Tucker Carlson. The same is true for my view of Vladimir Putin. So, Tucker Carlson interviews Putin, stirring up nonsensical feelings (and generating ratings and revenue) on every side of the political spectrum. They made the transcript available, which is what I read (I don't have time to listen or watch either party, so this is perfect). Two things stood out to me. First, Tucker brings up Nord Stream, and suggests that Putin bring forward evidence of the United State's involvement, for a propaganda win. He said: "But I am confused. I mean, that's the biggest act of industrial terrorism ever and it's the largest emission of CO2 in history. Okay, so, if you had evidence and presumably, given your security services, your intel services, you would, that NATO, the US, CIA, the West did this, why wouldn't you present it and win a propaganda victory?" Putin's response was just lovely: "In the war of propaganda it is very difficult to defeat the United States because the United States controls all the world's media and many European media. The ultimate beneficiary of the biggest European media are American financial institutions. Don't you know that? So it is possible to get involved in this work, but it is cost prohibitive, so to speak. We can simply shine the spotlight on our sources of information, and we will not achieve results. It is clear to the whole world what happened, and even American analysts talk about it directly. It's true." What a wonderful smack in the face. Both of them are there, actively producing propaganda in that very moment. Russia has a long tradition with propaganda, and Putin makes no attempt to shade that fact; in this case, it's simply not cost effective. The massive difference between Tucker and Putin here is, in Tucker's reality propaganda is taboo, a dirty word, a concept to be distant from. In Putin's reality propaganda is a war, an area to acquire acumen and exercise skill and prowess. More accurately put: in Tucker's world propaganda is something shameful you do in secret, in Putin's world it's something you do openly and with pride. I thought it was skillful of Putin to casually toss the specter of propaganda back at Tucker. To ask him to follow the money. Tucker is quite familiar with the money trail, I'm certain. But why would he want to talk about the hand that feeds him? Rule number one in the UsofA is to always accuse everyone else in the world of producing propaganda, without ever turning around to look at our own massive machinery. Anyway, I enjoyed that little jab. Good job Vlad. The second thing that stood out to me was actually earlier in their little chat. It was the moment when Putin mentions Tucker's early attempt at joining the CIA: "With the backing of CIA, of course. The organization you wanted to join back in the day, as I understand. Maybe we should thank God they didn't let you in. Although, it is a serious organization. I understand. My former vis-a-vis, in the sense that I served in the First Main Directorate -- Soviet Union's intelligence service. They have always been our opponents. A job is a job." I'm tempted to watch the video for this little clip, though I won't bother. The reason it was fascinating to me is simply this: Who said that the CIA didn't hire Carlson? Should we really believe that the government allows people like Tucker Carlson to get in their positions of influence without maintaining a level of control? Personally, I postulate that Carlson probably does have ties to the CIA, and that Putin knew that going in. He probably thought it was hilarious to mention it out loud, frankly. And I think it was too. You can read in his commentary after he said it, that he perhaps felt just a tiny bit bad for Tucker. A job is a job, after all! And that's about it. The rest was a propaganda show, no matter which angle you decided to view it from. The media largely ignored the interview, but has of course produced a blizzard-level flurry of counter-propaganda around it. Figured we might as well chat about it in Gopher a little, before the collective world moves on to the next shiny object!