I wrote the book Copaganda based on my years of being a civil rights lawyer and public defender representing the most vulnerable people in our society. I watched as the police and the news media distorted how we think about our collective safety. Copaganda makes us afraid of the most powerless people, helps us ignore far greater harms committed by people with money and power, and always pushes on us the idea that our fears can be solved by more money for police, prosecution, and prisons. Based on the evidence, this idea of more investment in the punishment bureaucracy making us safer is like climate science denial.
This excerpt is adapted from an important part of the book on how by selectively choosing which stories to tell, and then telling those stories in high volume, the news can induce people into fear-based panics that have no connection to what is happening in the world. It’s how public polling can show people thinking crime is up when it is down year after year, and how so many well-meaning people are led to falsely believe that marginalized people themselves want more money on surveillance and punishment as the primary solutions to make their lives better.
If you’ve ever watched an episode of Law & Order, you’ve watched pro-police propaganda.
Paw Patrol, for the children
FBI, CSI…All that shit
Does Dexter count? In hindsight it was very accurate at times
TBH I’ve seen very little of Dexter, the others are what my SO puts on to sleep…I detest those shows
Dexter had an almost-perfect balance for me of dark humour, procedural and external drama for the first few seasons. No one aspect so overwhelming that it was like “well, fuck, may as well make dinner now.”
If your SO likes pure procedurals, I’d recommend it as something you might both enjoy. The star is Michael C. Hall … if you enjoyed him in Six Feet Under, he’s of course not the same character but brings as much to the table.
Its not that they enjoy the copaganda shows, but like city sounds to go to sleep with, lol…sirens, gunshots, yelling…me? not so much.
What shows we have seen of it are pretty good, just don’t commit to shows.
Oof. My ex was one of those “can’t sleep without noise” types, and I’m a “can’t sleep with noise” guy. We reached a compromise of an oldies station on relatively low volume, but it still drove me up the wall because I heard ads all night.
The things we do for love.
Yup…we both now have earbuds (and 8 have an eyeshade)
Just doing basic math, don’t you only need four earbuds for two people?