That's a common tool of propaganda. If you lie outright, you can get caught, and the audience may not believe you in the first place. The real trick is to leave gaps for the audience to fill in with their imagination, and if you're doing it skillfully, they'll end up not only believing what you want them to, but also thinking it was their idea all along. I've even seen the video cut to show the tank moving in the man's direction, and then cut away before it stops, creating the impression that the full video would show him getting run over and is not included because it would be too graphic - for example, 3:14 in this bizarre psyop recruitment ad.
I don’t think I’ve heard anyone imply that he’s important because he’s a martyr, it’s the fact he believes in his cause strongly enough and he was brave enough to stare down inevitable death and force the other guy to blink that’s so memorable about that image (at least for me and those I’ve spoken to about it)
The psyops propaganda you posted is definitely cringe af but it seems to clearly show the tank turning in the clip, calling it a clear example of misleading people into thinking he was killed is a pretty big stretch imo
I don’t think I’ve heard anyone imply that he’s important because he’s a martyr
Why did you read my comment but not the one I was replying to?
The psyops propaganda you posted is definitely cringe af but it seems to clearly show the tank turning in the clip
Right, because the tank did turn, so they can't show a clip of it driving straight at him because that clip doesn't exist. But given that it's on screen for about one second, I would venture to guess that some people might not be examining that too closely, and would just see that the tank is moving.
calling it a clear example of misleading people into thinking he was killed is a pretty big stretch imo
It's not about directly misleading people, as I said. It's about leaving ambiguity and subtly hinting at what that ambiguity might be, while leaving yourself plausible deniability. To simply lie directly is a crass and obvious form of propaganda, to be used sparingly. If you're looking for propaganda in the mindset of looking for a "smoking gun" that would hold up in court, you don't understand the nature of it. It's an art. It's advertising. I couldn't prove to a jury what Shakespeare wanted the audience to take away from Hamlet, but that doesn't mean I can't analyze it and make educated guesses.
Obviously, anyone who's seen the full video or knows the story won't be fooled, but that's not the point. If some number of people come away thinking what you want them to think, and the origin of that thought can't be traced back to you in an incriminating way, then you did your job.
At least the CCP is open to criticism and debate about their actions back then.
If you go to Tiananmen today, you will see and hear a lot of discussion of this troubling time in China's recent history. Sure, sometimes the debate about one party authoritarian rule vs the colonial nature of Western-style democracy can get heated, but there are police around in clearly marked uniforms to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. Never again!
At least the CCP is open to criticism and debate about their actions back then. If you go to Tiananmen today, you will see and hear a lot of discussion of this troubling time in China’s recent history.
The ending photos of the candlelight vigil in Hong Kong are chilling. Never forget that we failed to learn our lesson and allowed democracy to die there
I remember the video from the next day and a lot of people were run over. All of the acts of that part of history get conflated in memory. That's why it's good to have video and good to have professional historians.
That is definitely not true! The killing that did happen was in the streets surrounding Tiananmen Square. This is now the official USA position, and recently declassified diplomatic cables confirm that the initial reports were incorrect.
Only that while an atrocity clearly occurred, you're one of many with false memories about the event. It's a clear example of the propagation of a false narrative and it's okay to acknowledge that. People are literally swearing they saw footage which doesn't exist, and their response is "so what it I'm completely wrong, China is still bad". At the very least, that's interesting.
What false narrative?? I've never heard anyone claim that all the violence and killing happened only directly on the square, what a bizarre counter claim that changes nothing lol
Really, I hear that all the time! Along with the guy in front of the tanks being run down, human paste down the drains, 10,000 deaths, etc. It's disingenuous of you to act otherwise, this and other threads on the subject are full of people under this impression. The truth is bad enough!
Honesty, I misread their comment - I thought it was referring to that one guy, or the more extreme version of events with piles of human "pie" getting hosed down the drain. I've seen the actual footage - like I said, it's bad enough without making things up.
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