This Is Propaganda

Between every down and inning is an ad for BetMGM, Fanduel, Draftkings, or the latest sports betting upstart with VC money and a celebrity sellout. Alongside author Danny Funt, we dissect how language shapes perception and policy and how industry lobbying influenced legalization in the world of “sports gaming”.

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Website: thisispropaganda.show

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Email: [email protected]

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CREDITS 

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Malcolm Critcher and Joshua Belhumeur 

Co-Producer: Reed Chandler

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ATTRIBUTIONS 

SAMIZDAT Written and performed by Joshua Belhumeur 

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REFERENCES

Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling by Danny Funt

We have a Patreon now. It's free and comes with bonus content including a full debrief on season 2: https://www.patreon.com/thisispropaganda

Pete Hegseth’s entire life has been leading to this moment. A war for the very soul of our nation. But can he save the institution responsible for his sense of self from the woke mind virus, or is it too late? 

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A production of BRINK

Website: thisispropaganda.show

Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow

Email: [email protected]

—

CREDITS 

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Malcolm Critcher and Joshua Belhumeur 

Co-Producer: Reed Chandler

__ 

Some dialogue and quotations have been condensed, paraphrased, or reconstructed based on contemporaneous accounts, interviews, and other source material.

All archival clips from film and television used under fair use, for educational purposes only.

REFERENCES

“Air Force Denies Retirement Benefits for Some Trans Troops.” Air and Space Forces Magazine, Aug. 2025, www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-retirement-benefits-transgender/.

“‘All for Nothing’: Air Force Trans Troops Sue over Revoked Retirement.” Air Force Times, 13 Nov. 2025, www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2025/11/13/all-for-nothing-air-force-trans-troops-sue-over-revoked-retirement/.

“Allegories of the Four Continents.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org.

“America the Rebellious Slut.” Commonplace: The Journal of Early American Life, commonplace.online.

“Amy Sherald Cancels Smithsonian Show, Citing Censorship of Trans Artwork.” Hyperallergic, July 2025, hyperallergic.com/amy-sherald-cancels-smithsonian-show-citing-censorship-of-trans-artwork/.

“Amy Sherald Withdrew ‘American Sublime’ Exhibition from Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Citing ‘Culture of Censorship.’” Culture Type, 29 July 2025, www.culturetype.com/2025/07/29/amy-sherald-withdrew-american-sublime-exhibition-from-smithsonian-national-portrait-gallery-citing-culture-of-censorship/.

“The Army Recruiting Ad Featuring a Soldier with 2 Moms Just Got Harder to Find. Here’s Why.” Military.com, 16 Jan. 2024, www.military.com/daily-news/2024/01/16/army-delists-calling-ads-making-them-harder-find-youtube-after-years-of-political-blowback.html.

Arnold, Tyler. “Does the Navy Endorse Drag Shows? TikTok Video Has Lawmakers Demanding Answers.” EWTN News, 9 May 2023, www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/does-the-navy-endorse-drag-shows-tik-tok-video-has-lawmakers-demanding-answers.

“Artist Amy Sherald Has Canceled Her Upcoming Show at the Smithsonian.” NPR, 24 July 2025, www.npr.org/2025/07/24/nx-s1-5479078/artist-amy-sherald-has-canceled-her-upcoming-show-at-the-smithsonian.

“Asked to Flag ‘Negative’ National Park Content, Visitors Gave Their Own 2 Cents Instead.” NPR, 26 June 2025, www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5444323.

Associated Press. “Sergeant, 23, Is First Woman Awarded Silver Star since World War II.” 16 June 2005.

“Before Lady Liberty, There Was Lady Columbia, America’s First National Mascot.” Smithsonian Magazine, www.smithsonianmag.com.

Ben-Shalom, Miriam. Miriam Ben-Shalom Collection. AFC2001/001.43276, Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/collections/veterans-history-project-collection/serving-our-voices/diverse-experiences-in-service/lgbtq-veterans/item/afc2001001.43276/.

Beynon, Steve. “Thousands of Women Serve in Combat Roles. Pentagon Nominee Hegseth Says They Shouldn’t.” Military.com, 18 Nov. 2024, www.military.com/daily-news/2024/11/18/thousands-of-women-serve-combat-roles-pentagon-nominee-hegseth-says-they-shouldnt.html.

Boyd, E. B. “Lessons from a War.” Princeton Alumni Weekly, 7 Nov. 2007, paw.princeton.edu/article/lessons-war.

Brest, Mike. “West Point Apologizes for Sharing Inaccurate Pete Hegseth Information.” Washington Examiner, 11 Dec. 2024, www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense/3257116.

Brofer, Jennifer. “Marines Conduct ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Repeal Training.” DVIDS, 1st Marine Logistics Group, 29 Apr. 2011, www.dvidshub.net/video/114054/marines-conduct-dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-training.

Carter, Ash. “Remarks on Ending the Ban on Transgender Service in the U.S. Military.” 30 June 2016. U.S. Department of Defense, www.defense.gov.

“CHOOSE: Drag Queens or Fatties for US Navy Recruitment.” YouTube, uploaded by BlazeTV, www.youtube.com/shorts/VES0RUssfO8.

Craven, Jasper. “Battle of the Sexes.” The Baffler, no. 80, Sept. 2025, thebaffler.com/salvos/battle-of-the-sexes-craven.

“‘Cruelty Was the Point’: Transgender Troops Look Back on Their Ban as It’s Set to End.” Military Times, 15 July 2026, www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/07/15/cruelty-was-the-point-transgender-troops-look-back-on-their-ban-as-its-set-to-end/.

“Emma.” The Calling, U.S. Army, May 2021.

“Executive Order 14004: Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform.” 25 Jan. 2021. Federal Register, www.federalregister.gov.

“Executive Order 14183: Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness.” 27 Jan. 2025. The American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara, www.presidency.ucsb.edu.

“Executive Order 14253: Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” 27 Mar. 2025. Federal Register, doc. 2025-05838, www.federalregister.gov.

“Executive Order 14347: Restoring the United States Department of War.” 5 Sept. 2025. Federal Register, www.federalregister.gov.

“The Female Combatants, or Who Shall.” 26 Jan. 1776. Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, findit.library.yale.edu/catalog/digcoll:292042.

Fleming, E. McClung. “The American Image as Indian Princess, 1765–1783.” Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 2, 1965.

“Fox Commentator Pete Hegseth: If You Want Something, Go After It.” Press Publications, 2015.

Fram, Bree. “Media.” Bree Fram, www.breefram.com/media.

“Freedom Watch Update.” DVIDS, podcast 72, www.dvidshub.net/podcast/72/freedom-watch-update.

“From Wall Street to Iraq: The Pete Hegseth UNCENSORED Story.” Danger Close with Jack Carr, YouTube, uploaded by JackCarrUSA, 24 Oct. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FD-5dCM-ts.

“Full Speeches: Trump, Hegseth Address Military Leaders at Rare Meeting in Quantico.” YouTube, uploaded by Face the Nation, 30 Sept. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhGeNPJlIK4.

Gast, John. American Progress. 1872. Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles.

Halligan, Lindsey. Statement on the National Portrait Gallery. July 2025. Qtd. in LGBTQ Nation, www.lgbtqnation.com.

“Harpy Daniels Doubles Down on Navy Drag Queen Backlash: ‘We’re Winning.’” YouTube, uploaded by Dave Shadow, www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMPqAopFDAc.

“Harpy Daniels: Navy’s Drag Queen Digital Ambassador.” YouTube, uploaded by TheDC Shorts, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK0Y3_S3UtA.

“Hegseth Orders Rare Meeting of Top Military Leaders.” YouTube, uploaded by ABC News, Sept. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY4bxfi5paQ.

Hegseth, Pete. In the Arena: Good Citizens, a Great Republic, and How One Speech Can Reinvigorate America. Threshold Editions, 2016.

---. “Remarks to General and Flag Officers.” Marine Corps Base Quantico, 30 Sept. 2025. U.S. Department of War, www.war.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/4318689/. Transcript.

---. The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free. Broadside Books, 2024.

“Hegseth’s ‘Anti-Woke’ Changes Likely to Receive Praise and Pushback from Top Leaders.” Sunrise, YouTube, uploaded by The Hill, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B6T_HdjCHw.

“House Approves ‘Department of War’ Renaming in Annual Defense Bill.” The Hill, 23 July 2026, thehill.com/homenews/house/5985402-house-ndaa-passage-department-of-war/.

“Law School Will Allow Official Recruiting.” The Harvard Crimson, 26 Aug. 2002, www.thecrimson.com.

“A Look Back at Hegseth’s Local Roots.” Forest Lake Times, Feb. 2025, www.hometownsource.com.

Luckey, Palmer. “Palmer Luckey: AI-Powered Autonomous Weapons, Future of Warfare.” Interview. 60 Minutes, CBS, 18 May 2025, www.cbsnews.com.

Mayer, Jane. “Pete Hegseth’s Secret History.” The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024, www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history.

McMaster, H. R. “Preserving the Warrior Ethos.” National Review, Oct. 2021. Reprinted by the Hudson Institute, www.hudson.org.

---. “Preserving the Warrior Ethos.” Foreign Podicy, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, 7 Jan. 2022, www.fdd.org. Podcast.

“Meet the Navy’s Drag Queen, ‘Harpy Daniels.’” YouTube, uploaded by PIX11 News, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eio7p2adUkA.

“Military Colonel: ‘We Have an Obligation’ to Correct Anti-Trans Rhetoric That Is ‘Factually Untrue.’” YouTube, uploaded by MS NOW, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EB9BAQDjlk.

“National Security Act of 1947.” Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration, www.trumanlibrary.gov.

“National Security Act of 1947.” Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/national-security-act.

“Navy’s Drag Queen Recruit: Joshua Kelley’s Inspiring Journey.” YouTube, uploaded by Can We Talk? Hosted by Dr. Dan Mason, PhD, www.youtube.com/shorts/9CEaWPXaf_A.

“The Navy’s Latest Recruiter Is a Drag Queen.” YouTube, uploaded by Michael Knowles, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdekkMREcDg.

Obama, Barack, and Joe Biden. “Remarks by the President and Vice President at Signing of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010.” 22 Dec. 2010. The White House, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/22/remarks-president-and-vice-president-signing-dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-a.

“Oldest Person Living.” Guinness World Records, www.guinnessworldrecords.com.

O’Neill, Robert [@mchooyah]. Post on the U.S. Navy’s digital ambassador program. X (Twitter), 4 May 2023.

---. Interview. O’Connor and Company, WMAL, 5 May 2023. Radio broadcast.

“Pete Hegseth Medal Flap Puts Focus on What It Takes to Earn a Bronze Star.” The Washington Times, 6 Dec. 2024, www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/dec/6/pete-hegseth-medal-flap-puts-focus-takes-earn-bron/.

Pogrebin, Robin. “Amy Sherald Cancels Her Smithsonian Show, Citing Censorship.” The New York Times, 24 July 2025, www.nytimes.com.

“The Rant.” The Princeton Tory, Oct. 2002, theprincetontory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2002-10.pdf.

“Read: Hegseth’s Speech to Generals and Admirals.” Air and Space Forces Magazine, 30 Sept. 2025, www.airandspaceforces.com/read-hegseth-speech-generals-admirals/.

“Reviving the Warrior Spirit: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Service, Sacrifice and Strength.” YouTube, uploaded by The White House, 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=38hwtrnR66k.

Ripa, Cesare. Iconologia. Rome, 1603.

Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc. 547 U.S. 47. Supreme Court of the United States. 2006.

“Saving America’s Story.” The White House, July 2026, www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/saving-americas-story/.

“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Addresses Generals and Flag Officers.” DVIDS, 30 Sept. 2025, www.dvidshub.net/video/984046.

“Senate Committee Backs Department of War Name Change.” Military Times, 11 June 2026, www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2026/06/11/senate-committee-backs-department-of-war-name-change/.

Sherald, Amy. Letter to Lonnie G. Bunch III. 23 July 2025.

---. Trans Forming Liberty. 2024, oil on linen. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, whitney.org/media/62011.

Slack, Megan. “From the Archives: The End of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The White House Blog, 20 Sept. 2012, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/09/20/archives-end-dont-ask-dont-tell.

Talbott v. United States. No. 25-5087. U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. 1 June 2026. GLAD Law, www.gladlaw.org/cases/talbott-v-usa/.

“Transgender, at War and in Love.” Directed by Fiona Dawson, The New York Times, 2015. Op-Doc.

“Transgender at War.” Vice on HBO, HBO, 2015.

“Transgender Troops Face Deadlines to Self-Report under Trump’s Ban.” The Washington Post, 22 June 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/06/22/transgender-troops-trump-ban-hegseth/.

TransMilitary. Directed by Gabriel Silverman and Fiona Dawson, SideXSide Studios, 2018.

“Trump and Hegseth Deliver Charged Speeches at Military Meeting.” YouTube, uploaded by TODAY, www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGb8nBDzIQ0.

Trump, Donald J. “Remarks to Military Leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.” 30 Sept. 2025. Compilation of Presidential Documents, DCPD-202500970, U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.govinfo.gov.

---. “Remarks at Marine Corps Base Quantico.” 30 Sept. 2025. Factbase, Roll Call, rollcall.com/factbase/.

“Trump, Hegseth Summon Hundreds of Generals to Quantico.” Stars and Stripes, 30 Sept. 2025, www.stripes.com.

“Trump Moves to Scrub National Parks Sites of Signs That Cast America in a ‘Negative Light.’” NPR, 17 Sept. 2025, www.npr.org/2025/09/17/nx-s1-5540117/government-moves-to-national-scrub-park-sites-of-negative-history.

“Trump Order Targets Transgender Troops and ‘Radical Gender Ideology.’” The Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/01/28/trump-transgender-troops-military-hegseth/.

“Up to 1,000 Transgender Troops Are Being Separated from the Military in New Pentagon Order.” PBS News, 8 May 2025, www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/up-to-1000-transgender-troops-are-being-separated-from-the-military-in-new-pentagon-order.

“U.S. Air Force to Deny Early Retirement Benefits to Some Transgender Service Members.” NPR, 8 Aug. 2025, www.npr.org/2025/08/08/nx-s1-5496133/air-force-retirement-benefits-transgender.

“Vets for Freedom.” FactCheck.org, www.factcheck.org/tag/vets-for-freedom/.

“Vets for Freedom: ‘Finish the Job.’” Secret Money Project, NPR, July 2008, www.npr.org/sections/secretmoney/2008/07/vets_for_freedom_finish_the_jo.html.

“Vets for Freedom: ‘I Am the Surge.’” Secret Money Project, NPR, Aug. 2008, www.npr.org/sections/secretmoney/2008/08/vets_for_freedom_i_am_the_surg.html.

Wagner, John. “All Hands Update: CFAS Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Training.” DVIDS, Defense Media Activity, 25 May 2011, www.dvidshub.net/video/116213/all-hands-update-cfas-dont-ask-dont-tell-training.

Warren, Elizabeth. Letter to Pete Hegseth. Jan. 2025. United States Senate, www.warren.senate.gov.

“White House Calls for a ‘Comprehensive Internal Review’ of 8 Smithsonian Museums.” NPR, 12 Aug. 2025, www.npr.org/2025/08/12/nx-s1-5500550/smithsonian-trump-review.

“Woman as Symbol, 1590–1800.” American Women: Topical Essays, Library of Congress, guides.loc.gov/american-women-essays/woman-as-symbol.

“Woman Soldier Receives Silver Star for Valor in Iraq.” Army News Service, June 2005, www.dvidshub.net/news/538087.

“WTF Was That Military Meeting…” YouTube, uploaded by HasanAbi, www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_Pt9NNZBNo.

MUSIC ATTRIBUTIONS

Playtime

What You've Been Looking For

Quick

No Man’s Land

Too Many Steps

Tempted

American Dream

Moon Mother

A Propagandist Walks into a Piano Bar

Samizdat

As female soldiers get elevated from object to equal, they become both the army’s greatest PR asset, and greatest PR liability. 

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A production of BRINK

Website: thisispropaganda.show

Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow

Email: [email protected]

—

CREDITS 

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Malcolm Critcher and Joshua Belhumeur 

Co-Producer: Reed Chandler

__ 

Some dialogue and quotations have been condensed, paraphrased, or reconstructed based on contemporaneous accounts, interviews, and other source material.

All archival clips from film and television used under fair use, for educational purposes only.

REFERENCES

Radio Address by Mrs. Bush, Crawford, TX, Nov. 17, 2001 — official transcript: georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011117.html. Quote matches near-verbatim (official text: “world-wide,” “al-Qaida”). Per CNN (Nov. 17, 2001), the first time a First Lady delivered the president's weekly radio address in its entirety: edition.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/11/17/bush.radio/

June 2025: Israel's “Twelve-Day War”; US joined June 21–22, 2025 (Operation Midnight Hammer — B-2 strikes on Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan); ceasefire June 24, 2025. A far larger US-Israeli war began Feb. 28, 2026; its ceasefire collapsed in early July 2026 and strikes resumed mid-July. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_strikes_on_Iranian_nuclear_sites and britannica.com/event/2026-Iran-war

“Glittering generalities” is one of the seven propaganda devices catalogued by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, “How to Detect Propaganda,” Propaganda Analysis 1:2 (1937).

Taliban captured Kabul Sept. 1996 (movement emerged near Kandahar, 1994). Via Operation Cyclone (1979–92) the CIA channeled ~$3B through Pakistan's ISI, which favored hardline Islamist factions; many Taliban emerged from that war's networks and madrassas. The US never directly funded the Taliban itself. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone; Craner testimony, Oct. 31, 2001, avalon.law.yale.edu/sept11/craner_001.asp

Human Rights Watch, “Afghanistan: Humanity Denied — Systematic Violations of Women's Rights,” Oct. 2001: hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan3/afgwrd1001.pdf (employment/education bans, burqa and mahram rules, public beatings, floggings, executions — incl. the filmed 1999 execution of Zarmeena).

“Report on the Taliban's War Against Women,” State Dept. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, released Nov. 17, 2001, same day as the radio address: 2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/c4804.htm; CNN called it a coordinated “second volley”: edition.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/11/17/bush.radio/

Gallup: 88% approved of US military action (Oct. 2001); 80% favored ground troops (Oct. 19–21, 2001); support ~8 in 10 through early 2002. news.gallup.com/poll/5029/eight-americans-support-ground-war-afghanistan.aspx

Clinton: “New Hope for Afghanistan's Women,” Time, Nov. 24, 2001 (time.com/archive/6913613/). Albright: CNN interview, Sept. 28, 2001. Steinem: see comment — she called for a bombing halt (CNN chat, Dec. 27, 2001: edition.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/12/27/steinem.cnna/).

“A Coalition of Hope,” Ms., Spring 2002 (Feminist Majority Foundation). Critique: Elizabeth Miller, “An Open Letter to the Editors of Ms. Magazine,” Apr. 2002, rawa.org/tours/elizabeth_miller_letter.htm; “bombs to the feminist toolkit” phrasing: Rafia Zakaria, Against White Feminism (2021), excerpted at thenation.com/article/world/white-feminists-wanted-to-invade/

Krista Hunt, “‘Embedded Feminism' and the War on Terror,” in Hunt & Rygiel (eds.), (En)Gendering the War on Terror (Ashgate, 2006), pp. 51–71.

RAWA's Oct. 11, 2001 statement opposed the invasion from day one (“this invasion will shed the blood of numerous women, men, children…”; the Taliban “should be overthrown by the uprising of Afghan nation”): rawa.org/us-strikes.htm

Army Center for Army Lessons Learned, Commander's Guide to Female Engagement Teams (2011) (“third gender”); Marine Corps Gazette (2011) (“there to help versus there to fight”); both quoted in Jennifer Greenburg, “Women's secret war,” The Conversation, 2023: theconversation.com/womens-secret-war-the-inside-story-of-how-the-us-military-sent-female-soldiers-on-covert-combat-missions-to-afghanistan-205669. Term origin: expat aid-worker usage, e.g. Azarbaijani-Moghaddam, CMI Working Paper 2014:1.

Jennifer Greenburg, At War with Women: Military Humanitarianism and Imperial Feminism in an Era of Permanent War (Cornell UP, 2023) — CST members describe public affairs officers photographing them at medical clinics and orphanages while day-to-day work was intelligence collection.

Human Rights Watch, “Today We Shall All Die: Afghanistan's Strongmen and the Legacy of Impunity” (2015); HRW, “How US-Funded Abuses Led to Failure in Afghanistan” (July 2021).

Direct-death counts: Brown University Costs of War Project ~46,319 Afghan civilians through mid-2021 (costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/costs/human); AP tally 47,245. Indirect deaths (disease, hunger, infrastructure collapse) add substantially more.

UN Women, “Afghanistan: Ten facts about the world's most severe women's rights crisis,” Aug. 2025; OHCHR, Mar. 2026 (“continues to deteriorate dramatically”); UN experts characterize the system as “gender apartheid.”

1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule (Aspin memo) barred assignment, not temporary attachment — the loophole used for FET/CST placement with SOF/Ranger units. GAO NSIAD-99-7. Rescinded Jan. 24, 2013 (Panetta/Dempsey).

Roche et al., “The Unseen Patriot,” Journal of Veterans Studies 7:1 (2021): 71.4% of surveyed CST members met Combat Action Badge criteria but were denied recognition, blocking combat-linked VA care and compensation. journal-veterans-studies.org/articles/10.21061/jvs.v7i1.285

Sgt. Greville Clarke, Fort Hood: arrested Oct. 2022 after attacking five women; convicted 2025; details of the Diaz assault and the Army's failure to warn per The Intercept, ibid. Diaz quote (“I abused alcohol in an attempt to forget what happened to me”) ibid.

Vanessa Guillén, murdered at Fort Hood 2020; the independent review found “total disregard and disrespect for female soldiers.” Ana Basaldua Ruiz, 20, died by suicide Mar. 2023 after reporting sexual harassment; Army inquiry cited a “persistently toxic culture permissive of harassment.” Per The Intercept, ibid.

The Intercept, “...Army Women, Death, Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault,” June 30, 2026: theintercept.com/2026/06/30/army-women-death-domestic-violence-sexual-assault/. Analysis of DoD data, 2011–Aug. 2025: 41 Army women dead by homicide (over half killed by fellow service members or veterans; 70%+ of victims knew their killer intimately); 128 by suicide; homicide/suicide rates double civilian women's; active-duty Army women at higher homicide risk than male soldiers (inverse of the national pattern); per capita death rate up 35% (2021–24) to 21 per 100,000; nearly 1 in 4 servicewomen experienced sexual assault (2001–2023).

‍Defense Secretary Hegseth eliminated the 75-year-old Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (Sept. 2025), ordered a review of women in combat roles (Jan.), and blocked women officers' promotions. Per The Intercept, ibid.

VA National Center for PTSD, “Military Sexual Trauma”: about 1 in 3 women (and 1 in 50 men) screened in VA health care report MST. ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/type/sexual_trauma_military.asp

DoD JAMRS polling presented to DACOWITS, reported Dec. 2024: 60% of young women have not considered military service (multiple reasons); sexual assault/harassment is women's top distinctive safety concern — 53% of women vs. 11% of men. military.com/daily-news/2024/12/10/female-teens-dont-see-themselves-us-military-heres-why-according-pentagon-surveys.html

FOIA'd Air Force documents (Spy Culture, “The US Military's Captain Marvel Documents”): cooperation began summer 2017 — Air Force-sponsored tour for the directors during script development; Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt consulted; Brie Larson visited Nellis AFB Jan. 2018 and flew in an F-16. spyculture.com/the-us-militarys-captain-marvel-documents/

Thunderbirds flyover over Hollywood for the world premiere, Mar. 4, 2019: cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/watch-usaf-thunderbirds-mark-movie-premiere-with-hollywood-flyover/; official USAF b-roll on DVIDS (public domain): dvidshub.net/video/663436

USAF Recruiting Service ad “Origin Story” (agency GSD&M), ran before Captain Marvel screenings and on youth-focused TV, timed to the film and International Women's Day: thedrum.com/news/2019/03/01/us-air-force-promotes-women-pilots-superheroes-recruitment-campaign; taskandpurpose.com/news/captain-marvel-air-force-recruiting/

Military.com, Jan. 5, 2020: women were 31.2% of Air Force Academy applicants for the Class of 2023 — the highest share in five years (vs. 28.6–30.5% prior); the Academy said there was “not… an out of the ordinary increase in female applicants.” military.com/daily-news/2020/01/05/captain-marvel-effect-air-force-academy-sees-most-female-applicants-5-years.html

Top Gun released May 1986 — 33 years before Captain Marvel (2019). The oft-cited “500% jump in naval aviator applications” is unsourced and rated false (AAP FactCheck); Navy enlistments rose ~8.3% in FY1986 and fell the next year. aap.com.au/factcheck/maverick-top-gun-stat-turns-out-to-be-a-real-goose/; news.usni.org/2022/05/27/

FY2025: every service met its goal 3–4 months early. clearancejobs.com (July 8, 2025); defenseone.com (Oct. 2024).

Pentagon data reported 2025: female enlistments across all branches rose 16,725 → 23,985 (+~43%) in FY2025 year-to-date vs. the same point in FY2024. foxnews.com/politics/female-recruits-surge-across-all-service-branches

Military.com, “Does the Military Need Social Media Influencers?,” Nov. 26, 2024: “In 2023, veteran-related content on TikTok amassed over 15 billion views.” Hashtag/view aggregate quoted by an interviewee — attribute rather than state as audited fact.

Greenburg, Jennifer. At War with Women: Military Humanitarianism and Imperial Feminism in an Era of Permanent War. Cornell University Press, 2023.

Oliver, Kelly. Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex, and the Media. Columbia University Press, 2007.

Desoutter, Morgane. "War, Social Media and Gender: An Analysis of the Use of TikTok by Ukrainian Soldiers." Critical Military Studies, vol. 11, no. 3, 2025, pp. 285–311. Taylor & Francis

Kalnes, Øyvind, and Nina M. Bjørge. "‘So, we have occupied TikTok’: Ukrainian Women in #ParticipativeWar." Media, War & Conflict, vol. 18, no. 2, 2025, pp. 233–250. SAGE Publications

Kuhl, Steven, Anna E. Kosloski, Stephanie Bontrager Ryon, and Astrid Monar. "Masculinity, Organizational Culture, Media Framing and Sexual Violence in the Military." Social Sciences, vol. 7, no. 5, article 80, 15 May 2018. MDPI

Yakushenkov, Serguey N. "Playboy as a 'Soft Power': The Impact of Magazine Content on the Westernization of the Developing Countries." Corpus Mundi, vol. 2, no. 1, 2021, pp. 139–176. 

Griese, Florian. Sexual Politics in Israel’s Defense Narrative: The Gendered and Digital Militarism of Israeli Self-Representation. Thesis / Criminology of War Paper, 2024.

Hardister, Mia. Hollywood and the Pentagon: U.S. Military Funding of Popular Cinema in the Post-9/11 Era. Undergraduate Thesis, Department of Cinema Studies and Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon, May 2023.

Haring, Ellen, Megan MacKenzie, and Chantal de Jonge Oudraat. "Women in Combat: Learning from Cultural Support Teams." Women in International Security (WIIS), Policy Brief, August 2015.

Neimeyer, Charles P., editor. U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, 2001-2009: Anthology and Annotated Bibliography. History Division, United States Marine Corps, 2014. Contains: Watson, Julia L., "Female Engagement Teams: The Case for More Female Civil Affairs Marines" (pp. 305-312).

Schell, Terry L., Matthew Cefalu, Coreen Farris, and Andrew R. Morral. The Relationship Between Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment in the U.S. Military: Findings from the RAND Military Workplace Study. RAND Corporation, Research Report RR-3162, 2021

U.S. Army Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL). "Commander's Guide to Female Engagement Teams: Observations, Insights, Lessons." Handbook No. 11-38, December 2011.

"Ann-Margret's Most Dangerous Role." United Service Organizations (USO), 2021.

Ripley, Amanda. "The Untold Story of the Afghan Women Who Hunted the Taliban." POLITICO Magazine, 2021.

Imperialist Feminism: Concept, History, and 21st-Century Deployment by the United States and Israel. Study Report, 2024.

Israeli Combat Cuties: The Long Arc of Gendered Soft Power — From Zionist Postcards to Gal Gadot. Research Profile, 2024.

The "Third Gender": Female Engagement Teams in America's Post-9/11 Wars. Narrative Case Study, 2024.

The Soviet Night Witches: History, Tactics, and Legacy of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. Historical Profile, 2024.

MUSIC

SAMIZDAT

American Dream

No Man's Land

Arabic Pray

Mindplay

Gymnopédie no. 1

Mythologica

Footprints

A Propagandist Walks into a Piano Bar

Beyond the Zero

From flappers to factory workers, and suffrajitsu to cold war kitchens, we track how the 20th century woman was imagined time and again to meet the needs of a nation.

—

A production of BRINK

Website: thisispropaganda.show

Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow

Email: [email protected]

—

CREDITS 

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Malcolm Critcher and Joshua Belhumeur 

Co-Producer: Reed Chandler

__ 

Some dialogue and quotations have been condensed, paraphrased, or reconstructed based on contemporaneous accounts, interviews, and other source material.

All archival clips from film and television used under fair use, for educational purposes only.

No AI this time. Enjoy my Russian accent. 

REFERENCES

Marks, Susan. Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food. Atria Books, 2005.

Purvis, June. Emmeline Pankhurst: A Biography. Routledge, 2002.

Lance, Katherine S. “The Suffragette Movement in Great Britain.” M.A. thesis, University of North Texas, 1976.

Imperial War Museums. “Emmeline Pankhurst’s ‘Women’s Great Procession for the Right to Serve,’ 7 July 1915.” IWM Volunteer London Blog, 9 Mar. 2021.

Gullace, Nicoletta F. “White Feathers and Wounded Men: Female Patriotism and the Memory of the Great War.” The Journal of British Studies, vol. 36, no. 2, 1997, pp. 178–206.

Mayhall, Laura E. Nym. The Militant Suffrage Movement: Citizenship and Resistance in Britain, 1860–1930. Oxford University Press, 2003.

Singh, Neha Reka. “The Flapper Girl’s Impact on Consumerism.” B.A. thesis, University of Toronto, 2020.

Singh, Neha Reka. “The Flapper in Advertisements – A Symbol of Women’s Liberation or Infantilisation?” Gender, Culture and Text (University of Glasgow), 29 Apr. 2021.

Honey, Maureen. Bitter Fruit: African American Women in World War II. University of Missouri Press, 1999.

“Women and Work After World War II.” American Experience, PBS, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tupperware-work.

United States, Women’s Bureau. Women Workers in Ten War Production Areas and Their Postwar Employment Plans. U.S. Department of Labor, 1946.

“Women Workers Protest the Loss of Jobs at Ford Motor Co.” Center for the Study of Working Class Life, Brown University (via WWII Women Project), n.d.

Mulcahy, William. Quoted in “Rosie the Riveter Delivered Miracles During WWII.” USO Stories, USO, 21 May 2012.

Nixon, Sean. Hard Sell: Advertising, Affluence and Transatlantic Relations, c.1951–69. Manchester University Press, 2013.

May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. Basic Books, 1988.

Hixson, Walter L. Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War, 1945–1961. St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

United States, Central Intelligence Agency. Transcript of the “Kitchen Debate” Between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev, 24 July 1959. CIA Reading Room, 1959.

Castillo, Greg. “Domesticating the Cold War: Household Consumption as Propaganda in Marshall Plan Germany.” Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 40, no. 2, 2005, pp. 261–288.

Dooley, Brian. “Were Women Better Off in the US or USSR During the Cold War?” Time, 23 July 2019.

Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. W. W. Norton, 1963.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffrajitsu

https://suffragettestories.omeka.net/exhibits/show/exhibit-militancy/militancy-1

https://www.azquotes.com/quote/904196

https://iwmvolunteerlondon.wordpress.com/2021/03/10/emmeline-pankhursts-womens-great-procession-for-the-right-to-serve-7-july-1917/

https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-969385/womens-right-to-serve-march/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/white-feather-girls-womens-militarism-in-uk/

https://theleftberlin.com/socialist-women-against-war-when-sylvia-pankhurst-fought-against-war-and-imperialism/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zsjg3j6

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ushistory2ay/chapter/the-new-woman-2/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-of-the-flapper-part-1-a-call-for-freedom-11957978/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/flapper

https://gendercultureandtext.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2021/04/29/the-flapper-in-advertisements-a-symbol-of-womens-liberation-or-immorality/

https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/common-threads-using-womens-suffrage-to-sell-soup-and-cereal

https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/rosie-wendy-and-government-girls

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5648367/

https://ekrose.github.io/files/rise_and_fall.pdf

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/women-s-studies-and-feminism/66-million-women-enter-us-labor-force

https://ekrose.github.io/files/rise_and_fall.pdf

https://www.illustrationhistory.org/essays/flapper-fashion-illustrating-the-garments-worn-by-the-modern-woman-during-the-jazz-age-1919-1942

https://fairfieldmuseum.omeka.net/exhibits/show/flappers/mass-media

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1262&context=gc_etds

https://gendercultureandtext.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2021/04/29/the-flapper-in-advertisements-a-symbol-of-womens-liberation-or-immorality/

https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/tobacco-industry-marketing/three-key-moments-history-marketing-tobacco-women

https://rosietheriveter.net/honoring-our-countrys-black-rosies/

https://sankofaimpact.org/black-riveters/

https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/7027/

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/wwii-women.html

https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/how-one-rosie-the-riveter-poster-won-out-over-all-the-others-and-became-a-symbol-of-female-empowerment

https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/honoring-rosie-riveter-and-women-who-won-war

https://hennepinhistory.org/marketing-the-modern-woman/

https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/exhibits/defining-their-identity-changing-roles-woman-post-war-era-documented-valley-times

https://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2015/03/16/operation-june-cleaver/

http://femarburg.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Christin-Stracke-2013_Post-War-America.pdf

https://macreativearts.com/articles/repositioning-of-women-from-being-producers-to-consumers-in-the-post-world-war-ii-period-through-advertising-in-the-united-states-of-america/

https://massbudget.org/2021/08/06/a-history-of-racist-federal-housing-policies/

https://moodle.unifr.ch/pluginfile.php/1561674/mod_resource/content/0/Castillo%20-%202005%20-%20Domesticating%20the%20Cold%20War%20Household%20Consumption%20.pdf

https://www.tchabitat.org/blog/race-and-housing-series-the-gi-bill

https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/shepherd-university/us-1865-to-present/homeward-bound-containment-at-home-in-the-cold-war-era-hist-101/140527676

http://femarburg.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Christin-Stracke-2013_Post-War-America.pdf

https://www.mcny.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/Wall%20Street%20Journal_Mac%20Conner%20review_8.10.14.pdf

https://gizmodo.com/the-all-american-expo-that-invaded-cold-war-russia-550628823

https://time.com/5630567/kitchen-debate-women/

https://wams.nyhistory.org/primary-source/the-kitchen-debate/

https://watergate.info/1959/07/24/kitchen-debate-nixon-khrushchev.html/

https://time.com/5630567/kitchen-debate-women/

https://reuther.wayne.edu/node/10127

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Feminine-Mystique

https://truthout.org/articles/betty-friedans-the-feminine-mystique-50-years-later/

https://englishiva1011.pbworks.com/f/PROBNONM.PDF

https://www.athabascau.ca/humanities-and-social-sciences/_documents/forrest.pdf

ARCHIVAL

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24409414

http://www.micheleleigh.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Spigel.pdf

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/1959-07-24.pdf

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41834310

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00809A000600390661-5.pdf

MUSIC ATTRIBUTION

TURN IT UP (00:05)

SAMIZDAT (00: 29)

SWIOLA (00:42)

THE MARCH OF THE WOMEN (02:20) 

WELCOME TO OUR SHOW (05:38) 

ROSIE THE RIVETER (07:56)

PAPER WINGS (09:18) 

UN PTI BOUT DAVENIR (11:00) 

A PROPAGANDIST WALKS INTO A PIANO BAR (13:28) 

BALAD TO A MEXICAN DESERT (15:46) 

QUARTET IN F MAJOR (17:54) 

BEYOND THE ZERO (20:14) 

I WANT YOU TO WANT ME (23:25)

How propagandists getting into bed with Hollywood caused the military to lose control of what women mean to their warriors.

—

A production of BRINK

Website: thisispropaganda.show

Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow

Email: [email protected]

—

CREDITS 

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Malcolm Critcher and Joshua Belhumeur 

Co-Producer: Reed Chandler

Additional Voice Acting: Rhiannon Lane 

__ 

Some dialogue and quotations have been condensed, paraphrased, or reconstructed based on contemporaneous accounts, interviews, and other source material.

All archival clips from film and television used under fair use, for educational purposes only.

AI Disclosure: We use AI to create custom filters for our voices -- licensed by ElevanLabs -- but the original performances are our own. We also used AI for a custom composition using our own lyrics for “The Girl Behind The Man Behind The Gun” -- licensed by Sumo.

This is a new frontier for all of us, and we are finding our footing when it comes to AI usage and transparency. We welcome any and all feedback.

REFERENCES

An Examination Of American Isolationism Through Public Opinion, 1935-1939

Knowing The Enemy: Propaganda Experts, Intelligence, And Total War (1941–1945)

The Pin-Up: American Eroticism And Patriotism During The Second World War

The Long American Plan: The U.S. Government's Campaign Against Venereal Disease And Its Carriers

The Interwar Militia — A Reappraisal

The War Against Women: Prostitution In Vietnam 

The Evolution Of Female Military Entertainers

Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema Essay

The Role And Effect Of Advertising On Women During World War Ii

How Playboy Explains Vietnam, The New York Times

Disneyland East, Time Magazine

Missing From History: The Other Prisoners Of War

The Boom Of Thai Sexual Industry During The Vietnam War And Now

Unveiling Shadows: Role Of The West In Southeast Asia's Sex Industry

The Esquire Case: A Lost Free Speech Landmark 

Wwii Propaganda And The American Public

The Birth Of The Pin-Up Girl: An American Social Phenomenon, 1940-1946

Beauty, Glamour, And The Pin-Up Girls Of The 1940s

Hollywood Went To War In 1941—And It Wasn't Easy

An Unknown Ally: Hollywood's Role In World War Ii

Hollywood Goes To War

From Hollywood With Love

Life Magazine Special Defense Issue July 7, 1941

The Forces Pin Up – Gi Morale Boosters

“A Double Victory?” Revisiting The Black Struggle For Equality During World War Two

Powers Of Persuasion

The Birth Of The Pin-Up Girl: An American Social Phenomenon, 1940-1946.

Atomic Goddess Revisited: Rita Hayworth’s Bomb Image Found!

Nye Committee

Propaganda And The American Public

A Short History Of The People Of Bikini Atoll

Demon Girls Of Ujae

Foreign Policy In The 1930s: From Neutrality To Involvement

U.S. Censorship And War Propaganda During World War Ii

American Isolationism In The 1930s

Roosevelt’s Path To The Second World War: Interventionist Or Isolationist?

The Us Propaganda Machine Of World War I

The Propaganda Of "Propaganda"

Master Of American Propaganda

Why The Office Of War Information Still Matters

OWI Head Elmer Davis Spread Soviet Katyn Propaganda Lie In World War Ii Voice Of America Broadcasts

Esquire V. Walker

Sexuality, Sexual Relations, Homosexuality

Teaching About The Comfort Women During World War Ii And The Use Of Personal Stories Of The Victims

The Economics Of World War I

Morale In The New World War

The United States: Isolation-Intervention

Othering/Atrocity Propaganda

The German Corpse Factory – Great Piece Of British Propaganda

The Crucified Soldier

Wwi Primary Resource Guide: Propaganda

"Merchants Of Death"

Decoding Wwii Plane Nose Art

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS 

https://pq-static-content.proquest.com/collateral/media2/documents/3445.pdf

http://bl-libg-doghill.ads.iu.edu/gpd-web/historical/gimmpi/gimmpiintro.pdf

WIKI / ENCYCLOPEDIAS 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Anti-Nazi_League

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Canteen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Army_Corps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Davis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Fight

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapper

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YanktheArmy_Weekly

https://www.britannica.com/topic/comfort-women

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_U.SMilitarySex_Education

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nose_art

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Office_of_War_Information

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocity_propaganda

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Corpse_Factory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nye_Committee

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Manpower_Commission

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Canteen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_industry_during_World_War_II

OTHER 

Schatz, Thomas. The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era.

Parish, James Robert. The Fox Girls: Behind the Scenes of 20th Century Fox. Arlington House, 1970

Koppes, Clayton R., and Gregory D. Black. Hollywood Goes to War. Free Press, 1987

Evans, Redd, and John Jacob Loeb. “Rosie the Riveter.” Paramount Music Corp., 1942.

Kamiya, Gary. “S.F. whitewash covered up ‘peace riots’ at end of WWII.” Connecticut Post, 22 Aug. 2015

Edwards, Jon. Core: Women, Work, and War: The Home Front Economy in WWII. University of Illinois, 2012

They Really Read It For The Articles - A Better Peace: The War Room Podcast 

MUSIC ATTRIBUTION

AUTUMNAL SMILE (00:05, 05:22, 13:55, 22:49)

CASSEROLE (01:17, 07:23)

White feathers, red light districts, and the rise of the military edging complex. How governments weaponized horniness to win WWI, and began to reimagine what women represent to a nation at war. 

—

A production of BRINK

Website: thisispropaganda.show

Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow

Email: [email protected]

—

CREDITS

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Malcolm Critcher and Joshua Belhumeur 

Co-Producer: Reed Chandler

Additional Voice Acting: Rhiannon Lane 

__ 

DISCLOSURE

Some dialogue and quotations have been condensed, paraphrased, or reconstructed based on contemporaneous accounts, interviews, and other source material.

AI Disclosure: We use AI to create custom filters for our voices, but the original performances are our own. We also used AI for a custom composition using our own lyrics for “The Girl Behind The Man Behind The Gun”. All used under commercial license.

This is a new frontier for all of us, and we are finding our footing when it comes to AI usage and transparency. We welcome any and all feedback.

REFERENCES

MUSIC ATTRIBUTIONS

A CUP OF COFFEE, A SANDWICH AND YOU (00:20) 

This Is Propaganda is back, and more patriotic than ever. From WWI posters to TikTok E-Girls, strap in for an immersive narrative investigation into how the military uses sex to define the image of the soldier, and the weird and unexpected ways it has changed our culture. New episodes through Fall of 2025.

With endless bot armies infiltrating social media feeds and harnessing the algorithm to control narratives and public opinion, our media system is becoming increasingly polluted.

Our conversation this week is with Amil Khan, a former Reuters foreign correspondent and BBC investigative journalist with over two decades of experience in media and communications.

Amil is now the CEO of Valent, a firm specializing in countermeasures for organizations under threat from bot networks and disinformation campaigns.

Welcome to DoubleThink, conversations inspired by This Is Propaganda. If you haven’t yet, check out the Webby Award–winning first season.

BRINK media group is re-imagining how brands, causes and artists compete in the oversaturated attention marketplace through original productions and branded entertainment.

Website: thisispropaganda.show

Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow

Email: [email protected]

The average American's worldview is under constant assault from propaganda. Between the 5,000 advertisements we see daily, for profit journalism, and virtually every post on social media, the gulf between reality and the myths we are surrounded by has never been wider. And with the widespread adoption of algorithms guiding this entire process, we are in desperate need of a new set of skills to navigate the landscape. 

This set of skills is widely referred to as media literacy—a concept that extends literacy beyond the ability to read and write, into the ability to understand how and why messages work across different forms of media. 

Joining us is special guest Renee Hobbs, media literacy scholar, educator, and founder of the Media Education Lab. 

Welcome to DoubleThink, conversations inspired by This Is Propaganda. If you haven’t yet, check out the Webby Award–winning first season.

—

BRINK media group is re-imagining how brands, causes and artists compete in the oversaturated attention marketplace through original productions and branded entertainment.

Website: thisispropaganda.show

Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow

Email: [email protected]