Pleb: You call'n me stoopid? Me: Err, ... since you ask, yes. Pleb: I'll rip ya bloody arms off!

.. once bitten ...

  .. twice shy - ...

    .. inoperative

Thesis/Subtitle: A properly functioning democracy *requires* an honestly and fully informed electorate = the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Corollary: Lying propaganda is a crime against democracy.

-=*=-

Try this shocker:

Insinuation as War Propaganda
By Anthony Gregory
February 25, 2012 "Independent Institute"
  «In 2002 and early 2003, the Bush administration made its case for war with Iraq. There were assertions given about Saddam’s maintenance of weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaeda. What was never said explicitly, however, was that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. Yet by late 2003, seventy percent of polled Americans thought Saddam Hussein was personally behind 9/11. Bush’s Republican voters were especially convinced of this.
...
Fast forward a decade to the current day. Seventy-one percent of Americans - almost exactly the percentage that thought Saddam was behind 9/11 - think that Iran has nuclear weapons. It’s a small sample, but it is consistent with polls over the last couple years, each one showing a majority believing Iran already has nukes, and almost nine out of ten Americans sure that Iran is seeking them.» 
[ICH/blog.independent.org]

Comment 1: One assumes the 90% 'is seeking' includes the 75% 'already has' But semantic quibbles apart, it illustrates one of my maxims: Believing is mostly done in the absence of evidence.

Comment 2: They (the irresponsible politicians) may not have directly mentioned an al-Qaeda/Saddam connection, but they contributed to the panic being generated with all sorts of lies (like mushroom-clouds, mobile bio-labs & people-shredders), and there were plenty of patsies in the (corrupt & venal) MSM (including publicly-financed broadcasters) who did such mentioning = lying propagandising.

Try this google: west fear iran nuclear weapon "Anne Barker" site:abc.net.au

Result at time if writing: About 215 results (see screen-image below.)

Comment: All the reporting I read/see/hear (can't be everywhere), including several publicly-financed broadcasters, are sending basically the same material (sourced from AFP, Reuters, wherever) = singing from the same song-sheet. Problem is, it all contains the same lies[1] - why?

A: Because the MSM (including publicly-financed broadcasters) are *all* corrupt&venal = criminal.

Fazit 1: Deception destroys democracy - but not only.

BTW: The US president, pentagon & CIA have all recently done a volte-face on Iran's nuclear program, now all saying Iran does not intend to, let alone is building, an A-bomb. Point of interest is: "Will Anne Barker now shut up about it?" Even more pointed is will Israel stop their lies about it? Another BTW, Anne Barker lives in Israel. Surprise! World's biggest source of the darkest & bloodiest lies, liars & land-thieves.

Musing: Lying is the 'entry-point' to crime, defined here as harming others = cheating, stealing and murder. Criminals must lie - otherwise they'd convict themselves. For truth&justice seekers (as 'normal' people), harming others is self-evidently wrong - yet the world is dominated by harm; cheating = neoliberalism + banksters, stealing and murder = war for spoil, what primarily US+Zs do (Zs stealing Palestinian soil, US stealing (control over + economic rent) any- and every-one's oil+).

Once bitten, twice shy - seems inoperative, why?

After 9/11 (accept 'inside job' or prove otherwise = explain free-fall demolitions = impossible, ask Sherlock Holmes), we got illegal invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, free-fire for drones in Pakistan and lately the ghastly rape of Libya by US, F+UK/NATO, Syria under US-supported infiltration/attack & "all options" continuously and still threatened for Iran.

Aside: What's about the headline Pleb? By definition, IQ-scores form an 'ideal distribution' with the 50% mark in the middle = 50% are smarter, 50% less smart. But everyone votes, so the lower scorers, here my plebs, could very well do with a bit of assistance. But they are not well-encouraged to do well at school (they are required as industrial- if not cannon-fodder = not to be too clever), but far worse (for both them and all of us), the entire electorate is immersed in lying propaganda (see Anne Barker's A-bombs above.) In a nutshell, the plebs are kicked whilst down = a very un-Aussie thing to do, despicable even! Puts our democracy at threat, if not outright demolishes it. Listening, Ms Barker?

An important Q: Why do the people not wake up to both their own mistreatment and our so-called leaders' murdering wars?

A: Because a) they're not too smart? (But see preceding on IQ, looping), b) they're too lazy (or at least busy with other things), but in any case c) they're continuously propagandised by, among others, Anne Barker from 'our' AusBC - retailing *and actively assisting* filthy lies.

A *VERY BIG* Q: Why does most of the world leadership not condemn in the strongest terms, this Nuremberg/4th Reich/illegal/immoral slaughter-to-steal?

IMHO, the only possible A: They (non-condemning world so-called 'leaders') are all (criminal) psychopaths.

Fazit 2: These psychopaths must be stopped before they completely ruin our future.

-=*end*=-

Ref(s):

[1] lie2  -n. 1 intentionally false statement (tell a lie). 2 something that deceives. -v. (lies, lied, lying) 1 tell a lie or lies. 2 (of a thing) be deceptive.  give the lie to show the falsity of (a supposition etc.). [Old English][POD]