It’s really absurd how they’ve managed to curate such an image. They don’t do things for the good of the people. They don’t even do awesome things. I remember when I was a kid I really liked watching shows about The Marines and the SAS and all their daring tales - that is of course also propaganda but it’s framed in terms of a classic and irresistible patriotic myth. It’s man to man. It’s primal. It’s tense. It’s guys who look like they could be your cool uncle, charismatically telling tall tales about how they escaped an an impossible situation (usually with superior firepower, comms, and training, but they tend to leave that bit out)
The CIA? Just plotting. Getting other guys to do the dirty work. Killing people who run newspapers and unions. Writing propaganda. Blah blah blah - however the fuck did the MI5 and CIA get this reputation for being suave underground resistance fighters?
![[Not the Onion] "FBI: CIA"](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/78ceeddb-9592-4388-98b3-82f9dc680d50.jpeg){kind=link}
It’s really absurd how they’ve managed to curate such an image. They don’t do things for the good of the people. They don’t even do awesome things. I remember when I was a kid I really liked watching shows about The Marines and the SAS and all their daring tales - that is of course also propaganda but it’s framed in terms of a classic and irresistible patriotic myth. It’s man to man. It’s primal. It’s tense. It’s guys who look like they could be your cool uncle, charismatically telling tall tales about how they escaped an an impossible situation (usually with superior firepower, comms, and training, but they tend to leave that bit out)
The CIA? Just plotting. Getting other guys to do the dirty work. Killing people who run newspapers and unions. Writing propaganda. Blah blah blah - however the fuck did the MI5 and CIA get this reputation for being suave underground resistance fighters?