20 Comments
Mar 20Liked by Jonathan Reece

Men move into the garage for many reasons but we all know the main reason

Expand full comment
Mar 30Liked by Jonathan Reece

"Is it just around here, or are massive TV screens popping up everywhere around you – on roadsides, by the till in shops, in shopping malls?"

....Las Vegas Arenas

Ditched the programing box when I got into my first non shared living space.

The looks of incredulity when I tell my young students that I have no teevee is priceless.

Expand full comment
Mar 22Liked by Jonathan Reece

I know this isn't a huge part of this article, but I hadn't come across the 12 Hz brain frequency before, and I was curious so I wrote (with some AI help!) a small program that can analyse any video for various audio frequencies including the 12 Hz one: https://github.com/reecpj/hertz-extractor

The github page contains a couple of videos I tested it on (watch on Issues page, results in Actions), so you can get a feel for the outputs.

You can upload your own (small) videos if you're interested, or download the code and run it yourself!

Or let me know a specific video you're curious about and I'll let you know the results.

Expand full comment
author

If I were looking for a film with propaganda in it (... well COVERT propaganda, they all seem to have themes like "children know better than their parents", or "aliens are coming", "pandemics are a real threat", "get used to poverty, it's great", "euthenasia is great" ... ) I might start with that recent one produced by the Obamas - Leave the World Behind.

Expand full comment

I hadn't come across the film before, but I watched and analysed the trailer. Curious what kind of propaganda you think is in it?

https://youtu.be/cMVBi_e8o-Y

The results don't seem to have a huge 12Hz component in the audio, compared to other frequencies:

mean magnitude at 10hz: -53.57

mean magnitude at 10hz for every 10s chunk: ['-60.30', '-56.47', '-55.35', '-61.96', '-55.47', '-52.21', '-45.19', '-40.31', '-50.08', '-37.56', '-41.49', '-41.84', '-67.44', '-80.00', '-80.00']

mean magnitude at 12hz: -39.04

mean magnitude at 12hz for every 10s chunk: ['-46.16', '-37.53', '-34.51', '-47.07', '-36.53', '-31.89', '-33.48', '-27.47', '-30.22', '-23.54', '-27.33', '-28.08', '-56.19', '-80.00', '-80.00']

mean magnitude at 14hz: -39.04

mean magnitude at 14hz for every 10s chunk: ['-46.16', '-37.53', '-34.51', '-47.07', '-36.53', '-31.89', '-33.48', '-27.47', '-30.22', '-23.54', '-27.33', '-28.08', '-56.19', '-80.00', '-80.00']

mean magnitude at 20hz: -39.04

mean magnitude at 20hz for every 10s chunk: ['-46.16', '-37.53', '-34.51', '-47.07', '-36.53', '-31.89', '-33.48', '-27.47', '-30.22', '-23.54', '-27.33', '-28.08', '-56.19', '-80.00', '-80.00']

mean magnitude at 60hz: -28.66

mean magnitude at 60hz for every 10s chunk: ['-35.67', '-24.67', '-18.15', '-30.61', '-20.44', '-20.46', '-27.39', '-22.88', '-22.45', '-16.21', '-17.51', '-16.16', '-40.35', '-80.00', '-80.00']

mean magnitude at 100hz: -33.39

mean magnitude at 100hz for every 10s chunk: ['-38.24', '-30.74', '-29.78', '-31.56', '-30.35', '-29.15', '-32.41', '-25.05', '-28.03', '-19.80', '-22.84', '-17.77', '-44.21', '-80.00', '-80.00']

mean magnitude at 400hz: -44.38

mean magnitude at 400hz for every 10s chunk: ['-44.28', '-43.13', '-44.07', '-45.50', '-39.10', '-37.10', '-37.80', '-36.38', '-38.05', '-35.17', '-34.41', '-38.09', '-62.55', '-80.00', '-80.00']

Expand full comment
author

Wow - well done!

I didn't say that I thought there was propaganda in it, merely that it would be a good place to start looking.

Any overt propaganda is likely either to be fleeting, overt subliminal images, or short sections where an emotional reaction to events in the film is exaggerated by using entrainment technology.

Expand full comment

What an excellent article, Jonathan. One time when my kids were little and my husband was traveling, I moved the TV out to the garage. I'd hoped to find out who my husband was without the TV but, in retrospect, that's when he moved into the garage also. There are times I've had a cable connection for years (which they make cheaper than an internet hookup at first) and never found out whether it worked. So we are certainly on the same page, literally.

But you've added so much more knowledge to my intuitive repugnance (and vulnerability--I can't have one on anywhere without getting sucked into the dumbest commercials or plots). Great Roald Dahl poem. I knew about his CIA connections but not Operation Charm by name. It's made me wonder about his daughter marrying the Doctors Without Borders guy, Paul Farmer, valorized by the WHO. And who, infectious disease expert that he was, died mysteriously at the beginning of 'covid.'

I've put the CAF onto my listening schedule. I ignored your advice to listen here because my audio shelf is packed higher than my reading list. But curiously, I just packed the second book of The Poppy War series, which is sci fi/ fantasy with a very strong bite of Chinese history.

And entrainment, great word! Cerebrating, is that original? And the one-eyed watcher, I've taken to pointing the screen away when I listen to a podcast or video in the bath but I'm worried about sticky paper leaving residue over the camera for when I need it to record. What a lousy thing that we have to worry about these things!

Thank you for so much food for thought! I'll digest during my dance class.

Expand full comment
author

[Funny - I just replied here, but it disappeared. I'll try again.]

Ah Tereza! You always give such personal and positive feedback. You are a star!

Interesting about Dahl's daughter: you are on the ball.

I haven't worked out what CAF is yet, but I'm blaming the fact that it's my bed-time, and it'll be obvious in the morning!

Cerebrating - no, 'fraid not.

I put a piece of ordinary paper over the lens, cut to size, and hold it in place with sticky tape: no residue over the lens.

Enjoy your dance class. (What sort of dance? I've done swing, Irish, and Scottish at various times).

Expand full comment

Catherine Austin Fitts. And while cerebrating on it in dance class, I remembered that invention called Post-Its, and that I had some small narrow ones. I had a high tech thing you slid open but it was too bulky to close the laptop.

And Worldanz! We do a little bit of Riverdance style but it embraces the globe. Think locally, dance globally. ;-)

Expand full comment
author

Aah ... I thought I was an idiot.

(Now I know)!

😅

Expand full comment
Mar 20Liked by Jonathan Reece

When we ditched our TVs the kids were preteens. I worked in an aquarium warehouse and store. We had gallons and gallons of all kinds of tanks from arid lizard habitats to half fish half, amphibious plus gazillions of community fish tanks of all types from aggressive to super cute and pretty.

Never a dull moment and when we had company there was always conversation sitting in a room full of aquariums rather than zoning out in front of the hypnotizing idiot box.

Expand full comment
author

Brilliant! Well done you! Truly "live" TV - very like Bob's cartoon!

Expand full comment

For those who don't know what we're talking about:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/BkVnsxgNBbYQUxTy5

Expand full comment

Isn't his stuff awesome!? ❤️

Expand full comment
author

Absolutely amazing. He's an all-round hero. I wish I could afford to buy an original. This one in particular would look good on a wall.

Expand full comment

David Dees had the same shocking truth art. Shame he passed so soon. He would be having a field day with this

Expand full comment
author

Excellent! Good for you!

Expand full comment
author

Coo, well done.

I didn't say I thought there was something in it.

Any messages in it would likely be short and subliminal.

Expand full comment
author

I certainly haven't seen it! I didn't say I think it's got propaganda in it.

If there were some message in it, it would be short, not throughout the whole film.

Expand full comment
author

That's amazing! Thanks very much for that (and for ploughing through these things generally)!

Expand full comment