
Podcast Explores Whether Scorpions Hit 'Wind of Change' Was Written by the CIA - geocrasher
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/wind-of-change-podcast-990393/
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ben30
Related article from 1995

[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-
cia-...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-
weapon-1578808.html)

~~~
not_a_moth
Whoa. Very interesting read

> William Paley, the president of CBS broadcasting and a founding father of
> the CIA

Did this used to be open knowledge and scrubbed now? There isn't a mention of
Paley's involvement in cia on his own Wikipedia page...
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Paley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Paley)

~~~
gourlaysama
> Did this used to be open knowledge and scrubbed now?

The [edit: wikipedia] article mentions that he was "director of radio
operations of the Psychological Warfare branch in the Office of War
Information at Allied Force Headquarters": that's what became PWD/SHAEF [1]
towards the end of the war and was merged after the war with the Strategic
Services Unit and some other stuff to make the CIA.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_Warfare_Division](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_Warfare_Division)

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aaronbrethorst
If you're interested in other podcasts featuring Patrick Radden Keefe as a
guest, there was a great episode of _Why is this Happening_ about the Troubles
in Northern Ireland last year:
[https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/unearthing-ghosts-
nort...](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/unearthing-ghosts-northern-
ireland-s-dirty-war-patrick-radden-keefe-ncna995521)

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taneq
Makes me think of the movie, 'Wag the Dog'.

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redis_mlc
I wondered about that when I first heard the song. The Agency is involved in
all kinds of literature/translation books, so why not song lyrics?

David Hasselhoff takes some credit for the Wall coming down, so you never
know:

[https://time.com/5714602/david-hasselhoff-berlin-wall-
fall/](https://time.com/5714602/david-hasselhoff-berlin-wall-fall/)

~~~
acqq
> takes some credit for the Wall coming down

Does he? In the very article you linked:

"It’s fake news. I never ever said I had anything to do with bringing down the
wall. I never ever said those words. I was semi-responsible for protesting to
keep it up [such as in 2013]." "I was just in the right place at the right
time with the right song. I was just a man who sang a song about freedom."

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manuw
Don't call it "Podcast" when it's only on Spotify.

~~~
raverbashing
"Don't call it a movie if it's only on Netflix?" I think the Academy (or was
it some movie festival) tried to pull that one. Didn't work.

We can discuss the (de)merits of being Spotify only, but that doesn't change
the fact that it is a podcast.

~~~
tobr
More something like, “don’t call it a Blu-ray movie if you can’t play it on a
Blu-ray player”. Feel free to call it a “show” or whatever, but if you can’t
play it in a podcast player, how is it meaningfully a podcast?

Edit: Probably a much better movie analogy would be “Don’t say you’re shooting
film if you‘re using a digital camera”.

~~~
foota
I don't think the common usage of the term really refers to the particulars of
the technology involved.

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chx
Give me the transcript, I am very curious but why would I spend so much time
hearing someone reading it aloud? Doh!

~~~
otabdeveloper4
I don't know anything about podcasts and this specific podcast, but here's a
general (and shocking) observation:

Here in 2020 lots and lots of people still have trouble reading.

Not as in being illiterate, but as in "I'd rather watch a 20-minute Youtube
video explaining a technical topic that could be explained on half a sheet of
A4, because reading is just too exhausting for me".

~~~
nabla9
Literacy has levels. Most of the higher education is teaching people to read
and write better. Learning some facts or skills comes as a side effect.

OECD recognizes 6 levels.

Below Level 1: Adults can read brief texts on familiar topics and locate a
single piece of specific information. Only basic vocabulary knowledge is
required and the adult is not required to understand the structure of
sentences or paragraphs.

Level 1: Adults can read relatively short digital or print texts to locate a
single piece of information that is identical to or synonymous with the
information given in the question. Knowledge and skill in recognising basic
vocabulary, determining the meaning of sentences, and reading short paragraphs
of text is expected.

Level 2: Adults can make matches between the text, either digital or printed,
and information. Adults can paraphrase or make low-level inferences.

Level 3: Adults are required to read and navigate dense, lengthy or complex
texts.

Level 4: Adults can integrate, interpret or synthesise information from
complex or lengthy texts. Adults can identify and understand one or more
specific, non-central idea(s) in the text in order to interpret or evaluate
subtle evidence-claim or persuasive discourse relationships.

Level 5: Adults can search for, and integrate, information across multiple,
dense texts; construct syntheses of similar and contrasting ideas or points of
view; or evaluate evidence based arguments. Adults understand subtle,
rhetorical cues and can make high-level inferences or use specialised
background knowledge.

