Common forms of mass communication include newspapers, internet blogs, publications of all kinds, television, radio, and even movies. The ability to communicate to a large number of people provides a powerful opportunity to deliver messages which can have profound and varying effects on the recipients of the message. Advertisements for restaurants or a liberal talk radio radio show are both examples of mass communication that can be classified as “propaganda”. We consider these propaganda because they are a mass propagated messagea which are designed to influence people. Propaganda can be defined as a message or information which is spread around with the specific intent of having an effect or some sort of influence on the recipients. In this sense all advertisements can be classified as propaganda, but there are more uses for propaganda then just selling product.
In ancient Rome Caesars would use amphitheaters like the Colosseum to communicate to large amounts of people at once. The Roman emperors and politicians were not selling a product, but selling themselves. Law order, and rule were established by force, but leaders who are favored by their have an easier time ruling. Where information about a ruler would normally spread around slowly through word of mouth, an amphitheater would allow Caesars to regulate what information their subjects had access to. Directly delivering the same message to everyone simultaneously would be an invaluable tool for the organizing a population.
Propaganda can come in the form of an absence of information which would otherwise cause unrest. Suicides left out of the media could be considered a form of propaganda. Propaganda could be a positive emphasis something or it can be a negative emphasis of something. A politician uses both self promoting television ads as well as slander based advertisements. Propaganda could be a direct presentation of the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or it could be a complete manufacturing and manipulation of the truth. An honest advertisement about the effectiveness of a product is entirely truthful, but can still classified as propaganda. Advertisements making false claims about themselves are also propaganda, though entirely untruthful. The defining aspect of propaganda is that it is information communicated through a form of mass communication which is designed to have a specific influence on the opinions, beliefs, or actions of its audience. Whether propaganda is good or bad depends on what kind of propaganda it is, and its intent.
In war time, propaganda is very useful; its use cannot be underestimated. During WW2 when America was sending it’s troops into Western-European cities, there were often propaganda campaigns launched prior to their arrival, simply to set up a warm welcome. Using propaganda to gain the support of the newly liberated city makes it a lot easier for an army to mentally accept what they are doing. War time morale is no laughing matter, it’s extremely important in helping a nation give it’s best effort. Having good morale might mean the difference between victory or defeat.
This sort of propaganda is noble enough; supporting morale to make your soldiers fight better is worth the cost. However propaganda used “over there” is but a fraction of the real propaganda campaign which takes place here at home. “The war on all fronts” is a common term that reflects the mindset of a war time government. As efforts are focused on creating a welcoming environment to preserve the morale of the soldiers, so too are efforts focused on creating a positive effort on the home front. Not only is it important to have soldiers with a supportive attitude, but the general population is probably even more important to have in support of the war.
During WW2 there was a heavy emphasis in gaining public support and unifying the population against the communist threat. After all every bit of support may be needed in order to ensure victory. An interesting of propaganda designed to create enthusiasm and dedication to the war effort was to get public schools to have the children collect scrap metal for use in war. One popular item was collecting the tinfoil from cigarette packages. However most of what the children collected, like these tinfoil balls, were utterly useless. They were either buried or locked away somewhere, but that was not the point. The goal was about instilling a sense of enthusiasm for the war; a supportive attitude.
In the marketing world children are of great concern. It seems trivial to get a kid excited about a war in such a way; you might ask what the point is. It’s no secret that the children hold a great deal of influence over their parents. Children and adults were sold war bonds alike. The media used propaganda making it seem immoral to not donate everything you can to the war effort. Images of hitler would be shown whispering in a house wife’s ear saying “go ahead, spend the dollar…”. If the kid wants something bad enough it’s only a matter of time before the parents give in. Even cartoons like Donald Duck were used to instill a sense of opposition to the enemy and a support for the war effort.
“The war on all fronts” includes a mental front; a war on the minds and opinions of a population. From anti communist movies, news reports, and even comic strips, the propaganda effort that took place in the U.S during world war two has had a lasting effect even to this day. The words, “socialism”, “communism”, and even “liberal” are often used as pejorative terms; as insults. The word communism itself invokes visions of marching armies, red flags, and oppressive dictatorships.
If you’re a government trying to win a war, having your population despise and look down on the enemy would increase what they are willing to contribute to the war effort. This villainizing of our enemies is justified by our government in that it is simply to increase effectiveness; for the greater good. Not only is the enemy villainized, but the home team is heroized. It’s done for the same reason as the defamation of the opponent is done; effectiveness. If a population believes that it is righteous in its actions, that it is serving justice in a heroic way, more people are sure to enlist than if it was otherwise.
War time media is always heavily regulated. In order to preserve a positive outlook on the war, losses are downplayed by the media and victories are put in the spot light. This again is all done in the name of increasing efficiency. These actions by the government are largely sanctioned by a war time measures act which allows them even to imprison anyone who is harming the war effort.
Once a nation goes to war and is committed, the propaganda campaigns initiated by the government can have potentially drastic consequences on our democratic process. Misinformation comprimises the publics ability to organize itself and hinders the ability of individuals to make sound and informed decisions. As a society we depend on the majority of the population being able to make sound decisions. If the general population is fed misinformation through propaganda designed to get them to support a war, it would be difficult for the population to know if they should vote to end the war. The power lies with the government who uses propaganda to decide public opinion; we are left hoping that our government has good judgement.
For a man named Edward Bernays, war time propaganda was only the beginning. Bernays, who became one of the founders of the Public Relations Department, was known for his ability to understand, predict, and manipulate the tendencies and opinions of the general public. He was very successful in the marketing and advertising world, having pulled off some interesting and infamous maneuvers.
As it happens Bernays’ uncle was Sigmund Freud. Bernays’, who was largely responsible for bringing Freuds work to america, opened a whole new venue for advertisers and propagandists to exert power. Usin Freud’s theories of internal emotional drives, like sex and power, propagandists were able to advertise things by associating them with these internal drives. In short, they discovered that sex sells.
Things went from being advertised with direct demonstrations or explanations of utility to appeals to emotions like sex, social status, pity, and even what colors people like. The bombarding of images and sounds and advertisements began somewhere; we can thank Freud and Bernays for their part in its beginning.
The consumers of our society are more than just consumers; they are addicted to merchandise. Advertisements are so effective that they can convince us to buy things we do not need. Advertisements that shock us and grab our attention or appeal directly to an emotion create resonances and tendencies which make us favor whatever product or logo they insert at the end.
Do you know what a gecko has to do with car insurance? A hot model with a cell phone? It’s simply unhealthy to attribute getting a cellphone to having sex. Industries invent producsts and then invent a way to make us want that product. “Psycho-analysts” were payed incredible money to find ways to associate products with internal desires. Today our advertisements have competitively evolved into being more and more potent to a point where we literally have become less able to focus on things that aren’t bright and flashing. A.D.D is considered a major health problem among children these days. Children being mentally engulfed and by television and it’s endless stream of attention grabbing media probably does not help a persons ability to focus or concentrate. Sure enough children with A.D.D have no problem watching television.
If a constant stream of mindless advertising isn’t enough, we also have to worry about the instances of propaganda that don’t have flashing lights pointing them out. In the 1920’s there was a social stigma about women smoking; It was seen as un-lady like. In order to change this Bernays got together a group of models and told them to smoke in a famous parade. Bernays told the press that some “womens rights marchers” would be lighting “torches of freedom” during the parade, and thanks to media attention including an article in the Yew York times titled “Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of Freedom”, the social stigma quickly dissapated. This of course was in an effort to help the cigarette companies sell more cigarettes. Cigarettes began appearing in movies and magazines. The social stigma was trabsformed into an encouragement to smoke, all thanks to clever advertising.
“If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it.” - Edward Bernays
"When I came back to America, I figured that if propaganda could be used for war it could be used for peace… And propaganda got to be a bad word because of the Germans using it, so we found the word “counsel of public relations”.”
Bernays believed in part from Freud’s work that underneath the core of every man were irrational violent tendencies. Bernays assumed that a large population is like a herd that needs direction or will stampede itself to oblivion. Bernays views of the general public and how they should be treated run contradictory to the way democracy is intended to function
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the public is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.‘’
These are the words of the man who founded the PR department. Bernays, an expert in using mass media to influence the opinions of the population through propaganda, assumed that the population of the U.S is an entity in need of manipulation, and that those who do this manipulating wield the true power within “our country”. Democracy is meant to support the philosophy that by everyone casting their own vote in their own interest, society can be directed in a way that will benefit the most amount of people. If we are being manipulated into believing something is in our best interest, like buying a product, voting for a politician, or going to war, then democracy is failing by definition, and the control lies with the manipulator
“The engineering of consent” is an article Bernays wrote in 1947 and the legacy of the U.S reflects Bernays’ words in chilling extremes. “Operation Northwoods” is a shocking example of just how far “greater good” and “herd” type reasoning can go
"Operation Northwoods, or Northwoods, was a false-flag conspiracy plan, proposed within the United States government in 1962. The plan called for CIA or other operatives to kill American civilians and commit apparent acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Castro-led Cuba. One plan was to “develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington”.
This proposition was signed and approved by all levels of government except for president John F. Kennedy. It was only him who disapproved. The documents regarding this proposal were released in relation to the ongoing investigation into the potential assassination of JFK. The Department of Defense documents can be easily viewed on the Internet.
The first thing to understand about Operation Northwoods is that it is blatantly unconstitutional. The government does not have the right under any circumstances to murder its own innocent citizens. It is also a crime to submit false information to congress, especially concerning motives for war. Operation Northwoods is nothing short of an attempt to manufacture consent for war by murdering U.S citizens to incite fear and hatred toward Cuba. It’s a simple propagandists tactic.
If our administration is committing all these crimes, why is nobody held accountable? The first reason is simply because there is nobody to hold them accountable. Even if there was, the population will forever remain in support of the administration if they are constantly fed misinformation and intentionally mislead. Only the population can take down the U.S government; the population supposedly controls the government. Ideall the government serves the people but the government has surpassed the population in control.
Propaganda can buy votes, propaganda can make you money. All it takes to wi the presidential election is the right image, the right PR specialists, and the right television ads. All which can be purchased by whoever has the most money. President Obama spent record amounts of money on his campaign; everything about him is crafted and tailor made. His campaign talked about change but never really got into specifics. His entire platform was build on an emotional appeal to the negtativity of our old administration; change; anything but Bush.
Mccains campaign tactics made me wonder if he took a dive. The choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate was dubious to say the least, but then allowing Bush to endorse him was blatant political suicide. All obama then had to do was tie his shoes properly.
There is no transparency in a government that conspires to murder its own citizens. Our government has been transformed into a myriad of lies, half truths, and distractions. The reality of organizing the population on a grand scale is perhaps too disturbing for us all to know. Perhaps that’s why we are kept in the dark even about what sort of actions our own president is considering; change is all we know.
While we are deluded and confused with emotional appeals and misinformation, our government is running things like we’re cattle to be milked. In 1962 “our” government was ready to flick a switch and kill some of us in order to scare the us into attacking Cuba. This fact alone has incredibly disturbing implications on the state of our government.
I have the right to habeas corpus… This means i deserve a fair and speedy trial.
I have the right to free speech. I can under constitutional law be a political dissident.
Until we stand up and refuse to be blinded and led around by our government, we will be living in a dictatorship with the illusion democracy.