Propaganda

“Propaganda is a communication where the form and content are selected with the single-minded purpose of bringing some target audience to adopt attitudes and beliefs chosen in advance by the sponsors of the communication. Propaganda so defined is to be contrasted with education. Here, at least ideally, the purpose is to encourage critical enquiry and to open minds to arguments for and against any particular conclusion, rather than close them to the possibility of any conclusion but one.”

“Propaganda is supposed to be a tool, used only in totalitarian regimes. But in theory, propaganda is more important in democracies because the people have the power to influence and decide policy.”

If you believe the following, American corporate propaganda has worked on you. Don’t be surprised for it has become pervasive in our society over the past 200 years.

1. A.    Patriotism is good for the country. The pledge of allegiance is good for the country. One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all. United We Stand, Divided We Fall. Proud to be an American. We are a God fearing nation. America is the best country in the whole world. Freedom makes our country great. As American as apple pie. The 4^th of July. Communism is evil. 
2. B.    Labor unions are too powerful. Businesses are often held hostage by unions. Labor unions have connections to socialism. Labor strikes are disruptive to society. Socialism and communism are basically the same. Democracy and capitalism are basically the same. What’s good for business is good for America. The defeat of communism by capitalism shows that capitalism is the best policy. Liberals are leftist. Leftists are commie socialists. Socialists are anarchist. Conservatives are for business.
3. C.    We elect our leaders. We have fair elections. Our leaders have a tough job, but they have our best interests in mind. Our leaders work for the people. Our leaders run the country. We live in a democracy. We are the land of the free.
4. D.    There is a God and a Satan/Devil. There is evil in the world. The Bible is the word of God. God is Good. The Devil is at work in the world. There is a heaven and hell. God gave us the Ten Commandments as rules to live by. Jesus is the Son of God. God will return and make heaven on Earth.
5. E.    Coke is better than Pepsi (or visa versa). The Pepsi Generation. Have it your way. 
6. F.    War on Terrorism. Saddam was buying uranium from Africa. Saddam was supporting and funding al Qaeda. We invaded Iraq to bring democracy to them. The axis of evil is Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. We want to bring democracy to the world.
7. G.    Be all that you can be. An Army of One. Semper Fidelis. Earn money for college. Learn a skill that will get you a high paying job. Help protect freedom and democracy.

A. Examples of patriotic propaganda, which has the effect of drumming up support for the leaders. Patriotism also implies other countries are bad, if they are not like us. Patriotism might be thought of as good, but Nazi Germany is an example of patriotism that went bad.

B. Examples of pro-business, pro-conservative, anti-union propaganda, anti-liberal propaganda, which has the purpose of weakening public support for unions and strengthening support for businesses. 

C. Examples of political propaganda that makes us continue to think we live in a democracy and to create support for the leaders.

D. Examples of religious propaganda that support dualistic thinking (good/bad, God/Devil, us/them), which helps to create support for wars.

E. Examples of commercial propaganda that is so effective because it uses repetition and slogans, which are the same techniques used in the other forms of propaganda. Corporate branding is all about image, and not about substance.

F. Examples of presidential propaganda that is used to support attacks and invasions.

G. Examples of military propaganda that hide the fact that basic training uses well-established psychological principals (also known as brain-washing) to get soldiers to kill whoever and whenever they are told. This propaganda works so well that many in the military are proud to be “killing machines.”

Propaganda works so well because it starts as soon as we are born, and surrounds us everyday. Propaganda is so endemic in the U.S. that it is taught by our parents, teachers, televisions, radios, billboards, newspapers, magazines, and leaders (see Flags). Even though many perpetrators realize that is it propaganda, they still do it because they think that it is for the common good. We think these beliefs are our beliefs, which shows how successful corporate think tank strategies have been. For example, what do you do for people on Christmas and on birthdays? What do you do on the Fourth of July? What do you think about socialism? Businesses have contributed billions of dollars to make this come about, and they will pay billions more to see it continue. These beliefs have become so natural to people that they don’t think twice about it. People have lost sight of democracy and are willing to believe we still have it (see Democracy). What we have is closer to an autocracy/plutocracy, with capitalistic corporations “manufacturing consent,” so that they can profit at others expense (see Neo-cons, Seeing Through the Image). 

The other tactic that is being used to control what people think is manipulating the issues discussed. To divert public debate about a faltering economy, a war or terrorism becomes the main issue. If an issue portrays a Democrat as corrupt, it becomes a major story, whereas Republican corruption is played down. Controlling the topics of discussion is easy when a handful of corporations control the vast majority of news and media outlets. If a media company doesn’t play along with the Neo-cons, they’ll lose access to government briefings or many of their advertisers. If the media company then runs into financial trouble, they get bought out by one of the conservative media corporations. This is how the media is legally manipulated and controlled in a capitalistic country (see Corporate Media). 

“It is easy to get the public to follow its leaders. All you have to do is tell them that they are under attack, and to accuse pacifists of being unpatriotic and endangering the public.” This is important to remember, as it is the method by which every leader will use to try to sway public opinion in support of war. It is indeed shocking to realize that, using this technique, the public can still be so easily manipulated. 

“The broad mass of a nation are always more easily corrupted by the big lie than the small lie. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.” The words “deja vu” mean “already seen,” with the big lie told by Adolf and a big lie told by George W. and his cabinet. Even though Americans know about the lie, they continue to think that there must be some other explanation. It is amazing how well Adolf understood propaganda and psychology, how his techniques are being used today, and how easy it is to “manufacture consent.”

In this book, I can tell you that George W would not have won in Florida if the election were conducted in a fair and unbiased manner. I can tell you that 9/11 would not have occurred if the U.S. did not have such a one-sided Middle East policy. I can tell you that there was never any nuclear threat by Saddam Hussein, but that threat was used to manipulate Congress and public opinion. I can tell you that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. I can tell you that we invaded Iraq for imperial/colonial reasons and because it will make billions of dollars for the oil and defense industry who then donate tens of millions to the Republikan party and neo-con think tanks. I can tell you that the Republikan Party is conducting warfare on democracy because the current neo-con leadership believes, “The ends justify the means” (see Neo-cons). I can tell you that manipulating public opinion is occurring on a daily basis. When you control the media, it isn’t that hard to do (see Corporate Media). Autocracy/oligarchy governments like Nazi Germany, the former USSR, and others have been able to manipulate public opinion for years. Using think tanks and “manufactured consent” (see Psychology), corporations have learned how to do the same thing with indirect government control (billions of dollars behind closed doors seem to be working about as effectively). Typically, 70-90% of elections are won by the candidate with the most money, so you can understand the power corporations hold over our government. Campaign Finance Reform would help to solve this problem, so you would think that it would be a bigger priority (see Campaign Finance Reform). But, with media control, this critical issue gets little media attention, so corporations can continue their stranglehold on democracy.

“The 20^th Century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance. The growth of democracy. The growth of corporate power and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.”