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| What is Propaganda? |
Why might an educated person make the case that in war time effective propaganda is as important as or more important than access to battlefield strategies and tactics?
For most people today, the word “propaganda” has negative connotations; it is a term typically used to describe the speech acts of people we disagree with or are suspicious of. How can you identify propaganda when you see or hear it? What do we call speech acts that are designed to persuade people of views we support?
What did U.S. propaganda look like during World War II? See anything wrong with this 1943 short animated film: Education for Death, produced by Walt Disney?
Propaganda is defined as information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc. or the particular doctrines or principles propagated by an organization or movement. Effective propaganda can be more important or more effective to push any war effort for a couple reasons. One reason is because for a normal civilian that does not quite understand all the ins and outs to war and the battle fronts, will be able easily understand the propaganda that is fed to them whether it be negative or positive, or true or false. Another way that propaganda can be more effective is because those presenting it can make it appealing or twist it any way they please to help their side of the war effort. Propaganda can be used both as a weapon or a catalyst.
ReplyDeleteIf propaganda can be defined as "information . . .deliberately spread widely to help . . .a group" isn't every classroom a place of propaganda?
ReplyDeleteTypically, "propaganda" is a term used to belittle a particular effort to spread "information." When people support a message, they don't call it "good propaganda," they call it "getting the word out," "informing," "educating," or "raising awareness."
Let me preface every word I say after this with the statement that I believe that Walt Disney was one hundred percent correct in his depiction of Nazi Germany, but what is depicted in Walt Disney’s “Education for Death” is the epitome of propaganda. It depicts another view, belief, or culture in a way that inspires hatred or disgust. This is the exact same method Hitler used to promote the Nazi party. He depicted Jews as a tapeworm of German society and used the same method of propaganda as Walt Disney to promote this view. He then used the same methods to promote the need to conquer the world so that the true “Aryan” race may take its rightful place at the throne of power. While Walt Disney’s propaganda is morally sound (unlike Hitler’s), the scary fact still remains: Propaganda is incredibly powerful. If any American had been raised in Germany during the Nazi occupancy, they would have been swayed to Hitler’s cause in seconds flat. In the same way, any German who grew up in America during that time would have despised Hitler with a rigorous passion. The truly scary thing is that the human race as a whole is easily susceptible to these methods, and at any given time propaganda has the power to change the beliefs of entire cultures with one fell swoop. A question to consider: How much of what we believe is inspired by our family or the culture we were raised in? For example, I like the Dallas Cowboys because they are my dad’s favorite team. Now, how much of what we believe has not been influenced by others?
ReplyDeleteIn response to Dr. Benton's response to Rebecca, I don’t think a person supporting a message makes that message not propaganda. For instance, I agreed completely with Walt Disney’s depiction of the Nazi party, but the Germans still saw it as propaganda. The same is true to the reverse. They are both belittling another party, so which one is propaganda and which one is “spreading the word”?
ReplyDeleteEvan, do you think someone could fairly claim that Mother Night is propaganda?
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit of a stretch, but some might view it as propaganda against Americans because of the way the American government treated Campbell.
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