[Peace-discuss] 8 Frightening Characteristics Of Propaganda

[David Johnson]

8 Frightening Characteristics Of Propaganda

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 <https://www.popularresistance.org/category/educate/> Educate!
<https://www.popularresistance.org/tag/education/> Education,
<https://www.popularresistance.org/tag/media/> Media,
<https://www.popularresistance.org/tag/propaganda/> Propaganda 
By Daniel Lattier,
<https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/8-frightening-characteristics-prop
aganda> www.intellectualtakeout.org
August 25th, 2015

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Jacques Ellul's Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (1965) has been
called "a far more frightening work than any of the nightmare novels of
George Orwell." In it, the French philosopher and sociologist dispels some
of the popular notions about propaganda and exposes how it really operates
in the modern world.

In the first chapter of the book, Ellul describes some of the
characteristics of modern propaganda. Eight of them appear below:

1) It Prevents Dialogue.

"To be effective, propaganda cannot be concerned with detail. Propaganda
ceases where simple dialogue begins. it does not tolerate discussion; by its
very nature, it excludes contradiction and discussion."

2) It Focuses on the Mass

"For propaganda to address itself to the individual, in his isolation, apart
from the crowd, is impossible. The individual is of no interest to the
propagandist; as an isolated unit he presents too much resistance to
external action. The most favorable moment to seize a man and influence him
is when he is alone in the mass: it is at this point that propaganda can be
most effective."

3) It is "Total"

"Propaganda must be total. The propagandist must utilize all of the
technical means at his disposal - the press, radio, TV, movies, posters,
meetings, door-to-door canvassing. Modern propaganda must utilize allof
these media. There is no propaganda as long as one makes use, in sporadic
fashion and at random, of a newspaper article here, a poster or a radio
program there, organizes a few meetings and lectures, writes a few slogans
on walls; that is not propaganda."

4) It Takes Over Education

"Education and training are inevitably taken over, as the Napoleonic Empire
demonstrated for the first time. No contrast can be tolerated between
teaching and propaganda, between the critical spirit formed by higher
education and the exclusion of independent thought. One must utilize the
education of the young to condition them to what comes later.

5) It Takes Over Literature and History

"Propaganda will take over literature (present and past) and history, which
must be rewritten according to propaganda's needs."

6) It Must be Subtle at First

"Direct propaganda, aimed at modifying opinions and attitudes, must be
preceded by propaganda that is sociological in character, slow, general,
seeking to create a climate, an atmosphere of favorable preliminary
attitudes. The ground must be sociologically prepared before one can proceed
to direct prompting."

7) It Must be Nonstop

"[Propaganda] must fill the citizen's whole day and all his days. Propaganda
tends to make the individual live in a separate world; he must not have
outside points of reference. successful propaganda will occupy every moment
of the individual's life: through posters and loudspeakers when he is out
walking, through radio and newspapers at home, through meetings and movies
in the evening. The individual must not be allowed to recover, to collect
himself, to remain untouched by propaganda during any relatively long
period. It is based on slow, constant impregnation.

8) It Aims at Irrational Action

"The aim of modern propaganda is no longer to modify ideas, but to provoke
action. It is no longer to change adherence to a doctrine, but to make the
individual cling irrationally to a process of action. It is no longer to
lead to a choice, but to loosen the reflexes. It is no longer to transform
an opinion, but to arouse an active and mythical belief."

Does this sound like anyone's playbook today?

 

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