Propaganda comes in many forms. The churches have traditionally used it (but not called it that) with the way their churches are built, with catechism, with music as well as the preaching they do. Televangels also have their means of propagandizing with music and the artificial closeness that the tv screen provide between the listeners and the preachers. And they prey on the lonely (pun intented). How are we to defend ourselves against propaganda? How do we know propaganda when it occurs. Especially since we are immersed in it almost 24 hours a day.
But we are most familiar with wartime propaganda and we may not associate it with what is happening around us today. But Wikipedia has a great article on it. Wikipedia on Propaganda
To quote Wiki :
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself.
I caught this video on the side frame of another video h/t to MOT in a diary pretty much along the lines of this one. But I feel that mine has a different twist! (Naturally)
If you've watched that, you definitely get the feeling of how Koch brothers have and are using propaganda to benefit themselves and it has paid off handsomely.
I watch Rachel Maddow and there are ads extolling the virtues of cracking for natural gas (which we know is environmentally hazardous) and here is this guy with this benign smile saying how great and how wonderful this is. And then there is the Goldman Sach's commercial saying what great things Goldman will do for a community. AS IF!
Now I don't think Rachel has any say in who can advertise on her show so I am not putting the onus on her.
I am putting it on the tv station MSNBC who doesn't seem to think it is in their viewers interests to counter blatant propaganda, because, I guess we let them NOT do it.
But what if we did? What if we said to all media: Look you can have all the ads you want but after each ad there will be some counter to the lies.
In WWII each side, allies and Nazis, had competing propaganda. We even had a department (and probably still do) of psychological warfare.
What do we have to compete against the flood that Citizens United has unleashed against us? What do we have to compete against the media being against us?
We could have solidarity as evoked in this diary: Solidarity for the win/Victory Against Chase Bank
We could do our own propaganda for our own interests (which I think we try to do every day in diaries) but we would need to have it go "viral" to counter the effect of the Kochs.
Some people have done protests in a very vivid way so as to create the possibility of going viral. The protests shutting down (for a day) BofA store fronts was entertaining and possibly even enlightening to some.
I think we need to consider the elements that we want from our own generated propaganda. I think we need 1) to appeal to the spirit or the fun part of us, 2) create such easy to transmit visuals that it would be difficult to block their spread, 3) the rewards of such a process would redound to our benefit.
So the first part - make the message uplifting or fun in such a way that it is lasting and enjoyable and makes the recipient want to share it. (I am thinking LOLCATS kind of thing here)
Second part - make the message instantly recognizable and instantly understandable and yet leads to something else with more content but with the same kind of themes.
Third part - what do we want to happen for our benefit? Lets assume that we do such a program and it actually gets traction and lets say we pressure pols to create jobs. That nothing else they do will matter unless they create jobs. That creating jobs is saintly, and stalling congress is satanly and create the packets such a way that people could deluge their congresscritters with these images. (Like what if they could fax the image from their cell phone with a personal message?)
But what if we decried unleashed propaganda from other sources as well as creating our own. True, we would be hypocrites, and maybe even unrepentant hypocrites but why not? It would be in our own best interests and isn't that the ultimate Rand message? Who incidentally did enjoy Medicare and SS in spite of her fictional propagandizing. But it would hone our skill set in determining out and out propaganda as opposed to being a mindless consumer of such.
We are so laden down with propaganda I defy you to find it all. Ads yes, but even movies have their own bent. TV shows have been used as distractions so that you don't really notice real issues. News stories have been used this way as well - missing blonds in foreign climes - bad mothers (notice bad fathers get one day in the news beat limelight, bad mothers get forever.) I once got really ticked off on a book that tried to tell me that country was above the family. What really happened in the book was that the male character was an asshole. And nothing changed that, country first propaganda notwithstanding.
Again from the Wikipedia:
The propagandist seeks to change the way people understand an issue or situation for the purpose of changing their actions and expectations in ways that are desirable to the interest group.
Okay, I can haz vision but I really suck on executing it. My creativity is limited, sad to say. But hopefully some of you can really show us the way and shine some light on this murky subject.