Propaganda - theory and practice

[Peter Jesser]

The word “propaganda” has been used frequently in the AGW debate. But it tends to crop up whenever anything contentious is publicly discussed and views are polarised. It is useful to know what propaganda is, and how it is used, so that one can accurately identify propaganda and demonstrate why it is propaganda when dealing with an entity that uses the tactic. So here it is in brief, propaganda theory and practice:

"Propaganda must always address itself to the broad masses of the people. (...) All propaganda must be presented in a popular form and must fix its intellectual level so as not to be above the heads of the least intellectual of those to whom it is directed. (...) The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings, in finding the appropriate psychological form that will arrest the attention and appeal to the hearts of the national masses. The broad masses of the people are not made up of diplomats or professors of public jurisprudence nor simply of persons who are able to form reasoned judgment in given cases, but a vacillating crowd of human children who are constantly wavering between one idea and another. (...) The great majority of a nation is so feminine in its character and outlook that its thought and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than by sober reasoning. This sentiment, however, is not complex, but simple and consistent. It is not highly differentiated, but has only the negative and positive notions of love and hatred, right and wrong, truth and falsehood."

So propaganda must “appeal to the feelings” of the public, and find the “appropriate psychological form”. Thus we need the ETS to guarantee the futures of our children and grandchildren, and we need it this week, not next month or next year. It is a simple choice. It is right to do it now, it would be wrong to wait. Sound familiar?

As to the methods to be employed:

"Propaganda must not investigate the truth objectively and, in so far as it is favourable to the other side, present it according to the theoretical rules of justice; yet it must present only that aspect of the truth which is favourable to its own side. (...) The receptive powers of the masses are very restricted, and their understanding is feeble. On the other hand, they quickly forget. Such being the case, all effective propaganda must be confined to a few bare essentials and those must be expressed as far as possible in stereotyped formulas. These slogans should be persistently repeated until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea that has been put forward. (...) Every change that is made in the subject of a propagandist message must always emphasize the same conclusion. The leading slogan must of course be illustrated in many ways and from several angles, but in the end one must always return to the assertion of the same formula."

“Stereotyped formulas” – eg, rising sea levels. Every change “must always emphasise the same conclusion”! So what if the data has been rigged. We must give the planet the benefit of the doubt. But exactly which doubt would that be? How many things can go wrong (starting with a direct hit from a giant asteroid) that we could spend our time doing nothing but prepare for possible Armageddons.

But I digress. The quotes above are from Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”. That does not mean that every propagandist is a Nazi. It is just that broad mass of the people could not be reached effectively before the era of mass communication. Modern mass communication really began with the print media and got its start as a propaganda tool in World War I. Posters incorporating slogans were an effective tool for whipping up the appropriate public feeling. Hitler observed the way propaganda was employed and codified the theory and practice.

Hitler had few admirers outside those who fell under the spell of his propaganda and his application of force. But those who read “Mein Kampf” – capitalist, communist, socialist or whatever – licked their pencils when they read the bit about propaganda and underlined the passages – heavily.

The internet is a comparatively new tool of mass communication and it can convey propaganda as effectively as any other medium. But from the point of view of the powers that be, it has one major defect – it allows anyone with a bit of intelligence to communicate with the world; it allows anyone with factual information to counter propaganda and spread the message widely. There is a lot of corrupted and downright false information on the internet, but there are also some gems if you sift through the dross. This is where well moderated websites come into their own. A site that gets a reputation as reliable and informative gets passed on to others and soon becomes a reference point to get a handle on what is really happening. We may be seeing the effects of that in the AGW debate.

We live in exciting times because people now have more effective ways to counter propaganda. Governments of all persuasions are certainly wondering what to do about that. In some countries the internet is not as open as it is in the West, and many would be aware that ideas about restricting the internet have been floated here. Get the restrictions in under one guise and then slowly expand them could be a strategy. The issue will arise again, we can be sure of that.

It has been said that if governments had known what the internet would become, they would never have allowed it. Perhaps we should be thankful that many politicians are not very smart.