Photos on left side you can see everywhere in mass "media" photos on left side ...Libya S.O.S
Propaganda designers have been putting messages into television commercials, news programs, magazine ads, and other things we read and see for years. These messages have been carefully designed to influence our opinions, emotions, attitudes and behavior. Their purpose is to persuade us to believe in something or to do something that we would not normally believe or do. These messages have been designed to benefit someone, and that someone may not be you!
Is everything we see and hear propaganda? No, it is not. The word propaganda refers to any technique that attempts to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, or behavior of a group in order to benefit the sponsor. The techniques of propaganda are used every day, in the military, in the media, in advertising, in politics, and in all sorts of human relationships.
A few hallmarks or indicators of propaganda are:
[2] Can You Spot It?: http://www.operationawareness.com/index_3.html
Propaganda
…any form of communication in support of national objectives designed to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, or behavior of any group in order to benefit the sponsor, either directly or indirectly.[ Oxford Dictionary of the US Military]
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| War propaganda : Nazis vs Mass western propaganda in Libya |
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| Libya: Fairy tale vs reality |
It's not as easy as you might think to spot hidden messages. Propaganda designers know you are on your guard. To get around your guard, they don't put one message into a piece of propaganda - they put lots of messages into each piece! The more you know about propaganda techniques and how they work, the less likely it is that someone will sneak something by you!
Nothing says that you can't appreciate a good piece of propaganda, and still agree with the messages hidden within it. But, you don't want to be persuaded into doing something you do not wish to do or into believing something that is not true simply because you've been the target of an effective propaganda campaign.
That's why it's important to understand what propaganda is and how it works.
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| Libya: Propaganda vs reality |
To protect yourself against the techniques of propaganda, three good questions to ask yourself are:
Who does this benefit?
Why did they do that?
According to whom?
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| Which photo you can see in mass media? |
Can YOU spot the hidden messages in the examples on this page? It's not as easy as you might think! [1]
I recently purchased the book "Propaganda and Persuasion" by Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell. The book is invaluable and I highly recommend anyone interested in the topics I cover here to read it.
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| Many thanks for Killing [ in perfect english?!] |
In it's most neutral sense, propaganda means to "disseminate or promote particular ideas". Organized mass persuasion with covert intent and poor or non-existent reasoning.
Propaganda represents the work of large organizations or groups to win over the public for "special interests" through a massive orchestration of attractive conclusions packaged to conceal both their persuasive purpose and lack of sound supporting reasons.
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| Where is truth? |
(A) Controlling the media as a source of information distribution
(B) Presenting distorted information from what appears to be a credible source
C) Suppression of minority opinion to maintain an appearance of a strong base support. Propagandist's information will be disseminated whereas opposing sources are likely to be suppressed, dismissed, or even outright ignored.
(D) Withholding vital information
(E) Manipulation of fear and emotions…
Propaganda deliberately and systematically seeks to achieve a response that furthers the interest and desired intent of the propagandist. The successful propagandist is able to discern the basic beliefs, needs or FEARS of the audience and play upon those.
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| Controlling the media as a source of information distribution |
Is it propaganda or persuasion? What is the difference?
Persuasion is based on "debate, discussion, and careful consideration of options" to discover "better solutions for complex problems", whereas
"propaganda results in the manipulation of facts and leaves no room for debate.
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| Libyan kids 2011 |
Propaganda seeks to achieve a specific response, reaction, or action from it's audience that "furthers the desired intent of the propagandist."
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| Photo from mass media vs photo from ... |
Do not be fooled. A good propagandist campaign will lead the audience to believe that they have the audiences interests at heart, but in fact, the propagandists' motives are selfish ones. They are unconcerned whether their ideologies are effective or even what's best for the audience or society as long as their own objectives are met.
One must always look at the "end result" un-objectively and without emotion as manipulation of emotion and fear are well known tactics of propaganda campaigns.[2]
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| One must always look at the "end result" un-objectively and without emotion > British pilot back at home after bombing Libyan children vs US troop in Afganistan> |