"If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it."
Edward Bernays
After 9/11: "a highly effective propaganda assault drove the American population far off the spectrum of world opinion, a remarkable achievement."
Noam Chomsky
"No one can say that your propaganda is too crude or low or brutal, or that it is not decent enough, for those are not the relevant characteristics. Its purpose is not to be decent, or gentle, or weak, or modest; it is to be successful."
Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda
Above: Click above for an essay about how commercial propaganda ensures that we will forever be in pursuit of happiness without ever fully achieving it.
Dane Cook's Comedy:
"From his sloppy college kid look to his avoidance of anything political, cultural or remotely critical, Cook aims at appealing to those vast numbers of kids who haven't really developed any interests yet, and are most of all focused on having fun with a big group of people. While Seinfeld or Rock or Carlin or Miller react against the world, working themselves into a lather over just how idiotic and bizarre other people's behavior is, Cook's stories all boil down to the most familiar, relatable experiences he's had. His humor doesn't require even a glance at the wider world; it strengthens the bonds within a homogenous group. 'Isn't it crazy when you...' or 'How weird is it when...' By celebrating the myopia of the young, Cook has become the hottest comedian around.
Salon.com
Below: A proud mother and her son, a Marine, from the Marine Corps home page. Click on this ad for your assignment on how the military sells itself. |
 |
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them."
-- Frederick Douglass |
 |
 |
Above: No telling what trouble girls today will get into. Click on this piece of, according to Naomi Klein, potentially illegal, satire by theculture.net, to see a cool site of subversive propaganda.
|
 |
Above: Nazi car commercial, a part of the "Strength through Joy" campaign of 1933 in Germany. Does it remind you of being asked to shop as a way of fighting terrorism? Link to the BBC story.
|
|
|
|
|
THINK
FOR YOURSELF
OR OTHERS WILL THINK FOR YOU
|
English 100 |
|
Nuclear Proliferation=Liberation
The Iranians celebrated their having succeeded in enriching uranium, a key step toward the production of a nuclear weapon, by dressing up young men in traditional outfits and having them dance with viles of the stuff in their hands, surrounded, of course, by doves, the symbol of peace.
|
 |
In Harper's Magazine, I came across this item:
Party Poopers
From a list of blocked words and phrases discovered by hackers in China's most popular instant messaging software. Translated from the Chinese by Christopher G. Rea.
betray the nation
brainwash
children of high officials
commie dogs
create turmoil
credit crisis
democracy
dictatorship
foreign affairs and the general plan
freedom
hold different views
human rights
literary inquisition
mass movement
massacre
multi-party
old men's politics
public funds
public opinion is against the system
reading prohibited
real people and real events
real sentiments of the people
real situation
revolution
self-immolation
single-party
student unrest
tyranny
whitewashed peace and tranquility
will of the people
|
"WHEN a government substitutes propaganda for governing, the Potemkin village is all. Since we don’t get honest information from this White House, we must instead, as the Soviets once did, decode our rulers’ fictions to discern what’s really happening. What we’re seeing now is the wheels coming off: As the administration’s stagecraft becomes more baroque, its credibility tanks further both at home and abroad. The propaganda techniques may be echt Goebbels, but they increasingly come off as pure Ali G…"
Frank Rich, “It Takes a Potemkin Village,” The New York Times, December 11, 2005
|
 |
 |
| |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.
George Orwell, from 1984
Visit a Propaganda Classroom
"As everyone knows now — except for the 22 percent, according to a recent Harris poll, who still believe that Saddam helped plan 9/11 — it’s the truthiness of all those imminent mushroom clouds that sold the invasion of Iraq. What’s remarkable is how much fictionalization plays a role in almost every national debate. Even after a big humbug is exposed as blatantly as Professor Marvel in ‘’The Wizard of Oz'’ — FEMA’s heck of a job in New Orleans, for instance — we remain ready and eager to be duped by the next tall tale. It’s as if the country is living in a permanent state of suspension of disbelief.
Frank Rich, “Truthiness 101: From Frey to Alito,” The New York Times, January 22, 2006
It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale. The orchestration of press, radio and television to create a continuous, lasting and total environment renders the influence of propaganda virtually unnoticed precisely because it creates a constant environment. Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society."
Jacques Ellul
| Disclaimer: This web site employs many of the methods of manipulative mass communication this course seeks to make you suspicious of. Proceed with caution. |
"All warfare is based on deception.""
Sun Tzu (BC 535 - 228)
Click on the image above to go to Frontline's persuasive documentary. You can watch the entire feature in streaming video. We will also be viewing it in class.
 Above: Hilary posted this hilarious link to a site advertising the Swipe-n'Gripe 300, a portable detector of corporate evils for the consumer.
Above: Sweatshop shirt production.
Below: Nathan demonstrating how it could be done. |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
