Propaganda

Propaganda — page 1
PROPAGANDA 4 Introduction Wars are not only fought on the battlefield They are also fought in the minds of the people doing the fighting and of those whose fate depends on the outcome Winning hearts and minds is the target of propaganda The word propaganda comes from the name of a body set up by the Roman Catholic Church in the 17th century to spread the Catholic religion around the world Today it is used to describe deliberate attempts to manipulate people’s beliefs and actions Sometimes propaganda makes a careful case using facts and arguments but it can also be based on rumors distorted versions of the truth or even on complete lies Propaganda also often uses of symbols such as flags and insignia architecture music and particular words In wartime there are two main types of propaganda One sometimes called white propaganda aims to reassure the side that produces it The other black propaganda aims to mislead or demoralize the enemy Forms of Propaganda In World War II propaganda was disseminated in a variety of ways Governments carefully controlled what was reported in newspapers for example to make sure that it did not undermine people’s morale Poster campaigns had the same effect as did patriotic films Radio stations provided a way of directing propaganda at the enemy by mixing political messages with entertainment such as dance music Airplanes dropped leaflets on occupied countries either urging the occupied people not to give up hope or urging the occupying soldiers to go home In Germany and Japan governments used propaganda to indoctrinate their peoples with the belief that they were racially superior to the enemy In Britain and the United States politicians used more subtle but still one-sided campaigns to persuade their citizens how vital it was to resist the spread of fascism Effect of Propaganda The combatants in the war ran the biggest propaganda campaigns of all time It is impossible to judge how much they influenced the eventual outcome of the war At the time people believed that without them defeat was more likely because they ensured that people kept fighting In reality many people did not fight for the ideas spread by propaganda but for more practical reasons in order to defend their homes families and friends This U S poster uses caricatures of Hitler to list and reject the arguments of German propaganda The German message was that democracy was too weak to resist the Nazis determination