Questions/issues [slightly amended here] re propaganda (primarily American) to be discussed on 2/7/2017 with 15-20 American University undergraduates during a one-hour segment of Professor Daniel Whitman's class, “Intercultural Understanding,” based on the readings cited below (and on the ideas of the students themselves)
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1. Questions for the class (with partial, tentative answers)
Why study propaganda?
Why study propaganda?
- Understand communication; intent of communication; the nature of truth
- Persuade an audience(s) for the propaganda sponsor’s benefit
Is propaganda morally acceptable – or morally reprehensible?
- Moralist vs. neutralist
When does propaganda “start” -- and is most prevalent -- in history?
- Present since the dawn of history, but surfaces especially in times of war
Is there an anti-propaganda tradition in the U.S.?
- After WWI, this tradition “blamed” propaganda for: lies; violence to language; germs of hate; advertising; distorting history; being incompatible with democracy
- Institute for Propaganda Analysis (1937-1942); Smith-Mundt Act (1948)
Types of propaganda
- White, grey, black; fast, slow
Who’s the “best” propagandist? A “conscious “or “unconscious” one?
- Doesn’t appear to be carrying propaganda at all; must hate propaganda to do it well; doesn’t consider him/herself a propagandist
How to detect propaganda
- Institute for Propaganda Analysis criteria:Name calling, glittering generalities, transfer; testimonial; plain folks; card stacking; bandwagon
- Best PD: Truthful, factual; encourages international understanding; listens/hears and engages in dialogue; objectively displays national policies/achievements overseas, including in the arts
- Worst propaganda: Forces its messages on an audience, often by repetition and slogans; demonizes; simplifies; misrepresents the truth/deliberately lies.
Is “intercultural understanding” a form of propaganda?
Propaganda and terrorism
- Propaganda of the deed
What’s the role of propaganda in the social media age?
- Omnipresent?; hard to tell the source; fake news
1. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/propaganda.aspx#1-1G2:3402300123-full [a survey of propaganda and its history by one of the foremost experts on the topic]
2. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Propaganda
3. http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/060629_two_ways_of_looking_at_propaganda
4. http://www.publicdiplomacy.org/19.htm
5. http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Subtlety-one-of-the-paradoxes-of-propaganda-The-2598477.php
6. http://www-test.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2008/0709/comm/brown_pudiplprop.html
2. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Propaganda
3. http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/060629_two_ways_of_looking_at_propaganda
4. http://www.publicdiplomacy.org/19.htm
5. http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Subtlety-one-of-the-paradoxes-of-propaganda-The-2598477.php
6. http://www-test.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2008/0709/comm/brown_pudiplprop.html
C) For your viewing “pleasure”
7. The most famous classic propaganda film, the Nazi-produced Triumph of the Will; compare it to Casablanca
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