Propaganda!!! - Armchair General and HistoryNet >> The Best Forums in History

Red Skull · #1 13 Sep 08, 07:00

All things P.R. oriented.
I haven't seen a thread specifically for Propaganda so... Here it is. Please post relevant quotes, posters, pop culture icons, etc.

Red Skull · #2 13 Sep 08, 07:05

"I have the greatest admiration for your propaganda. Propaganda in the West is carried out by experts who have had the best training in the world — in the field of advertising - and have mastered the techniques with exceptional proficiency ... Yours are subtle and persuasive; ours are crude and obvious ... I think that the fundamental difference between our worlds, with respect to propaganda, is quite simple. You tend to believe yours ... and we tend to disbelieve ours."
- Soviet correspondent based five years in the U.S.

"One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting."
—George Orwel

"When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything—you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."
—Robert A. Heinlein

"Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state."
—Noam Chomsky

"As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: You liberate a city by destroying it. Words are used to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests."
—Gore Vidal

"It is worthy of remark that a belief constantly inculcated during the early years of life, whilst the brain is impressible, appears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct; and the very essence of an instinct is that it is followed independently of reason."
—Charles Darwin

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
-Joseph Goebbels

Red Skull · #3 13 Sep 08, 07:10

"It's been demonstrated that well within two minutes of watching television, most people enter a hypnotic alpha state bordering on theta. Viewers in this state are no longer able to critically evaluate, discern, or pass judgment from their own moral database on the material being viewed. The information just flows, unimpeded, into their subconscious year in and year out."
- Jeff Rense

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."
- Adolf Hitler

"Propaganda must not serve the truth, especially not insofar as it might bring out something favorable for the opponent."
- Adolf Hitler

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."
- George W. Bush

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media."
- William Colby (Former CIA Director)

"I think there is a good reason why the propaganda system works that way. It recognizes that the public will not support the actual policies. Therefore it is important to prevent any knowledge or understanding of them."
- Noam Chomsky

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. ... It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a World Government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries."
- David Rockefeller

"The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted."
- Georg C. Lichtenberg

Red Skull · #4 13 Sep 08, 07:34

I've found the Wikipedia entry to be informative to the aspiring propagandist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
Much good information, especially on propaganda technique, for some reason...
Anyway, I find the subject to be of the utmost importance, as well as interest because... I don't know if I have ever meet a single person who hasn't fallen for some sort of lie-based propaganda. When you do see through some of the Bull, however, you realize how much of the world around you, including yourself and your beliefs, are lies. Fabricated. Artificial. False. The people who realize this are the ones who are of some intellectual worth, for even if they don't have all the answers, they at least know that they don't have all of the answers and are willing to be critical of events, situations, people. After all, how many of the things that you believe happened could only be proven by a book or news-ad, written by a fallible, if not a directed, source. Commercials are an excellent example.
Of course one cannot disbelieve everything one hears or reads. To the contrary, you must accept the possibility that it could be true. Then compare with all of your knowledge vs. the "proof". Then, consider the reliability and motive behind your "proof".
This is called being critical and is at the heart of all real Science and Philosophy.

Galfirdus · #5 13 Sep 08, 07:50

An interesting topic though I fear it may(if it hasn't already ) turn into a topic about conspiracy theories. Here's hopping it stays on track.

Red Skull · #6 13 Sep 08, 07:57

Just setting the mood. Propaganda is a dark art and us westerner's have done it better than most.
Everyone's thoughts and opinions are welcome.
Especially good posters/art, song lyrics, anecdotes, t.v. commercial memoirs...
'Tis better to give than to deceive

Keep in mind that conspiracies are against the law. If the law is on your side, it is keeping some information nudge, nudge, say no more

Red Skull · #7 13 Sep 08, 10:32

Here is a fun cartoon for all the kids, featuring great Soviet music and animation

Red Skull · #8 13 Sep 08, 10:46

...and a Nazi cartoon featuring some of America's favorites

Paul Mann III · #9 13 Sep 08, 15:09

Nick the Noodle · #10 24 Sep 08, 10:53

Red skull many thanks for these two gems.

Red Skull · #11 25 Sep 08, 04:37

Very simple, colorful, and easy to understand. Troops moving forwards.

Shut Up! Very popular poster extolling security awareness. Similar to Western posters of the same theme.

Capitalism equals death for workers, soldiers, and peasants. I believe this is the gist.

Worker, Peasant, and Soldier era 89-90.

Nick the Noodle · #12 25 Sep 08, 07:49

All fantastic. I was looking for info on landing craft and stumbled upon a gem on this site -

http://www.johndclare.net/wwii9.htm

The bit on british propagander made me laugh

There is a story - probably untrue - that during the war, one soldier learned how to keep his gun's firing mechanism warm in freezing weather by stretching a condom over it. News got back to Churchill, and it was suggested that Durex be approached to manufacture 18 inch condoms. Churchill is said to have agreed, on two conditions - that the condom be labelled 'Made in Britain', and 'Medium'.