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Free Term
Paper - Propaganda in Society
In the modern era, the masses are
communicated through the medium of press, radio and today’s
glamorous representation in the films and TV. The scope of
influence of these communication methods have been widely
discussed and understood. It is through these channels of
communication that the theme of propaganda flows. Propaganda by
any means is the promotion of ideas, interests and experiences
done for the purpose of vested interests. Starting from the
article by Hadley Cantril, Propaganda and Radio, 1937, in which
the author has emphasized the importance of radio as a means of
propagating the ideals of the interested body. In United States,
he narrates, there were more of the privately owned radio
channels than most of the European countries and USSR, where
there were restrictions and the monopoly of the publicly and
government owned radio stations. The author argues that,
however, it was even more of a severity, as big business giants
who commercialized their products were and services owned these
radio channels.
This propaganda of staying on the prescribed path and not
deviating, run through most favored radio programs, may it be a
comedy or a most watched musical show of that time. Another
propagation problem was with the ownership size and the returns
expected if conformity to the present standards were ensured.
There was a sort of monopoly as most of the small radio channels
were affiliated with the bigger giants. Radio was taken as the
medium to propagate the policies of the present government and
the political agenda, as it was thought that people feel close
when they listen to voices, even more when of favorites.
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Comparatively, he is of the same opinion as to the propaganda
purpose and the ownership of these two mediums: the business
class and their vested interests. The mutilation and
manipulation of facts are sometimes to such an extent that it
would not be wise to give such expressive and consistent medium
in the business hands. The author cites the example of the
National Recovery Act. Also the contradictory attitude of most
of the publications when on one hand they flows the article in
favor of any political party or against smoking and on the other
give advertisements a cigarette product, there by, not only
giving information but also propagating the harmful product.
The author also criticizes the ‘departments of information’,
which sends readymade statements to the press for publication.
And these are published without gaining the actual facts to
please the sponsoring body, may it be business or government.
Jaques Ellul has the same notion when he asserts that the term
"propaganda" is thrown around very loosely today, and is used
especially in the sphere of politics by politicians who want to
impute their political adversary of deceiving the electorate in
some way or another: "None of what my opponent says is true.
It’s all propaganda!" Thus, he says that the word "propaganda"
has become equivalent to lying.
Further he asserts that the actual propaganda very seldom makes
use of lies. He says that propaganda means a discipline of
thought and action, which makes use of the modern-day media of
print, broadcast and television, as well as person-to-person
contact, to convince a large group of people with a particular
concept or disposition. More precisely, propaganda attempts to
evoke a preferred action from the group of people being
propagandized. While this theme does try to indoctrinate its
audience with ideas and attitudes, but it is more often used for
stimulating its victims to some sort of action.
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In his book, The Formation of Men’s Attitude, Ellul depicts how
the men who have employed propaganda most successfully over the
last century like, Hitler, Stalin, Marx, Lenin and Mao, have
perfected into a highly practical technique utilizing the
components of psychology, sociology, behaviorism, oratory, and
many other disciplines. Those who practice it have gradually
perfected into what could be called a "scientific art".
Ellul says that while many conquests and accomplishments that
came through propaganda during this century, none have been so
vital as the fragmentation of the family and the church.
According to Ellul no propaganda can be successfully made until
these two important milestones of society have been broken up
and removed from a position of influence.
As compared to common wisdom, a group-oriented society is less
exposed to the effects of propaganda than an individualistic
society. He describes the phenomena of "lonely crowd" where each
individual within the crowd, despite being surrounded by others,
is in complete isolation and loneliness and is removed from
significant outside influences such as the church or family.
Thus, we can conclude that the enormity and magnitude of
propaganda’s influence as it makes use of every tool at its
disposal for propagating.
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