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Subject: Most Successful Propaganda Techniques
sjdoc    11/29/2005 12:49:34 PM
This post would be more valuable if the writer (unnamed) were assisted with a bit more proofing support and advise to undertake less - or more skillful - advocacy for his/her particular political positions (especially an animus against unrestricted immigration). Also, many of the techniques discussed are well-defined logical fallacies, and it would be best if they were accorded their appropriate technical names. Available at link is one of many online sources of reliable reference information on this subject.

It would also improve this article considerably if some contribution could be made on the styles of bias commonly employed in propaganda promulgated outside the mainstream media (MSM) in these United States. We hear much about how facts are distorted (or entirely replaced by prevarication and outright fantasy) in the Islamic world, but very little about techniques common in Latin America, Europe, and even the nearest neighboring nations (Canada and Mexico).

I am personally grateful to the writer of the post for having thought to tackle the subject, and I believe that with some structural revision his/her purposes can be achieved more effectively.
 
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displacedjim    RE:Most Successful Propaganda Techniques   11/29/2005 3:32:12 PM
I guess when you own and operate your own website, you can infuse your posts with any personal point-of-view you wish. Thanks for the link to logical fallacies; I've bookmarked it. Displacedjim
 
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jastayme3    RE:Most Successful Propaganda Techniques   7/1/2006 4:04:01 AM
The most effective propaganda technique seems to be to repeatedly shove slogans down peoples throats and cut them off from other sources of information. This technique is temporarily limited by the internet but it survives. Also included are word manipulation, and the heavy use of connotation(I.E. almost every visitor to this site would count as a "militarist" according to some, however benign they are). However this method only lasts so long before it causes cynicism instead of devotion. While this will do quite a bit of harm to the target, the cynicism will limit his ability to be used to cause harm to others. Another, more aesthetically pleaseing, and more honorable method is classic rhetoric-"Blood, toil, tears, and sweat", "tear down this wall". Unfortunatly few can do it right, and it has mixed results. On the whole aesthetics and effectivness seem almost oppossed in the craft of propaganda-it works well when it is repetitive and crude causing an effect analogous to hypnosis. Churchillian propaganda is like Champagne, but "cheap vodka" propaganda often works better. Humor is highly effective, and is often used. I have a liking for "der Fuhrer's face"("When der Fuhrer says/vie is der master race/ vie says heil, heil, vite in der Fuhrer's face"). This is a more gentle type of satire. Scorn can be very effective. On the other hand Scorn to some degree depends on the target respecting the scorner-if the target couldn't care less he is invulnerable. One of the most useless methods is preaching to an enemy. Very few forces have had their morale hurt by it. Some have had it increased-by getting the chance to ridicule their foe. Discipline doesn't break that easy. Which brings us to what may be the most effective technique of all-millitary discipline. In the last century there have really been to dominant forms of military culture; the traditional and the revolutionary. Traditional, is simply "the western way of war" in all it's variations. It is connected to a state and has the advantage of giving instinctive obeidiance. Revolutionary military culture, stresses ideology. It gives tremendous motivation, but is unpredictable and is not capable of consolidation. It is more able to fight a war then to win it and more able to win a war then to get a good peace out of it, so a partisan group really must either conventionalize itself or go on indefinitely seeking giants to slay. One obvious yet often effective method is simple fear. During World War II, it was the practice of the Finns to photograph Russian corpses and drop them into the Russian camp with the caption "White Death". It takes a "certain type" of person to do that sort of thing well and I probably wouldn't want to meet him. Nonetheless war is war and it is a more honest technique then many. It wouldn't have worked of course if the fortune of war hadn't given the Finns a lot of credibility. Another, and very creepy technique is the "Big Brother is Watching You" technique. Both the Nazis and the Russians used it well. In fact it was to some degree a bluff-the Gestapo was to incompetant, and the KGB, had to many things to do. The only regime I am aware of that managed to set up a "big brother" that was not a bluff, was East Germany. And good riddance.
 
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jastayme3       9/23/2006 5:21:55 PM
By the way I just got a birthday card "from" Karen Minnis Speaker of the House.

That was a masterpiece. Gotta hand it to whoever thought that one up. I don't know enough about her to say whether I hope it gets her votes but it is at least elegant propaganda whether or not it turns out to be effective.
 
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