“The American people are free to do exactly what they are told.”
― Ward Churchill
World War I: The CPI
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The first time war propaganda played a major role in society was World War I. It was during World War I that Woodrow Wilson, through an executive order, created the Committee on Public Information otherwise known as the CPI, one week after the United States officially joined the war. Wilson placed a young man named George Creel as the head of the committee. George Creel and the committee have become known as Americas first censor.
The CPI was in control of what the general masses heard, saw, and read about the war both on the home front and the battle field. Citizens believed that the CPI was a committee who's primary goal was to keep the public updated on the war, however their underlying purpose was to bolster support for an unpopular war. Their main sense of rhetoric revolved around the tone they attempted to maintain throughout millions of speeches, papers, and radio broadcasts. The tone that they employed was extremely positive and upbeat. They focused on the positive numbers, how many victory gardens there were, how much food and supplies the men had. What they didn't focus on were all he negative aspects of the war. Their tone and methods of getting information to the American people increased the overall feeling of patriotism and therefore also lifted support for the war.
The committee was disbanded in 1919 in the United States and a year later in foreign countries. However, the event, marked the first time that propaganda and rhetoric strategies had been so carefully developed, executed, and recorded. When the CPI disbanded they had to hand over all of their information to the government facilities and to this day not all of the information has been released.
The CPI was in control of what the general masses heard, saw, and read about the war both on the home front and the battle field. Citizens believed that the CPI was a committee who's primary goal was to keep the public updated on the war, however their underlying purpose was to bolster support for an unpopular war. Their main sense of rhetoric revolved around the tone they attempted to maintain throughout millions of speeches, papers, and radio broadcasts. The tone that they employed was extremely positive and upbeat. They focused on the positive numbers, how many victory gardens there were, how much food and supplies the men had. What they didn't focus on were all he negative aspects of the war. Their tone and methods of getting information to the American people increased the overall feeling of patriotism and therefore also lifted support for the war.
The committee was disbanded in 1919 in the United States and a year later in foreign countries. However, the event, marked the first time that propaganda and rhetoric strategies had been so carefully developed, executed, and recorded. When the CPI disbanded they had to hand over all of their information to the government facilities and to this day not all of the information has been released.
World War II: Hitlers Principles
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- Avoid abstract ideas - appeal to the emotions.
- Constantly repeat just a few ideas. Use stereotyped phrases.
- Give only one side of the argument.
- Continuously criticize your opponents.
- Pick out one special "enemy" for special vilification.
These bullets come from direct orders of Hitler to his leaders of propaganda, most notably Dr. Joseph Goebbels named the “National Propaganda Leader”. Dr. Goebbels relied on minimizing the mistakes of the Nazi party and amplifying the mistakes made by the allied powers. The Nazi party also focused on other main aspects of rhetoric. They appealed to pathos, and focused heavily on repetition as a method to convince the German public of National Socialist ideals. Hitler has been called a mastermind in the use of visual propaganda, saying, ""The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan ( Mein Kampf vol. I ch. VI)".
Nazi propaganda posters all conveyed images of happy children and adults, they were all wearing swastikas, they were all blue eyed, and blonde haired. Although many people didn't realize it, these subtle images were effecting them psychologically.
Today:
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Today there is not one committee or group that controls propaganda. However, almost all propaganda we view is online, specifically on social media. For instance we see political ads or public service announcements before you tube videos, we see ads on twitter and Facebook timelines, and even more ads while we play games on our phones.
However, today's propaganda still follows similar rhetorical rules or strategies. The overall ideas are simple and repetitive enough for the brain to grasp and remember concepts in 30 seconds or less.
A main difference between propaganda today and propaganda in the 20th century, is the disguise of propaganda today. Today propaganda is much more disguised than it was during the first and second world wars. This stems from the idea that the brain overtime has become slightly better at recognizing propaganda when it is presented in a way the brain has learned about. Since many individuals have learned about or seen historical propaganda the brain has registered it as untrustworthy. Online however, the brain has a more difficult time registering propaganda as such. Overall although the medium has changed the propaganda and the rhetoric behind it has not drastically changed
However, today's propaganda still follows similar rhetorical rules or strategies. The overall ideas are simple and repetitive enough for the brain to grasp and remember concepts in 30 seconds or less.
A main difference between propaganda today and propaganda in the 20th century, is the disguise of propaganda today. Today propaganda is much more disguised than it was during the first and second world wars. This stems from the idea that the brain overtime has become slightly better at recognizing propaganda when it is presented in a way the brain has learned about. Since many individuals have learned about or seen historical propaganda the brain has registered it as untrustworthy. Online however, the brain has a more difficult time registering propaganda as such. Overall although the medium has changed the propaganda and the rhetoric behind it has not drastically changed
"The rank and file are more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious. In the long run only he will achieve basic results in influencing public opinion who is able to reduce problems to the simplest terms and who has the courage to keep forever repeating them in this simplified form despite the objections of intellectuals."
--Joseph Goebbels (from P&A)