The War of the Mind: Democracy through Propaganda

The War of the Mind: Democracy through Propaganda

The mainstream media have played a central role in the manipulation of masses since time immemorial in ensuring that they adopt certain attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Numerous countries during the world wars highly depended on a complex combination of propaganda characterized by exaggerations, distortions, misrepresentations, and lies to foster the messages of extremities and hate and to justify their positions in the war. In essence, propaganda continues to essential for democracies who consider it legitimate, both at times of war and times of peace. Although propaganda was initially linked to totalitarianism states, it has and continues to flourish in the liberal democracies. While proponents have argued that it helps keeping liberties and freedom at the center of national identity, opponents hold that it keeps people from the truth. Thus, it remains controversial as to whether propaganda is a good thing. Although it is true that it hides the truth from the masses, propaganda, primarily promulgated through the mainstream media, is an essential foundation for liberal democracies.

Propaganda as the Concealer of Truth and the Conqueror of Democracy

Propaganda has been widely used by self-serving leaders and politicians to foster their self-interest and jeopardize the interests of the majority. For instance, during the World War 1, politicians used posters and films to recruit and rally troops while garnering public opinion to justify their actions. In 1942, the War Manpower Commission created a poster with the title “Women in War: We Can’t win Without Them” to inspire women to join the armed forces (Hobbs and McGee 44). Although the poster based its arguments on gender equality, the underlying truth was to increase the army base due to the reduced rates of male recruitments. 350,000 women joined the war efforts the same year (O’Shaughnessy 32).

The current political class has used Propaganda in numerous instances to manipulate voters so as to support their political bid. For instance, in 2008, a posters such as “Hope” and “Go tell mama! I’m for Obama” popularized Obama’s bid for presidency. Some have argued that such propaganda significantly contributed to Obama’s win with votes amounting to over 69 million which is the highest in the history of American presidential winning votes (Minnite 510). The mainstream media as well as the social media played a central role in President Trump’s election. Stories such as Trump’s candidacy being endorsed by the Pope and the email scandals of Hillary Clinton became widely popular in the mainstream media, including newspapers and television broadcasts, significantly contributing to Trump’s win (Persily 67). As Persily establishes, self-serving politicians have used propaganda to solicit for funds and ensure that they win their political bids while hiding the truth about their power and ill agendas (71). Richard Nixon is the only president in the US history to resign over corruption allegations after the Watergate scandal. In technical sense, therefore, propaganda has infringed absolute democracy and instead given way for individuals to wield political power.

Various media outlets continue to receive criticism for their skewed reporting that tend to benefit specific individuals while hiding the underlying truth. Various news reporters and editors have published untruthful and exaggerated news that favor the government and specific corporations for the benefit of their own careers and successes. The government has also used the media in numerous instances to solicit for domestic support for certain critical policy issues. While such solicitations might be necessary at times, the underlying truth is that they suppress media democracy and might conceal the actual truth from the public leading to the adoption of controversial laws policies.

Propaganda as the Foundation of Liberal Democracies

Propaganda does not have negative impacts in its entirely but is sometimes necessary in upholding democracy and the rule of law. Numerous researchers have indeed agreed that propaganda can be used for good to strengthen the weak links within a liberal democracy (Buşu 85). First, it might be essential in keeping the economy stable during hard times and ensuring that there is sufficient labor in the various sectors of the labor force. During World War II, the United States experienced labor shortages. It needed to change the mindset of the public regarding work in the factories and in military which were stereotypically considered masculine. Through propaganda, the government and the media created posters with taglines such as We Can Do It! Women in War, and Get a War Job! greatly encouraged women to take up manual-labor jobs and to join military (Katsirea 162). Thus, the propaganda helped in restoring economic viability and the position of the US in the War.

Additionally, the involvement of mainstream media in propaganda set a stage for encouragement and promotion of unity in the face of adversaries. During the World War II, the government, through the public, formed a body known as the Writers’ War Board (WWB) whose main objective was to spread propaganda that give hope to Americans (Alterman 13). The body, which became known as the greatest propaganda machine in history, published numerous posters and newspapers and influenced the production of numerous films which portrayed and exaggerated the US as a great nation with great liberty bonds amidst a world dominated by war. Its goal was not only to strengthen the American liberty but to show the world that it can thrive through democracy rather than totalitarianism. The result of the propaganda was a more unified US nation and more countries willing to drop totalitarianism for democracy.

Further, the need to protect critical federal and state information as well as the operations of the military and the CIA calls for the need to manipulate the mainstream media and to ensure that whatever they present as news does not jeopardize their operations. American military recognizes that information is the currency of victory and that at times it is necessary to deceive the enemy through media not only to misinform the adversary but also to maintain public support (Buşu et al. 89). Currently, the military has been operating through an embedded journalism which is critical in collecting detailed information on operations. However, it is necessary to ensure that published news from such reporting do not feature extreme situations but exaggerate the victory of the military maintain a positive outlook.

Conclusion

It is evident from the argumentative analysis that propaganda in the mainstream media is a complex issue that is difficult to solve. It has acted as a conduit through which self-serving politicians influence the masses and attain their self-interests. On the contrary, it also acts as a pathway through which liberal democracies not only attain democracy but also sustain it. Critical examination of the contradicting arguments reveal that the benefits of propaganda, both in the past and in present, far outweigh the challenges it presents. Therefore, propaganda is essential in strengthening the foundations of democracy.

Works Cited

Alterman, Eric. “Kabuki Democracy–And How To Fix It.” Nation, vol. 292, no. 4, Jan. 2011, pp. 11–18.

Buşu, Oprea-Valentin, Mirela Teodorescu, and Daniela Gîfu. “Communicational positive propaganda in democracy.” International Letters of Socialand Humanistic Sciences (ILSHS) 27 (2014): 82-93.

Hobbs, Renee, and Sandra McGee. “Teaching about propaganda: An examination of the historical roots of media literacy.” Journal of Media Literacy Education 6.2 (2014): 5.

Katsirea, Irini. “‘Fake News’: Reconsidering the Value of Untruthful Expression in the Face of Regulatory Uncertainty.” Journal of Media Law, vol. 10, no. 2, Dec. 2018, pp. 159–188.

Minnite, LorraineC. “New Challenges in the Study of Right-Wing Propaganda: Priming the Populist Backlash to ‘Hope and Change.’” New Political Science, vol. 34, no. 4, Dec. 2012, pp. 506–526

O’Shaughnessy, Nicholas. “The death and life of propaganda.” Journal of Public Affairs 12.1 (2012): 29-38.

Persily, Nathaniel. “The 2016 US Election: Can democracy survive the internet?.” Journal of democracy 28.2 (2017): 63-76.