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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Enigma who wrote (6606)	4/2/2003 12:28:51 PM
From: Ron	Respond to of 21614

BASIC ELEMENTS OF PROPAGANDA Propaganda is generally defined as the dissemination of information, but more specifically, it connotes the dissemination of information for the purposes of persuasion and advocating an agenda. Repetition - owing to the infantile limitations of collective memory, a message must be continuously propagated in order to take hold within the collective consciousness. Simplicity - The message must be designed in such a way that it appeals to or is quickly understood by the lowest common intellectual denominator of the collective. This is not only true because of the vast ignorance of the masses, but also because the collective attention span is virtually nonexistent. We now live in a world of sound-bite discourse. The simple lie always conquers the complex truth. Imagery - The most powerful propaganda is embedded within appealing imagery. This imagery could be pictorial or descriptive. This is why movies and music are such potent forms of pr propaganda. Sentiment - The message must contain as little detail as possible, and instead be designed in such a way that it appeals to some strong emotion or sentiment—such as sex or sympathy. The exclusion of detail allows for the quicker processing of the message, while the underlying sentiment reinforces it. The message need not be logically or factually based, this only clouds the affective force of the message. If any logic or fact is included, it must be very simple and plain, requiring virtually no processing time — the use of cliches and platitudes is quite effective. A practical examination of the media, by which sentiments are seeded within the minds of men, leads one unequivocally to the conclusion that the primary means of modern propaganda are the audio-visual media—television and film. Secondary, of course, is print. Tertiary and upcoming media include interactive media such as talk radio and the internet. These tertiary media are positive trends in one respect, they are interactive—information exchange is two-way. Still though, the internet and its inevitable future probably will not break the grip of the television and film industries, as these industries will ultimately employ these new media to their advantage. It almost goes without saying that the one-way audio-visual communication pumped into millions of households around the globe is the most effective means of propagating a message. propagandacritic.com