Published on Wednesday, October 3, 2001 in the Toronto Star
The Art of Persuasion
Propaganda Machines Go Into Overdrive During Times of Strife
by Vinay Menon
Propaganda - most simply
Published on Wednesday, October 3, 2001 in the Toronto Star
The Art of Persuasion
Propaganda Machines Go Into Overdrive During Times of Strife
by Vinay Menon
Propaganda - most simply,
information used to persuade a group - is as old as civilization. The
Aztecs used it to rationalize human sacrifice. Alexander the Great
understood its symbolic power and had his image etched on coins.
But propaganda has always been most crucial during periods of
conflict and war.
So today, with advertising and other forms of modern persuasion
ubiquitous, how do leaders slice through the muddled cacophony and target
citizens with messages?
"The whole notion of propaganda now is up for grabs," says Robert
Thompson, a professor at Syracuse University. "In this age of 24-hour news
and spin, where there is constant coverage, propaganda has come out of the
closet and it really lives among us every day."
If Thompson is right, what does this mean to the "War Against
Terrorism," which seems to be moving toward a more active phase in
Afghanistan this week?
Unlike past military efforts, the White House has warned the new
war will unfold with "unprecedented secrecy." Though it's now a cliché, it
is important to remember truth is often the first casualty of war.
Ironically, says Thomas DeLuca, a political science professor at
Fordham University in New York, the sheer magnitude of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks created a temporary "propaganda-free zone" because
people were simply horrified by the visceral images.
For days there were no television commercials. Almost all news
coverage was devoted to the story. The entire world seemed to collapse
into the deepening tragedy.
"This is an unprecedented event in U.S. history," DeLuca says.
"There has never been an attack like this. Concentration on this event is
highly focused. People want the president to have a plan, to reassure
them, to be straightforward.
"So George Bush will have an enormous benefit as his words cut
through the propaganda that is usually around us."
Anthony Pratkanis, professor of psychology at the University of
California in Santa Cruz, and author of Age Of Propaganda: The Everyday
Use And Abuse Of Persuasion, agrees. But he says in the weeks ahead,
as collective shock begins to ebb, Bush will be faced with a number of
daunting challenges. "If Bush wants to maintain and sustain the effort,
the emotional propaganda will be okay for a short war, but in the long
term he needs to deliver persuasion. He needs to form consensus and argue
with substance, not slogan."
That seemed to be the case recently, as Bush addressed U.S.
Congress. As cameras rolled and politicians and lawmakers frequently
wobbled to their feet, and to thundering applause, Bush delivered a
rousing, evocative speech.
But the raw emotion and patriotism that has since bloomed atop the
rubble in New York and Washington is not necessarily beneficial to anybody
in the long run, says Nancy Snow, assistant director with the Center for
Communications and Community at UCLA. "A `war mentality' needs to be
decontextualized. It needs to be very clear, black and white, good guys
versus bad guys," says Snow, author of Propaganda Inc.: Selling
America's Culture To The World.
"So you end up with a single enemy, with slogans like `Wanted: Dead
or Alive,' ones that simplify the issues. Bush is using an `everyman'
approach to what is actually a very complex problem, burdensome in a
historical and economic context."
And this simplification, whether deliberate or not, can cloud
fundamental issues. In times of conflict, things are not always as they
Before the Persian Gulf War, for example, the world gasped with
reports that Iraqi troops were yanking sick babies from hospital
incubators and leaving them to die on the floor during the invasion of
Kuwait. The "dead babies" account was repeated hundreds of times, in the
media and in speeches by U.S. leaders, who were now clearly on a war
footing. Other reports - that Iraq had amassed thousands of troops along
the Saudi Arabia border - were also used to convince the public that
military action was necessary.
Both of those reports proved incorrect, but not until the war was
Larry Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of
Minnesota, says the Persian Gulf War took traditional propaganda to a new
level as U.S. authorities controlled the flow of information in the media
and expanded the lexicon of military euphemisms. Cruise missiles. Smart
bombs. Collateral damage. Safe bunkers. Hard targets. Hit ratios. Surgical
strikes. To western television viewers, the war must have appeared
John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper's magazine and author
of Second Front: Censorship And Propaganda In The Gulf War, says he
believes the war on terrorism will unfold with even more secrecy and
censorship. "Already we have a kind of `ahistori