This Week: Propaganda, Part I

Quote of the Week

The What, Who, Where, When, How, and Why of Propaganda: An Introduction

Propaganda Series Part I: What Is Propaganda?

Economics, Art and Ideology

Greetings,

It's been a while since I wrote about propaganda (back in 2002 was the last extended foray into this territory), so I thought it would be good to add a few things I've learned in the meantime.  Hence the series that kicks off this week.

Although this series may give the impression of an attempt at some sort of "comprehensive" statement on the subject, that's not what it is at all.  In fact, Nygaard Notes never intends to be comprehensive.  And I never intend to write "the truth."  What this newsletter really is about is writing about my / search / for clarity--and "truth" if you like--so that readers can observe the journey.  It's not about "truth" at all, really.  It's more of a dialectical process of discovery.

Enjoying the journey,

Nygaard

"Quote" of the Week:

Here are some words from page 54 of the book "Propaganda," published in 1928 by "The Father of Public Relations," Edward L. Bernays:

"Formerly the rulers were the leaders.  They laid out the course of history, by the simple process of doing what they wanted.  And if nowadays successors of the rulers, those whose position or ability gives them power, can no longer do what they want without the approval of the masses, they find in propaganda a tool which is increasingly powerful in gaining that approval.  Therefore propaganda is here to stay."

The What, Who, Where, When, How, and Why of Propaganda: An Introduction

In this issue I begin a series that I will call "The What, Who, Where, When, How, and Why of Propaganda."  I've talked a little bit in the past in these pages about Propaganda (which I will capitalize in this series, because I have a somewhat different definition of it, which you will see later in this issue).  Some of the points in this series are points that I have developed in the past, so I will just summarize them briefly in this issue, expanding them as needed.  As we go along, I'll give the dates and numbers for the issues of Nygaard Notes in which you can find a fuller explanation of those points.

In the meantime, I thought I should give a hint of what you can expect from this series, which will start this week and will continue until terror is defeated--oops, I've been reading too many of Bush's speeches!  I mean, until I've finished with all six aspects of the subject, plus any other aspects that I might stumble across along the way.  So, here are the six points I hope to explore in the next few issues of the Notes:

Part 1. What is Propaganda?  I'll give some dictionary definitions, and introduce the idea of levels of Propaganda, which I call "Overt Propaganda" and "Deep Propaganda."  Finally, I'll give my own definition of Propaganda.

Part 2.
Who engages in Propaganda?  I'll introduce the idea that Propaganda involves not just a "producer" (the propagandist), but also a "distributor," and who that might be.  There is some confusion here about the relationship between ideology and Propaganda, which I hope to address.

Part 3.
Where and When do you find Propaganda?  I'll talk about the different places and times that we internalize Deep Propaganda, and the places and times we receive Overt Propaganda.

Part 4. How does Propaganda happen?  This will be a little more complex, as it may require a little delving into the history and theory of public relations, the concept of "hegemony," something about the nature of our ongoing transition from a literate to a graphic culture, and probably some other stuff that I haven't thought of yet.

Part 5. Why do we have Propaganda?  We have it because people in positions of power want us to go along with what they want to do.  That's the simple answer.  But I hope to talk in this section about the role of information and ideas in a democracy, introducing a class analysis that brings together the overlapping needs of the producers and distributors of Propaganda.

Part 6.
By the time I get done with all this, I may be ready to spell out why I think all of this is so important.  Or, maybe it will be obvious by that time.  What I do plan to do is talk about what we can do about Propaganda, from both a personal and a social standpoint.

Oh, yeah, I hope to give some resources for further reading for people who want to explore this subject a little further on their own.  That should do it.  Let's begin.

What Is Propaganda?

The dictionary says that "Propaganda" is "any systematic, widespread, deliberate indoctrination, or plan for such indoctrination."  Or, "any organization or movement working for the propagation of particular ideas, doctrines, practices, etc."  To "propagate" is to "spread (ideas, customs, etc) from person to person or from generation to generation."

The Father of Public Relations, Edward L. Bernays, in his classic 1928 book "Propaganda," spelled out what he called "modern" Propaganda as follows: "Modern Propaganda is a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, group, or idea."

The legendary social scientist Harold Lasswell, in an article for the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, defined it this way: "Propaganda in the broadest sense is the technique of influencing human action by the manipulation of representations.  These representations may take spoken, written, pictorial or musical form."

While the word "Propaganda," as my Webster's Unabridged Dictionary puts it, is "now often used in a derogatory sense," it wasn't always so.  Many people believed, and still believe, that U.S. and British Propaganda was one of the tools that helped to defeat the Germans in World War I.  The U.S. government's Committee on Public Information during that war--also known as the Creel Committee, after its civilian chair--has been referred to as "America's first 'Propaganda ministry.'"  In World War II, President Roosevelt created the "Office of War Information."  Now we have something called the Office of Public Diplomacy, and a new corporate effort to "improve the standing of America in the world," called "Business for Diplomatic Action."

You can see that the idea and practice of Propaganda is not new.  But it has evolved, as communications technologies have evolved, and thus some of the old definitions are in need of evolution, as well.

The Nygaard Notes Definition of Propaganda

I like to talk about two "levels" of Propaganda, what I call "Overt Propaganda" and "Deep Propaganda."  I spoke about this at some length in Nygaard Notes #172, but here's a summary:

Overt Propaganda is the thing--idea, fact, observation, whatever--that the recipient is supposed to believe.  Deep Propaganda is the underlying set of ideas that make the Overt Propaganda  believable.  Overt Propaganda, then, tends to be specific and conscious , while Deep Propaganda is usually general and unconscious .  Deep Propaganda is found in the assumptions, premises, and unwritten foundations upon which a story or a news report rests.  Deep Propaganda is the answer to the question: "Why do you believe that?"

Another way to think about the two levels of Propaganda is that Overt Propaganda is largely external.  That is, it is the stuff--information, news reports, proclamations, speeches--that is presented to us by someone outside of ourselves.  Deep Propaganda, on the other hand, is largely internal. That is, it is the stuff that we carry inside of ourselves that shapes our understanding of the things that come at us from outside.  Of course, our internalized beliefs originally came from outside of ourselves, since we aren't born with an understanding of politics, or human nature, or social systems, but the point is that those ideas eventually are internalized, and become the things we take for granted.  And the "taking for granted" of those ideas, in turn, involves forgetting where we got them, or even that we "got" them at all.

In order to stress the fundamental nature of this cultural context that exists in our minds, I have taken to calling these underlying beliefs the ABC's of Propaganda.  That is, the Attitudes, Beliefs, and Conceptions (ABC's) that make up our internalized world.  Everyone should know their ABC's!

Note that the standard definitions of Propaganda that I gave above speak of "effort," and "manipulation" and "deliberate" actions.  By defining Propaganda in this way, these definitions all focus on the PRODUCERS of Overt Propaganda.  They further appear to assume that the PRODUCERS are also the DISTRIBUTORS of that Propaganda, and they stay in the realm of the conscious, ignoring the unconscious transmission and reinforcement that is increasingly common in the modern media environment.  This is not good enough, in my opinion.  In our  modern society, indeed our modern world, any and every propagandist needs a reliable and compliant system in place to distribute her/his Propaganda.  No formal conspiracy (or "consistent, enduring effort") can be comprehensive enough to manufacture a national consensus.

So, here is the Nygaard Notes definition of Propaganda:

Propaganda is the process by which particular ideas, doctrines, images, and ideologies are consistently produced and distributed throughout a social system, and in which countervailing ideas, doctrines, images, and ideologies are systematically repressed and/or suppressed.

There.  That's much better, don't you think?

Economics, Art and Ideology

Here are two anecdotes from my past.  The first one I've told before in these pages (which I did when I was talking about Propaganda.  Hmmm...), but the second one is new to these pages.

Many years ago, I tried going to college.  To the University of Minnesota, in fact.  It didn't work out very well, and I only lasted for three months, but in that time I took a class called "Principles of Macroeconomics."  This was described as a basic "economics" course.  ("Macro" simply meaning that we looked at larger systems, like nations and stuff, rather than personal or household finances, which is called "microeconomics.")  The course was an "honors" course, and was taught by Walter Heller, who had been the chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers in the Kennedy administration.  A pretty mainstream guy, in other words, teaching about "economics" at a major university.  The same course is still taught; I don't know who teaches it now.

After looking over the syllabus for the course, then sitting in the classes for a couple of weeks, it became clear to me that the only "economics" that would be taught was capitalist economics.  Certainly this is one economic system, and certainly it is the dominant system in this culture.  But it is not the only system of "economics."  I complained about being misled by the name of the course, and about the limitations of the subject matter, but to no avail.  As I recall, my complaint was perceived as unreasonable, if not naive and somewhat bizarre.  I finished out the entire quarter and did, indeed, learn something about capitalist macroeconomic theory.

During the same ill-fated quarter of my academic career, I took a course with the title "History of World Art."  Again I looked at the syllabus, and again I gave it a couple of weeks, and in this case it became clear that the "world" consisted of Europe and the United States.  Again I complained, and this time the response was not to ridicule me, but instead went something like this: "Look, this is a survey course.  We can't cover EVERYTHING!"  Surely not, but the decision as what to include and what to exclude was hardly random, and in this case the racism and Eurocentrism seemed completely intolerable, so I dropped out of that course, and shortly ended my academic career.

Brief though it was, my experience in academia stimulated an ongoing interest in the idea of cultural hegemony, although I didn't know the phrase until years later. "Cultural hegemony" is the idea that certain attitudes, beliefs and conceptions about the world can be so widely accepted in a society as to become the de facto "organizing principles" of a society.  They are rarely discussed or defended.  They are "common sense."

That's all I'll say about hegemony for now, but I'll explore the concept at some length later on in this series, as I believe it is one of the keys to understanding modern Propaganda.

Next week: Who does Propaganda?  And Where and When do you find it?