In class today, a group gave a talk on the IWAR website. I browsed around and found some images of leaflets dropped over Iraq during the U.S. military operations conducted under the name Operation Iraqi Freedom.
These images are almost as good as the WWII propaganda the U.S. military and intelligence agencies employed on U.S. citizens at that time.
Some of my favorites from this government archive include:
The Four Freedom posters
When you ride alone, you ride with Hitler
Nazi boot crushing a church
WANTED: For Murder!
All of this propaganda uses very effective imagery and language to get a desired reaction from the viewer. These particular examples are much more direct than The FOX News Network, which some claim is “the propaganda voice of the Bush administration”.
I wonder if the more direct propaganda style from WWII would be as effective today? I think not, because U.S. citizens would feel too intruded upon by the U.S. government. Folks in the U.S. like to read the reports from, say, a “fair and balanced” news source and then decide for themselves. However, it is this desire that propaganda groups could take advantage of.
By offering censored (or selected) information in the form of news and under the guise of, for the sake of argument: “Fair and Balanced”, an organization could take advantage of the viewers desire to form their own opinion from sensible reports on the facts, when in fact the viewer’s opinion would be based on inacurate, or incomplete, information and reports.
This is a nice write up on how propaganda works. It comes from a larger entry on propaganda which I found to be worth the read.
For fun, see how many instances of propaganda you can find on the drive home today! Wheee!
Agitprop reports on the new Bush propaganda:
Bush Spews Propaganda!
The rabbit hole goes deeper ya know…