What is Propaganda?

Question

I feel like a bonehead asking this question, but the dictionary did not help. Please give me a definition.

Answer 1

Propaganda is the dissemination of information on one side of an issue, geared specifically to promote the viewpoint of the person or organization releasing it.

Answer 2

The official definition of "Propaganda" is the telling of the truth.

Unfortunately the word has been so misused that it has acquired the opposite meaning and most people believe that it means telling lies or falsehoods to persuade people to come around to a particular viewpoint.

Propaganda is used all the time in time of war, both to persuade people to support one side while it is used to confuse or upset the enemy.

The British used propaganda (miss-truths) about German actions in Belgium during the early stages of WW-1 to increase their peoples hatred of the Germans and to increase the recruitment drives.

The American government lied to its citizens about the cause of the Korean War. It also lied to its own citizens about the reasons for the Second Indochina War -- and this became evident from the "Pentagon Papers".

Answer 3

Mr. Craig C,

PROPAGANDA [prop-e-gan' de]. A kind of communication which attempts to influence the viewpoint and reactions of others, irrespective of the truth of the message.

Propaganda is regard as an attempt to persuasive communication, designed to influence the view point and behavior of individuals to suit the goals of the propagandist.

Technique of propaganda includes the selection and manipulation of symbol. Symbol are selected and manipulated to secure uncritical acceptance of the propaganda rather than for the purpose of telling the whole truth.

Various kinds of propaganda have been distinguished. Propaganda may be intentional or unintentional. Propaganda may be called 'honest' or 'dishonest' and 'good' or 'bad'.

Answer 4

(I'm 16 years old and not english)
its a kind of publicity , but fake , using lies. Usually used by dictators to control the population. For example , there's no food in a country (or just not inuf) , someone makes a video about a marked full of food saying everywhere's like that and showing happy people. So the population doesn't know the problems & doesn't make something like a revolution.
Better search that on wikipedia

Answer 5

Propaganda, for example, is a letter or news article meant to sway your opinion in the direction of the writer's point of view or desire. A good example of political propoganda was the video of the British soldiers who were held captive in Iran. The point of that video was to make you think the British were well treated while in captivity, and to make Iran seem like less of a threat. Another example is your daily newspaper, more specifically, the ads! Advertising is propoganda as well, in a literal way of speaking.

Answer 6

Propoganda is slanted and censored information used to promote a particular point of view. The facts are loose and truths are usually omitted to perpetuate a particular mindset and beliefs. The most famous may be war posters and dropped leaflets tauting certain political positions.

Answer 7

propaganda means a committee of cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church responsible for foreign missions, founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.
used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view : he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda.

propaganda
noun
a so-called documentary that was really socialist propaganda information, promotion, advertising, publicity, spin; disinformation, counter-information; historical agitprop; informal info, hype, plugging; puff piece; the big lie.

Answer 8

propagand is basicalley brainwashing someone they keep telling them something over and over again until that person beleives it for exemple beer companies say its cool to be drunk now we have a bunch of drunks music says its cool to be a gangbanger so we have wanksters abercrombie says its cool to dress this way so we have alot of preps it also gets worse and worse propaganda is often associated with hitler and the nazis because he told them jews were bad and made them week minded till they didint question his authoritey

Answer 9

information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation,

which means it's information spread around in a funny or bad way

Answer 10

The aim of propagandism is to influence people's opinions or behaviors actively, rather than merely to communicate the facts about something. For example, propaganda might be used to gather either support or disapproval of a certain position, rather than to simply present the position, or to try to convince people to buy something, rather than to simply let them know there is some thing on the market.

What separates propagandism from "normal" communication is in ways by which the message attempts to shape opinion or behavior, which are often subtle and insidious among other characteristics. For example, propagandism is often presented in a way that attempts to deliberately evoke a strong emotion, especially by suggesting illogical (or non-intuitive) relationships between concepts or objects (for instance between a “good” car and an attractive woman or a sex symbol).


The "super-villain" Captain Nazi on the cover of Master Comics #21 (1941), flanked by his American patriotic enemies Captain Marvel (left) and Bulletman. Art by Mac Rayboy.An appeal to one's emotions is, perhaps, a more obvious, and more common propagandism method than those utilized by some other more subtle and insidious forms. For instance, propagandism may be transmitted indirectly or implicitly, through an ostensibly fair and balanced debate or argument. This can be done to great effect in conjunction with a broadly targeted, broadcast news format. In such a setting, techniques like, "red herring", and other ploys (such as Ignoratio elenchi), are often used to divert the audience from a critical issue, while the intended message is suggested through indirect means.

This sophisticated type of diversion utilizes the appearance of lively debate within what is actually a carefully focused spectrum, to generate and justify deliberately conceived assumptions. This technique avoids the distinctively biased appearance of one sided rhetoric, and works by presenting a contrived premise for an argument as if it were a universally accepted and obvious truth, so that the audience naturally assumes it to be correct.

By maintaining the range of debate in such a way that it appears inclusive of differing points of view, so as to suggest fairness and balance, the suppositions suggested become accepted as fact. Here is such an example of a hypothetical situation in which the opposing viewpoints are supposedly represented: the hawk (see: hawkish) says, "we must stay the course", and the dove says, "The war is a disaster and a failure", to which the hawk responds, "In war things seldom go smoothly and we must not let setbacks affect our determination", the dove retorts, "setbacks are setbacks, but failures are failures."

In this example, the actual validity of the war is not discussed and is never in contention. One may naturally assume that the war was not fundamentally wrong, but just the result of miscalculation, and therefore, an error, instead of a crime. Thus, by maintaining the appearance of equitable discourse in such debates, and through continuous inculcation, such focused arguments succeed in compelling the audience to logically deduce that the presupposions of debate are unequivocal truisms of the given subject.

The method of propaganda is essential to the word's meaning as well. A message does not have to be untrue to qualify as propaganda. The message in modern propaganda is often not blatantly untrue. But even if the message conveys only "true" information, it will generally contain partisan bias and fail to present a complete and balanced consideration of the issue. Another common characteristic of propaganda is volume (in the sense of a large amount). For example, a propagandist may seek to influence opinion by attempting to get a message heard in as many places as possible, and as often as possible. The intention of this approach is to a) reinforce an idea through repetition, and b) exclude or "drown out" any alternative ideas.

In English, the word "propaganda" now carries strong negative (as well as political, mainly) connotations, although it has not always done so. It was formerly common for political organizations, as it had started to be for the advertising and public relations industry, to refer to their own material as propaganda. Because of the negative connotations the word has gained, today it is uncommon to admit producing propaganda, although opposing parties sometimes accuse each other of producing propaganda. Other languages, however, do not necessarily regard the term as derogatory and hence usage may lead to misunderstanding in communications with non-native English speakers.


U.S. propaganda poster, which warns against civilians sharing information on troop movements (National Archives)Public relations pioneer Edward L. Bernays in his classic studies eloquently describes propaganda as the purpose of communications. In Crystallizing Public Opinion, for example, he dismisses the semantic differentiations (“Education is valuable, commendable, enlightening, instructive. Propaganda is insidious, dishonest, underhanded, misleading.”) and instead concentrates on purposes. He writes (p. 212), “Each of these nouns carries with it social and moral implications... The only difference between ‘propaganda’ and ‘education,’ really, is in the point of view. The advocacy of what we believe in is education. The advocacy of what we don’t believe in is propaganda.”

The reason propaganda exists and is so widespread is because it serves various social purposes, necessary ones, often popular yet potentially corrupting. Many institutions such as media, private corporations and government itself are literally propaganda-addicts, co-dependent on each other and the fueling influence of the propaganda system that they help create and maintain. Propagandists have an advantage through knowing what they want to promote and to whom, and although they often resort to various two-way forms of communication this is done to make sure their one-sided purposes are achieved