Teaching Propaganda

After Much Ado. . .

2012-01-08T17:53:00.000-08:00

Why haven't I updated this blog in an age and a half?

Let's see:

October, 2010 - was asked for a divorce.
December, 2010 - divorce finalized.
Late December, 2010 - first hospitalized in ICU.
January, 2011 - diagnosed with aplastic anemia.
March, 2011 - receive chemotherapy and stem cell transplant (autologous).
June, 2011 - apparent relapse.
July, 2011 - apparent relapse revealed to be, well, not a relapse.
August, 2011 - I begin work again - the rest of the autumn I try to catch up on my work.
January, 2012 - start to rock this party again quickly.

Fin.

Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center

2010-09-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

"Lion Team For Celebrating the Happiness"
Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center

The other day I posted on what is probably the most famous collection of Chinese propaganda on the net, that of Stefan Landsberger. Today, though, I found a doozy of a peer site while I looked for art museums with exhibits featuring propaganda - the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center. Wow, what a mouthful.

The Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center is a private museum in the still-not-democratic-at-all People's Republic of China, by its own description, "tucked away in the basement level of a nondescript apartment building." The collection of posters isn't huge, but it is excellent, highlighting works of a few categories (woodcuts, "important porters," Dazibao or "big character" works, works on cloth, and "Shanghai ladies posters") and it has some serious street cred - heck, it seems like the SPPAC has conducted at least six major shows with other museums. Regardless, it is a beautiful site, and while it may not replace Landsberger's work, it certainly augments it nicely.

Hitler and Propaganda

2010-09-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

There is no question that Hitler's infamous diatribe, Mein Kampf (1925), is in and of itself one of the world's most influential pieces of propaganda - easily the single most influential work amongst all the variant types of fascism. But Mein Kampf, or "my struggle," is also a work that specifically addresses the subject of propaganda as well. While both volumes of Hitler's autobiography/ideological rant are peppered with references to the subject, two chapters focus exclusively on the subject of propaganda.

Volume I, Chapter 6: War Propaganda

Surprisingly, perhaps, to the first-time reader, Hitler asserts repeatedly and at great length that the Allies were far more effective in their use of propaganda during the First World War and he insists that far more can be learned more from their efforts than from those of the Central Powers. He also insists that propaganda is definitively defined as a means, rather than an ends - aimed at guaranteeing national honor and thus national survival. Ideational manipulation is not a product of libido dominandi but emerges out of inherent scientific necessity, according to Hitler.

Hitler will go on at length with regards to the subject of propaganda's proper audience and who it should be oriented in order to capture that audience. Propaganda, he insists, is intended to capture the loyalty of the masses, not the intelligentsia. I quote here:

"To whom has propaganda to appeal? To the scientific intelligentsia or to the less educated masses?

It has to appeal forever and only to the masses!

Propaganda is not for the intelligentsia or for those who unfortunately call themselves by that name today, but

scientific teaching. But propaganda is in its contents as far from being science as perhaps a poster is art in its presentation as such. A poster's art lies in the designer's ability to catch the masses' attention by outline and color. The poster for an art exhibition has to point only to the art of the exhibition; the more it succeeds in this, the greater therefore is the art of the poster itself. Further, the poster is to give to the masses an idea of the importance of the exhibition, but it is in no way to be a substitute for the art represented by the exhibition. Therefore, he who wants to occupy himself with art itself has really to study more than the poster; yes, for him it is by far not sufficient merely to 'walk through' the exhibition. It may be expected of him that he bury himself in the individual works by thoroughly looking them over so that then he may gradually form a just opinion for himself.

The situation is a similar one with what today we call propaganda.

The task of propaganda lies not in a scientific training of the individual, but rather in directing the masses towards certain facts, events, necessities, etc., the purpose being to move their importance into the masses' field of vision.

The art now is exclusively to attack this so skillfully that a general conviction of the reality of a fact, of the necessity of an event, that something; that is necessary is also right, etc., is created. But as it is not and cannot be science in itself, as its task consists of catching the masses' attention, just like that of the poster, and not in teaching one who is already scientifically experienced or is striving towards education and knowledge, its effect has always to be directed more and more towards the feeling, and only to a certain extent to so-called reason. (230-232)

Later, Hitler asserts that it is dangerous to ridicule the enemy in propaganda, since when soldiers meet the enemy and realize the enemy is dangerous, an internal contradiction emerges - Hitler even goes so far as to laud the bigoted British and American propaganda of the First World War which portrayed Germans as barbarians and "Huns." Indeed, Hitler argues that subtlety has no role in propaganda - the enemy must be portrayed utterly evil, while your own forces, intentions, and methods must be portrayed as absolutely good. Hitler asserts:

Propaganda's task is, for instance, not to evaluate the various rights, but far more to stress exclusively the one that is to be represented by it. It has not to search into truth as far as this is favorable to others, in order to present it then to the masses with doctrinary honesty, but it has rather to serve its own truth uninterruptedly. (236)

The practitioner of propaganda, in Hitler's eyes, has no room for moral ambiguity or comparative ethics: moderation and the humanization of the enemy admit the possibility of self-doubt and the tendency to moderate one's actions and demands and this, argues Hitler, is unacceptable for practical purposes. Indeed, Hitler acknowledges the primitiveness of this approach, and delights in it.

Hitler clarifies his position, asserting that simplicity is not enough - rather, the message of the propagandist must be simple, repeated, and intellectually contiguous over time.

Volume II, Chapter 11: Propaganda and Organization

Hitler opens this chapter by asserting that propaganda is more important in establishing a movement or organization than anything else - spreading the ideas and fundamental precepts of a movement will naturally lead to recruitment, the expansion of dedicated human capital. From this capital the elites of the new movement may then be selected and, upon so doing, a formal institutionalization imposed. He also distinguishes between what makes a great theorist a great theorist a great organizer a great organizer - critical to this distinction is the fact that the great organizer is an expert in human psychology - to paraphrase Hitler, the great organizer neither overestimates human individuals nor underestimates the power inherent in human masses.

Later, Hitler distinguishes between two fundamental types of audiences - followers and members. Followers, argues Hitler, are those who merely share values with a movement; it is essentially passive and primarily motivated by propaganda. Members are those persons recruited by the institutional core of a movement into active participation. The followers will, inevitably, be ruled by members in this scenario - the goal of propaganda is, indeed, to accomplish uniform agreement across society as to the ends and means thereof (totalitarian ethics, perhaps), but there is no need to attempt to bring everyone into active support of those values - the submission of eighty or ninety percent of society to the principle-embodiment of the ruling "membership" class is more than adequate. Indeed, the measure of a program of propaganda's success is observable in the proportion of followers to members - the more effective the propaganda, the fewer members are necessary to control a given number of followers. This rule holds for both explicitly religious and political movements.

Hitler also argues that for propaganda to work properly the propagandistic organ should be largely independent of the organizational apparatus of a movement, loyal and subservient only to the chairman of the movement. I find this particularly interesting since I observed, in practical terms at least, virtually the same conditions in the People's Republic of China in my master's thesis work - the propaganda organs of the PRC are controlled directly by the elite leadership of the state and, therefore, reflect only the vision of the very elite - the opinions and machinations of the political "managerial" class are merely unimportant.

Most of the rest of the chapter is a rambling discourse on the early years of Hitler's work as a propagandist, seemingly intended to justify his labors and glorify his struggle against poverty.

Conclusion

Regardless of Hitler's extended ravings and his obscene bigotry, he clearly demonstrates a functional theory of propaganda, one which resembles a sledge hammer more than an ice pick, perhaps, but one which was clearly successful in achieving his ends. Indeed, his model in Mein Kampf could potentially have use for scholars of propaganda as a lodestone for developing a set of "language rules" for totalitarian (and even non-totalitarian) systems of propagandizing.

Note: Quotes in this article are taken from the 1941 Reynal & Hitchcock (in arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company and apparently based on HMC's 1939 edition) English language edition of Mein Kampf.

"Two Ways of Looking at Propaganda" by John Brown

2010-09-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

John H. Brown
Georgetown University Institute for the Study of Diplomacy

In 2006 the official blog of the University of Southern California Center on Diplomacy at the Annenberg School published a brief but insightful post ("Two Ways of Looking at Propaganda") in which the author, the good Doctor John H. Brown. The post compares and contrasts what Brown asserts are the two major philosophical positions available vis-a-vis propaganda - what he calls moralism and neutralism. The former takes an absolutist position against propaganda (propaganda is a tool which can only be used to detract from truth and, therefore, is fundamentally unethical), the latter takes a relativistic approach. As such, it could potentially be an excellent core document for a discussion on when, and if, propaganda may be ethically used.

the propaganda site

2010-09-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how old the very simple, rather elegant site known as the propaganda site is, but I'm guessing it was originally posted sometime during or near 1994. It is exactly the sort of resource, however, that is perfect for conveying fundamental concepts - easy to navigate, easy to cut-and-paste into digital notebooks, and easy to print and three-hole punch into, well, non-digital notebooks. The author of the site is legitimate as well, the good doctor Aaron Delwiche (LiveJournal, a profile on Trinity University's website), a communications professor specializing in digital communications and their implications who was inspired by the early 20th Century work of the Institute for Propaganda Analysis.

the propaganda site is really a collection articles (defining fundamental concept and logical fallacies) and examples in the form of brief case studies and videos. Delwiche also provides a set of referenes and a list of books he recommends to students interested in the subject of propaganda.

Regardless, this is a great site, particularly for educators or newcomers to the study of propaganda, psyops, and other forms of political communications.

Textile Propaganda

2010-09-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

A British L-85 Dress
The FIDM Museum Blog

The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum of Los Angeles, California posted an interesting article entitled "Propaganda Fashion" about British L-85 clothing regulations, the use of print textiles during World War II for propaganda purposes, and the influence of uniforms on fashion. Short, but very interesting.

Superstition and Propaganda

2010-09-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

Io9's Cyriaque Lamar posted a tremendous story today entitled, "How Ghosts, Superstitions, and Vampires Have Been Used For Psychological Warfare." The premise is simple - "modern" Americans and British pull the wool over the eyes of "superstitious" peasants. The logic is nothing new - heck, it is a staple of colonial psychological strategies at least as far back as the Spanish invasions of America (imagine the effect encountering an armored white man on a horse firing gunpowder-based weapons when you have never before seen metal body armor, Caucasians, horses, or gunpowder-based anything), but it is always interesting to see it utilized. And while (1) the strategies worked and (2) psychological warfare is exactly that - warfare - one has to feel a little uncomfortable with the sense of smugness necessary to attempt such unsubtle forms of emotional (and therefore rational) manipulation - using someone's religious tenants against them is just darn uncomfortable.

Stefan Landsberger and Chinese Propaganda Posters

2010-09-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

"Herdspeople love to read books by Lenin and Marx"
by Shao Hua and Shao Qinglin, 1976

One of the greatest collections of propaganda on the internet, Stefan Landsberger's collection is worth an hour or more of your time. First, the details - you can see Professor Landsberger's complete collection at chineseposters.net, as well as its predecessor, the much more yellow original version which is preserved on the Internet Archive.

Secondly, there are a number ways in which the avid art historian or political psychologist can study Landsberger's collection. The collection it demonstrates vividly the rules and principles of Chinese propaganda throughout the 20th and early 21st Century - the questions of which rules are static and which are dynamic alone are fascinating. Additionally, Landsberger's exploration of "themes" is arguably the best exploration of Chinese communist iconography ever presented in the English language. Finally, for decades in the People's Republic of China artists were enlisted as craftsmen - the impulse to create original work was entirely quashed by Chinese authorities. This propaganda is, often, the only significant surviving testament to the survival of Chinese art in the midst of totalitarianism. Chinese art history for decades is, essentially, a history of propaganda.

Landsberger's work is hosted by the Dutch International Institute of Social History.

Statement of Purpose

2010-09-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

My name is Eric Drummond Smith and I am a political science professor at a small, liberal arts college in Appalachia, the University of Virginia's College at Wise. I specialize in international relations and comparative politics, but my master's thesis was about, and one of my not-so-secret interests is, propaganda. Sometime in the next year I hope to begin teaching a special topics class (that may become an honors course) on this subject and, well, it is tougher to put together than I might have thought. Thus I am making this blog, as much as anything else, to help me organize my thoughts both on the readings and on media I hope to use as examples. And now, on with the show.