Lifestyles

Renaissance Redneck: The artful puppeteers

By David Kittredge
By David Kittredge

Unfortunately, in this day and age we are constantly bombarded with propaganda from varying directions. Our defense against this barrage of mental persuasion by politicians, corporate media and product advertisement is to merely recognize it when the insidious attack is occurring. When a vehicle manufacturer implies that purchasing their product will elevate you into a state of nirvana or will cause you to feel more manly it should signal, buyer beware, as you are likely going to end up with buyer’s remorse. When a campaigning politician blubbers that they will work for you once they get to Washington, again it’s a case of buyer beware.

First, I would like to provide a bit of historical background and the definition of the word propaganda. The term was first derived in 1622, referring to a council created by the Catholic Church known, in Latin, as the “Congregatio de Propaganda Fide,” which when translated means “Congregation for Propagating the Faith” to oversee the promotion of the Catholic faith in non-Catholic countries. In the 1790s, the term propaganda started to encompass secular activities in the political field, taking on a negative connotation, unless of course, one is an anti-Catholic.

The use of propaganda became widespread with the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in mid-15th century Europe. Pamphlets were printed and widely circulated during the Reformation period challenging the power of the Catholic Church by informing the public of new ideas and doctrine of a protestant nature, with the advent of the Lutheran Church.

One of the earliest instances of propaganda occurred between 49 and 45 B.C., during the Great Roman Civil War. The two opposing warlords and political foes, Caesar Octavian and Mark Antony, lobbed insults at one another which included cruelty, cowardice, oratorical and literary incompetence, debaucheries, luxury, and drunkenness. I find it interesting that these same barbs have stood the test of time and are still being flung around in our present day political arenas.

In the 12th century, Genghis Khan employed a form of propaganda where he would send a small cadre of his soldiers ahead of his conquering army to spread false rumors among the enemy by exaggerating the size of his army to demoralize the soon to be vanquished foe.

The use of the word propaganda became more prevalent at the beginning of the twentieth century when the scourge of Communism began to spread throughout the world in conjunction with the invention of the motion picture. Movies became a powerful tool for the Communists to spread their propaganda by glorifying Communist ideals.

Adolf Hitler recognized the importance of propaganda to further his cause of Nazism to gloss over the German violations incursions into neighboring countries. Germany produced films to rationalize their invasions of Poland and Czechoslovakia. Historian Robert Ensor explained that “Hitler… puts no limit on what can be done with propaganda; people will believe anything, provided they are told it long enough and emphatically enough, and that contradictors are either silenced or smothered in calumny (slander).” This idea became known as “the big lie” which was first explained by Hitler in his book “Mein Kampf” and later employed by his Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under the direction of Joseph Goebbels. An interesting characteristic of this idea of the big lie is that it has to be so outrageous, that the public would not think that anyone would have the gall to actually create such a gross misrepresentation of the truth.

Through the years the tools of the propagandists have become varied and innumerable since the mere use of the printing press. We are now surrounded by a mass media empire that can invade our psyches from many and varying avenues due to the computer age. Mark Twain once said, “A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.” I fear that the truth can’t even get out of bed now before its counterpart has circumnavigated the globe in the present time.

In 1929, educator Everett Dean Martin, stated that, “Propaganda is making puppets of us. We are moved by hidden strings which the propagandist manipulates.” We in this United States value our freedom highly, by fighting and dying for our liberty or by voicing our opinions, whether stated in public or at the Thanksgiving table. We must shirk these insidiously attached strings which are meant to lead us down paths of mental and emotional subjugation. We must stand stalwart against the psychological warfare thrust upon us to seduce and invade our hearts and minds. Stay free, by asking questions, by not just go along with the crowd and always think for yourself.

While I was in the Navy, we were told by a wise older boot camp company leader to “believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear.”

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