Propaganda Victim

"Naturally the common people don't want war.... That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”


This quote is from Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg Nazi trials. Nate brought my attention to it in reference to the Bush administrations ability to move an entire country into war but I have come to feel that it can also be applied to any idea that is spread through fear and confusion. I remember how I felt before the war. We had so much information coming at us and it was hard to see what was right and wrong, and fact or fiction.


Now I am watching some of those around me struggle with these same emotions regarding prop 8. "The campaign promoting Proposition 8, which proposes to amend the state Constitution to bad same-sex marriages, has masterfully misdirected its audience, California voters." There is a lot of information out there regarding this amendment and most of it is riddled with half truths in order to evoke an emotion from the viewer. Due to this, I worry that most individuals are voting based on the propaganda placed before them. Voting on what they heard, what they fear and not on personal research into the facts.


Do not let others control your thoughts and direct your vote. Most of what is said about prop 8 can easily be researched and proven false on government sites or with a fact checker. Here is a link from the LA times that another blogger made me aware of. I think it explains how I feel and validates the research I have done on this subject. Please check it out and then verify it for yourself.


Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda. wikipedia