The Propaganda Network

Propaganda is like the fishing net submerging into the stormy ocean, in other words, making a profit in troubled situation. No matter its external or internal characteristics, they both strongly demonstrate the close fabric among different factors. It's flexible, malleable and more importantly, it develops with the modern technology. No wonder, nowadays it takes on a more subtle but stronger look. According to Jacques Ellul, it's a continous, totally organized process of indoctrination aiming for the manipulation of the masses' actions towards a certain direction. It's hard to categorize certain propaganda considering the complexity of the milieu. As a Chinese, I agree with the author that based on the specific situation in China(especially before 1978), its propaganda is mainly horizontal propaganda with numerous groups, endless meeetings or seminars of discussion and self-reflection, and conscious adherence under chairman Mao's guidance who exerts tremendous personal influence on the masses. Of course, this category also belongs to the political or integration propaganda according to the author, which i think it also can't exist without the support of sociological propaganda and propaganda of agitation.
One of the interesting figures mentioned in the article: Joseph Goebbels

The Problem of Factuality by Ellul

Ellul believes that if you base your propaganda on truths the enemy cannot go against your message, which the enemy might try to do if it wasn't the full or complete truth. To do this Ellul says

"the propagandist must insist on the purity of his own intentions and, at the same time, hurl accusations at his enemy. But the accusation is never made haphazardly or groundlessly." (The Characteristics of Propaganda p. 29)

Which to me basically means you need to show why your enemy is evil without lies. This way if challenge the enemy cannot turn your listeners against you. If you had lies or half-truths and the enemy could prove it then your statement and propaganda does not have a powerful message.

Government propaganda

In case you missed the news your government specifically the Bush administration, has just created a White House office for global propaganda. They are not calling it that, of course. They are calling it the Office of Global Communications. Its purpose is to explain and promote U.S. policies and actions to the rest of the world. Or, as White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, the new office will put out the word about "what America is all about and why America does what it does.''

The Characteristics of Propaganda

Propaganda is the manipulation of public opinion, generally by the use of symbols such as flags, monuments, oratory, and publications. Modern propaganda is distinguished from other forms of communication in that it is used to influence a group attitudes on the matter at hand.The meaning of propaganda can be fund on wikepedia.

Propaganda and the Truth

Jacques Ellul makes many key points throughout his piece. "The Characteristics of Propaganda." One part that I found to be interesting was titled "Propaganda and Truth." This section deals with the concept of propaganda being "a series of tall stories, a tissue of lies, and that lies are necessary for effective propaganda." Ellul says that this creates two attitudes in our society. One attitude being one in which people believe they will not fall for the false information because they are able to distinguish between facts and things that are false. The second attitude is that all people don't believe anything they read because everything that is out there is false.

However, Ellul states that Lenin proclaimed a "formula" that works. Simply, "in propaganda, truth pays off." He says that truth leads to facts and that those pieces of information which are not true are "intentions" or "interpretations."

I found this part to be interesting because when most people think of propaganda, a very common thought is false information. However, here Ellul is stating that truth is a very important building block to effective propaganda.

Ellul on Political Propaganda

Ellul writes that political propaganda is a universally sound mechanism to influence a group of people to think a certain way and see things a certain way. He writes that psychology and sociology work hand and hand in modern propaganda. He writes that without scientific research of psychology and sociology there would be no modern propaganda. Propaganda would still be in infantile stages.
Ellul makes another good point in this reading. He writes that propaganda, to be effective can not be concerned with too much detail. Mostly because it's almost impossible to win men over one at a time. It has to be in a group, not in an isolated individual. Propaganda in nature is too get in people's head and try to instill in them a certain point of view.

Scott Filaski

Characteristics of Propaganda

As stated by Ellul "without the scientific research of modern psychology and sociology there would be no propaganda". I was not aware that propaganda was such a scientific and complex issue. Ellul successfully explains the many characteristics and qualities of propaganda and there are many. Ellul brakes down the issue of propaganda into many categories showing its depth, for example democratic propaganda, modern propaganda, propaganda and the individual, propaganda and the media, etc... It is interesting to see that according to Ellu propaganda will take over everything, education, diplomacy, mass media, as well as personal contacts among individuals.

The Characteristics of Propaganda

Ellul states in his article about Intentions and Interpretations . "We forgot that between 1936 and 1939 Hitler made many speeches about his desire for peace, for the peaceful settlment of all problems, for conference" I thought that this is an interesting fact considering that he was the leader of War World II . "Propagaanda by its very nature is an enterprise for perverting the signifiance of events and of insinuating false intentionsions". This quote explains that Propaganda creates a lot of false facts. Hitler also states that he never expressed his feelings for war.
Ellul also states in his article about propaganda and truth. " The most generally held concept of propaganda is that it is a series of tall stories, a tissue of lies, and that lies are necessary for effective propaganda" .This quote means that it gets people to belief them when in fact it isnt true.

Propaganda its effect on society

" Propaganda must not only attach itself to what already exists in the individual, but also express the fundamental currents of the society it seeks to influence. Paraprofessional must be familiar with collective sociological presuppositions, spontaneous myths, and broad ideologies. A propaganda pitting itself against this fundamental and accepted structure would have no chance of success. " (Pg 21) Jacques Ellul is stating that propaganda is directed at the individual while also wanting to influence society as a whole. More importantly he explains that propaganda
should be connected with views and beliefs of the community, if not it will fail. In order for propaganda to succeed in different societies it must make a connection to its beliefs or customs or it will fail.

The Characteristics Of Propaganda

There were so many intersting points made throughout this reading, but there was one stamtement made, that really stuck to me and had a lot of truth behind it, the statement, "Propaganda is a continuous Action, without failure or interruption: as soon as the effect of one impulse is weakend, it is renewed by another."(Characteritsics of Propaganda, pg.72) As we all know propaganda is used to cause damage wether if its through allegations, or even know facts. Once an allegation is made that person is going to do what every they have to do to get that point across, and like the statement stated about one impulse being weakend, its just going to be followd by another angle,wheater if it is to expose something else or taken that allegation to another level, its just going to be a continuous thing.

The Characteristics of Propaganda - Jacques Ellul

First of all, modern propaganda is based on
the scientific analysis of psychology and sociology.

I think this simple quote is the basis for all discussion about propaganda. Propaganda can only work if it plays to the people and culture it is aimed to. If the propagandist has not analyzed the psychology and sociology of the persons in the target audience, the propaganda has already failed.

Another way to look at this is to remember what we talked about the first class we had (Tuesday, January 24th, 2006) Propaganda does not change opinion of a culture, but more directly uses the culture to link the ideas that are trying to be proposed in the propaganda. If the propagandist can make a link within the target culture then they have a much greater chance of succeeding in their campaign.

United States Diplomacy as Propaganda

In "The Characteristics of Propaganda," Jacques Ellul says, "...Diplomacy becomes inseperable from propaganda." So, I wonder--is the United States really concerned with the freedom of Iraqis or Afghans? Or is the United States government spreading propaganda to the Middle East in the form of democracy and freedom in these two nations, saying, "the United States is concerned about the rights of all humans all over the world. We believe that every man deserves freedom. We are a fair and good nation, and we are a democratic nation. These are the qualities of a democratic nation. If you believe in our ideals and us, then your life will be like ours."

"Mao emphasizes that in 1928 an effective form of propaganda was the release of prisoners after they had been indoctrinated." So, once the prisoners believed in communist ideals, they were released in a show of fairness by Mao, and, now indoctrinated in communist beliefs, went out into the world and spread these beliefs. With this action, communism appears fair diplomatic to the rest of the world, and communist ideals are spread by previous 'enemies' in the form of the released prisoners.

What is the difference between Mao's ideas and the practices of the U.S. government in the Middle East? Is our government indoctrinating democratic ideals on suspected terrorists and insurgents? I don't think that's likely, but only because I doubt that terrorist suspects and insurgents would be indoctrinated into democratic ideals. They are already indoctrinated in their own ideals.

There are lots of nations under "evil dictatorships" throughout the world such as North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Tibet, and Cuba. There are genocides occurring in nations throughout the world, such as Tibet, Darfur, Iran, and East Timor. If the United States government truly wanted a diplomatic showing of democracy, perhaps they would be better off invading one of these nations in which the people live under cruel dictatorships and in horrible conditions.

If the propaganda that the United States wishes to spread is that of democratic ideals, and diplomacy is inseperable from propaganda, then a diplomatic showing to the rest of the world would be the invasion of these other nations in other areas of the world, not a nation in an area of the world in which the U.S., and the rest of the world for that matter, have strong economic interest, and the freeing of the peoples living there.

The need for self-affirmation

One good point made by Jacques Ellul in his piece, "The Characteristics of Propganda" is that propganda "...exploits the individual's need for self-affirmation." That is, effective propaganda appeals to people by telling by justifying their beliefs. This is well illustrated by the rampant exploitation of jingoism by politicans. For example, "America is the best country in the world". This both re-affirms the belief of the citizen, as well as forcing potential opponents to use similar propaganda. Whether America is or isn't the best country in the world in this case is irrelevant. Telling people what they want to hear, regardless of truth, can be an effective vehicle in manipulation.

Targeting the Individual Within the Group

What I found most interesting in this reading was that while an individual is a target in propaganda, it is the individual as part of a group rather than an individual in isolation.

For propaganda to address itself to the individual, in his isolation, apart from the crowd, is impossible.

Targeting an individual in isolation doesn't work because it requires specific details.

To be effective, propaganda cannot be concerned with detail, not only because to win men over one by one takes much too long, but also because to create certain convictions in an isolated individual is much too difficult.

Source: The Characteristics of Propaganda, Jacques Ellul

Weekly Blog For Characteristics of Propaganda- Ellul

This article written by Jacques Ellul was an very informative article. It took me a long time to read and fully understand everything that was mentioned in the article. As I read further and further into the article I almost felt like I was in an advertising class. On the first page, second paragraph, "modern propaganda is based on scientific analyses of pyschology and sociology...knowledge of man, his tendencies, his desires, his needs, his pyschic mechanisms, his conditions and as much on social psychology as on depth psychology." This definition is very similar to the aspects of advertising. Also another thing that reminded me of advertising is the fact of trying to reach each individual in a large mass of people.

Not only did it feel like advertising it felt like propaganda to me with the same ideas and concepts being repeated throughout the entire article. In the article it talks about how repetition must be continuous and lasting to be affective. I believe this article definitely shows through its words how affective it is for repetition.

Another thing I found interesting was the references to the Soviet Union as well as Nazi Germany. On page 9 when they talk about the Chinese writer Mao Dun and how he shows the readers a simple passage, "the flowers perfume the air, the moon shines, man has a long life." and how it could be turned into propaganda through the use of symbolism. It shows how the Soviets tried to related to its audience how it will last for ever amongst other things.

The Characteristics of Propaganda-Jacques Ellul

The article written by Jacques Ellul entitled "The Characteristics of propaganda", touched upon many interesting aspects of propaganda. Before having read this I had very little understanding of the concept of propaganda and how it worked.

As I proceeded further into the packet, the more I thought about what I had read, I felt as though this packet itself was a form of propaganda. The way Ellul wrote about the different types and forms of propaganda were in all actuality his own way of selling the reader the idea of propaganda as a whole. The repetition of certain ideas, and the overall text in my mind seemed to be Ellul selling his ideas. I have to admit that if this was his goal, he reached his goal successfully with me.

Ellul continues in his writing to explain that in order for propaganda to properly work it must attack the "group" through "individuality". This makes sense, because no two men are alike in intellectuality, or feelings, etc. By the propagandist attempting to attack an individual alone, this will take much more time then if he were to again like mentioned before attack the "group" through individuality. Each "man" must feel as though he is being addressed personally, or else why would he care enough to pay attention. The propagandist must make the people he is trying to "control" feel as though they want to participate, and that they are not being forced.

"propaganda carries within itself, of intrinsic necessity, the power to take over everything that can serve it." Ellul also mentions that in order for propaganda to work it must be in the public's face and in their life every minute of every day. The individual cannot have a moment without some type of article, poster, or radio announcement, etc., because if the propagandist slacks for just one moment this allows for the individual to have his/her own thoughts to fester.