GOVERNMENT PLAYING ON WOMEN'S EMOTIONS WITH MEDIA'S WILLING HELP

What did you do today... for Freedom?

Today, at the front, he died...Today,what did you do? Next time you see a list of dead and wounded,ask yourself: "What have I done today for freedom? What can I do tomorrow that will save the lives of men like this and help them win the war?"

-Excerpt from a collection of war time magazine articles mostly directed at women.

This is an example of the kind of messages being fed to women during the war. Magazines such as Cosmopolitan were writing articles and running advertisements that played on the emotions of women across the country. They played to the nurturing side of these women. The ads and articles that ran in these publications spoke to every mother, wife, sister,daughter being affected by the war. No woman wants to think of herself as a person who did not stand by her man or brother or whatever the case may be and let him die, when he was merely fighting for the just cause of defending the "American Dream" . What surprised me about these excerpts was not the messages given to women about doing her part , buying war bonds, fighting at home,etc.., but the magazine war guide for June and July 1943 that was given out by Office of War Information in Washington D.C. . It served as a guide to what should be printed and stressed in magazines during World War II. The guidelines never say to the magazine editors what they cant write, but merely what they should write. it shows that the government was targeting women during this time period to capitalize on them as an alternate source of income and labor for the war. magazines were not entirely forced to go, along with this plan, but in large part chose these themes involving the war by their own free will. This is what their government expected them to do and that is what they did.

George Creel's Public Opinion

As an important reprsentative and advocate for the Committee on Public Information, George Creel contributed to the massive propaganda campaign he helped support. In his 1918 "Public Opinion in War Time", Creel outlines the motives and necessity for the CPI. Creel proclaims America's need for unity as a cohesive and effective society and states, "we had to establish a new medium." He directly validates his opinion that American's lack an informed opinion, one which would also be identical to his and what he and countless other professionals promote through the CPI. Towards the end of the piece Creel encourages the termination of dwelling on the negative and poor decisions made by the country with the quote, "let us not tear down the whole structure of acheivement when we have to replace a defective brick". Instead, George Creel urges the American people to focus on the substantial and concrete acheivements of the country which he believes will aid in the military and economic success following this war.

influencial deception

" The spirit that will lead a man to put away the things of his accustomed life and go forth to all the hardships of war is not kindled by showing him the facts." (gibbson p.123)
This quote is symbolic of the influencial power behind propaganda. The idea that the news can be manipulated and altered to a point where public opinion can be swayed toward the direction the media desires, can make anyone question what is fact or fiction. The reason the above quote was said is becasue during this time, it was the medias mis-informing and propaganda tactics that caused this country, who would normally be against Americas inclusion in Spanish- American War, later felt as though we needed to get involved. As stated earlier, the purpose of propaganda is to motivate through deception, fortunately the use of too much deception as been lessed significantly.

CPI - Spies and Lies

"German agents are everywhere, eager to gather scraps of news about our men, our ships, our munitions...it is possible to get information through to Germany, where thousands of these fragments- often individually harmless - are pieced together into a whole which spells death to American soldiers and danger to American homes. Report the man who spreads pessimistic stories, divulges or seeks confidential military information, cries for peace, or belittles our efforts to win the war." (United States Gov't Comm. on Public Information)

CPI is clearly spreading propaganda and paranoia throughout the United States. They are basically stating that in order to be considered an "American," you must support your government, agree with the decisions they make and turn in your neighbor or friend if they do not!
Be suspicious of everyone around you, take note of what the "unpatriotic" are saying and if you have to, for your country of course, turn them in to the Department of Justice. If you do not support the war, you are not American. CPI is getting the message across to fear the enemy, trust the government, not your friends, co-workers or neighbors.

Media: Ploy for Patriotism

"NEW YORK SHELLED ON 'MOVIE' SCREEN" was the title of the 1915 newspaper article that put media propaganda to light. This highly criticized article analyzed the movie "The Battle Cry for Peace", which was more of a governmental ploy to instill patriotism into the average American to promote the need for greater security in America. During this time of war and blood shed the movie showed the results of a defenseless America while flashing such ploys as wave flagging and an accent of authority. These are the suggestive tools to persuade the American people to join the national arms or just have the moral support for the war. This highly suggestive film was shown in special meetings to soldiers to keep their hearts and minds on the war effort, this film is no different than the racial suggestiveness of "birth of a nation". This movie showed the direction America has chosen to continue to hold its hierarchy in power over all minds which time has shown, media has become the major tool to spread the ideas that America needs us to believe to maintain their order of stability.

Public Opinion In Wartime

George Creel wrote this article as an apology to the work of the Committee On Public Information , which was catching a fair amount of flack for its more heavy handed methods in spreading pro war propaganda. He writes:

"Our work has been educational and informative. Much has been said in praise of German propaganda, but from the first our policy has been to find out what the Germans were doing, and then not to do it. Rottenness and corruption and deceit and trickery may win for a while, but in the long run it always brings about it's own inevitable demise"

Really? They were 'bad', and we were 'good' in the presentation of the facts? What about the posters showing skewered babies, raped women, cusified civilians? How about the movies like 'The Claws of The Hun', 'To Hell with the Kaiser', and 'The Kaiser, The Beast of Berlin'? How about the Espionage Act of 1917, and the Sedition Act of 1918? People being thrown in jail for giving anti-war speeches? Propaganda is like power. Too much, and corruption will follow...

Catch Phrases

"Somebody once said that people do not live by bread alone; they live mostly by catch phrases." (Public Opinion in War Time, by George Creel pg.188)

We Americans love a good slogan; some snappy dialogue that we can repeat over and over again. Put on a t-shirt, make it into a Saturday morning cartoon,get everybody in on the newest set of meaningless words and images. If a slogan is really snappy we'll give a mascot and make a plush toy out of it.

It's inescapable that's the whole point; to get it stuck in your head like a bad song you end up singing along to because they play every half hour on the radio, you don't have a choice. Eventually you end up finding yourself going out of the way to hear that catchy song.

You'll become consumed by it and then you'll get tired of it just in time for the next catchphrase. All we end up with is a bunch of crap we store in a box and stick in the basement or throw out in the trash.