What is propaganda?

I have decided to resume my blog. I have shied away from the blog because I have been afraid of expressing my opinion for fear of having it rejected. I now understand that I must stand up for what I believe to be right and true. But I promise to present my thoughts as opinion – with a clear disclaimer that “actual results may vary”. You will find at least one new blog per week here – sometimes more. I hope you will come back often read my thoughts and to share yours. On that note, I would like to discuss the meaning of the word, “propaganda”.

In the past, before the Internet and 24-hour cable news, most of us got our news from newspapers. Newspaper editors disseminated articles presented to them and arranged them in sections. One of those sections was the editorial section. This section was reserved for the sharing of opinions, while the rest of the newspaper was reserved for the sharing of facts. For example, if a story was written stating that a new bakery had opened on Main Street, this was put in the section containing news. If a story was written that the bakery had the best muffins within a five mile radius, this was presumably put in the editorial section. It was easy for the public to understand what was news and what was opinion because each of them literally had their own sections.

Today, it is not so easy to determine what is fact and what is opinion. The lines have been blurred because cable news and Internet stories don’t come with disclaimers at the bottom of the screen. It is up to us now to determine when we are told something that is a fact and when we are told something that is an opinion. Unfortunately, it seems millions of us lack this ability.

Before we can understand the difference between what is true and what is false, we must understand be able to look at our sources of information objectively. We must have the skills to dissect what we are told and what we read and to recognize when we are given facts and when we are given opinions. Only when we understand what propaganda is, can we begin to decide for ourselves whether its message should be disregarded or whether it should be acted upon. Here is one definition of propaganda – “Propaganda is the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of people.”

I don’t remember much about junior high. (Heck, I barely remember what I ate for lunch yesterday.) But one lesson stands out in my mind. It was a lesson in argumentation and debate where we were taught about several types of arguments that we should understand are propaganda; arguments such as “slippery-slope” and “red-herring”. As examples, we discussed several advertisements for products and were encouraged to recognize what type of argument was used to make their case for a particular product, and to recognize the difference between fact and propaganda. Only when we understand what propaganda is can we defend our minds against it.

One type of argument we were taught to recognize is the use of the words “always” and “never”. These words are overused in everyday speech, but they are powerful words and they are rarely true. You may remember being taught that on any multiple choice test, if one of the answers is “always” or “never”, it is probably not the correct answer. Let me illustrate. Choose the correct answer:
The weather in Fairbanks, Alaska is
a. always cold
b. never cold
c. sometimes cold

Even if you have never been to Fairbanks, it is easy to see that the correct answer is “c, sometimes cold”. You can automatically throw out any answer containing the words “always” and “never”.

This is the problem that I have with prominent conservative and religious mouthpieces. They present only one point of view, and further they present their views as fact. The words "always" and "never" are implied when they speak. As I look around at the people who call themselves conservatives I am saddened to see that they seem completely unable to decide for themselves when something that is presented as fact is actually just an opinion. They refuse to recognize that their primary sources of news are anything but “fair and balanced”. They repeat what they hear from their sources of news to others as if it were fact. There is no attempt to process information, decide if it based in logic and act based upon their independent assessments.

If you consider yourself to be a conservative and you find yourself watching only Fox News, reading only the Weekly Standard, and listening to James Dobson, recognize that when you are presented with only one point of view that you are not ingesting news, but instead propaganda. Remember that when you are told that Republicans are never wrong and that Democrats are never right, or that Christians are always right and that non-Christians are always wrong that you are ingesting propaganda. And only when you understand that you are being influenced by propaganda can you begin to think for yourselves. The choice is yours; parrot only what you hear from propaganda outlets and remain a tool, or become a free-thinking person with the ability to decide for yourself what is true, what is just, and what is right.