Propaganda!

Today, propaganda has become perhaps the most popular and commonly used word in political discourse in Ghana second perhaps to the word arrogance. Political parties and personalities are always quick to attribute any bad press they get to the propaganda of their enemies. At the School of Communication Studies I took a course in Public Opinion of which propaganda was a major topic. Looking through my archives, I found these notes which I made for our discussion group and I thought I should share it with my visitors.

The word propaganda stems from the latin, “propaganda”and came into prominent use in about 1622 when Pope Gregory XV founded the congregation called “de propaganda fide” or “the congregation for the propagation of the faith”. Congregation for the propagation of the faith was a committee of cardinals whose duty it was to over see the propagation of Christianity by missionaries sent to non-catholic countries. In order words, the word propaganda in its original meaning does not necessarily connote negativity.

Propaganda is derived from propagate which simply means “to spread an idea, a belief or a piece of information among many people”. (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary). In other words, propaganda can be said to be simply the process of making a message known-the propagation of a message. Propaganda therefore is a specific type of message presentation, directly aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviour of people while at the same time providing information.

Propaganda shares techniques with advertising and public relations because these are propaganda that promote a commercial product or shape the perception of an organization, person or brand. The negative connotation that propaganda has come to assume dates to the Second World War when Hitler's Minister for Information, the famous or perhaps infamous Goebbels used negative techniques for drumming up support for his master and spreading the ideology of the Nazi regime. The term has since lost its positive value.

In line with its new connotation therefore, propaganda according to Sheryl Tuttle Ross is any message that has flawed epistemology. This means that it is epistemically flawed. According to Sheryl Ross, we can say that a message is epistemically defective “if it is false, inappropriate or connected to other beliefs that are inept, misleading or unwarranted”.

Edward L. Bernays further distinguishes between education and propaganda when he states that “each of these nouns, (education and propaganda) carries with it social and moral implications…the only difference between propaganda and education really is in the point of view. The advocacy of what we really believe in is education. The advocacy of what we don't believe in is propaganda”.

Purpose of propaganda
Propaganda in its narrow sense of the term therefore connotes deliberate false or misleading information that supports or furthers a political cause or the interests of a group. Propaganda seeks to change the perceptions of people through deception rather than persuasion and understanding. Thus according to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, propaganda refers to “ideas or statements that may be false or exaggerated and that are used in order to gain support for a political leader, party, etc…”

Propaganda is a mighty weapon in war. In this case its aim is usually to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy. It helps to mobilize against the enemy.

It is also used to reinforce the mindsets of people who already believe as the propagandists wishes. In other words it aims at retaining the support of a loyal group. The assumption is that if people believe something false, they will constantly be assailed by doubts. (See my article on Dissonance and Tolerance) Propaganda is often addressed to people who are already sympathetic to the agenda.

Types of propaganda
White propaganda: This comes from a well known, credible and authentic source and is characterized by more subtle and gentler methods of persuasion.

Black propaganda: The origin of the propaganda is disguised and could either be the persuasive type or the forced type.
Grey propaganda: This is without an identifiable source and is often very wicked and malicious in its intentions.
Cycle of propaganda

Propaganda aims first of all at just getting the target to receive the piece of information and then lead them on to seek the information themselves. Thus in most cases propagandists will drop leaflets of the propaganda material and ask recipients to get detailed information from either a radio station or website or some other source. The aim is to reinforce the information with the aim of indoctrinating the target and making him an opinion leader.

Techniques of propaganda
Ad Hominem: This involves attacking your opponent rather than the issues at stake.

Appeal to authority: This uses an authority figure as the reason why the target should accept the piece of information. Usually this authority figure is well respected by the target.
Appeal to fear: Appeal to fear induces fear in the people to accept the information or face some grave consequence or danger.
Appeal to prejudice: The piece of information uses loaded or emotive terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition. In other words it states that those who believe or go along with the piece of information have a certain moral quality. And because people will want to be associated with that moral quality, then they are likely to go along with the piece of information. A clear example of this type of propaganda is when politicians say, “The good people of this country know that…”

This is deliberate propagandist language that seeks to suggest that those who do not adhere to that point of view are not “good people”
Argumentum ad nauseam: This uses tireless repetition. This strategy is attributed to Joseph Goebbels Hitler's Information Minister who is reputed to have said that “a lie, when constantly repeated, becomes the truth”.

Bandwagon effect: To persuade the target to believe that the course of the propagandist is the majority course. This exploits the human desire to be on the winning side. Apart from persuading others to join, it also aims at getting those already on board to stay the course. Here again, another famous statement from politicians is, “the majority of the people of this country know that…”
They often have no basis for determining that majority. Indeed it is always a figment of their imagination.

Black and white fallacy: This involves presenting two choices with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice. An example is when Mobil oil ran an advert that stated that, “You can have an unhealthy and unreliable engine or you can use Mobil oil”. In other words, unless you are using Mobil Oil, your engine is bound to be unreliable.

Euphoria: Creating a euphoric situation that is aimed at masking the real situation which may be one of despondency and despair. An example is when ruling parties say that the economy “is growing by so-so-and-so percent”, “investment has gone up by so-so-and-so percent”, “businesses are booming because of our economic policy' etc.

Flag waving: Invoking the patriotism clause in order to mask the real situation or make the opponent look unpatriotic and therefore despicable in the eyes of the public. An example is the current propaganda going on that NPP people are trying to sabotage Obama's visit to Ghana and that while the NDC is busy trying to present a good image of Ghana as genuine patriots, the NPP people who are saboteurs are busy trying to destroy Ghana's image.
Glittering generalities: Emotionally appealing words applied to a product or idea but which presents no concrete argument or analysis.

Obtain disapproval/Reductio Hitlerum: To get a target to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that the idea is popular with groups hated or feared or held in contempt by the target. An example is when the political opposition of the Danquah-Busia group say that the Danquah-Busia group is an ally of American CIA which overthrew Nkrumah or that Danquah himself was on the pay roll of the American CIA.

Quotes out of context: Quoting the target's cherished authority or text and explaining it out of context. An example is when the NDC is busy telling Ghanaians that Akufo-Addo said in his May 26th 2009 press conference that he will unleash militants to cause mayhem in Ghana. This certainly is an out of context rendering of his caution for the government to be fair to all manner of Ghanaians since there is the tendency for militant opponents to take measures to protect themselves if they come to the conclusion that government won't protect them.

Red Herring: Presenting data that is irrelevant, and then claiming that it validates your argument.

Scapegoating: Blaming an opponent for a problem that the propagandist is unable to solve.

Sloganeering: Creating slogans to either make a venture look good or bad depending on the motives of the propagandist.

Stereotyping: Stereotyping an opponent in order to let him or her look bad. Example are “NDC is a violent party” and“NPP is a cocaine party” etc.

Testimonial: Presenting people who are allegedly affected by the activities of the opponent. An example is when the NDC used Brigadier Nunoo Mensah for an advert in the run-up to the 2008 election which sought to say how bad Akufo-Addo and the NPP are since he was with them and knows how bad they treat people.

Unstated assumption: Implying that something is the case without explicitly stating so.

In conclusion therefore one will say that from being a harmless, peaceful, positive and legitimate propagation of ideas, propaganda has increasingly assumed a negative connotation. Indeed it has become a part of political discourse and knowledge which politicians and war mongers use to effect.

Credit: Mustapha Hamid
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