QuestionItNow - Voices: Introduction to How to Sell a War

Monday, March 27, 2006

Introduction to How to Sell a War

Here is a little more background about this topic:

I have been distressed about the amount of propaganda in and around America for quite a few years. Whether the topic is creating enemies to gain support for a war, or generating a multi-pronged attack on an individual in public life, or attempting to create hatred and marginalization against a segment of the population, to cast aspersions on a group with scapegoating as a goal. Propaganda is pervasive in American and, indeed, international life.

My goal here is to help anyone who reads the essay see the patterns of a propaganda campaign, here described as a method to create popular support to start a war, but the patterns for war propaganda are widely used in other contexts. I just want to make it so you, the reader, can somewhat immunize yourself against a propaganda campaign, and motivate you to get both sides of the issue so that you can make an informed decision. Informed decisions defeat the intent of the propagandist, no matter the source.

Many of the source documents are old and out of print. I did a search on Amazon.com and found all of them. Some were expensive and only one copy was in the Amazon database. I recommend a major metropolitan or univesity library.

I intend to do follow up shorter essays to focus on a specific method or tactics of the propagandist. OD1

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3 Comments:

OhioDem,

I am impressed by your analysis. I think you can expand on your points about the turning points of WWI & WWII and how the War on Terror is still in its beginning phase. How can we ever declare victory in this war?

By DTW 06, at 5:56 PM, March 30, 2006
You can never declare victory in a war against an amophorous concept like "terrorism" because it has been around forever, and until over half of the Earth's 6 Billion can find some modicum of equity, some way to feed their family, an unemployment rate of less than 60 per cent, this problem will be with the world.

Remember that there have been terroiists around in the United States for over 100 years. Remember the "mad bomber" of literature, or the anarchists prior to WWI. More recently the 30 year Northern Ireland strife. Or the last 60 years in the Middle East over Israel and Palestine.

Domestically we have had the Unabomer, the Olympic Bomber, abortion clinic bombers, the Oklahoma City bombing, the SLA, Moveon in Philadelphia. The point is that terrorism will never go away, and to declare war on somehing that will never go away, is a declaration of unending war.

If this madness is not stopped, our grandchildren will be draftees.

By Ohiodem1, at 6:38 PM, March 30, 2006
Awesome posters. Keep up the good work!

By Anonymous, at 10:27 PM, April 24, 2006