Propaganda

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Concept.png Propaganda 
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Interest of• Michael A. Aquino
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• Behavioural Insights Team
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Subpage(s)Propaganda/Research
Propaganda/Technique

Propaganda is the deceitful use of information, such as deliberate lying (including lying by omission). The word has had negative connotations since the 19th century, so Edward Bernays coined a new phrase ("public relations") as a positive sounding alternative.

Propaganda is blatant, whereas media manipulation is more subversive.

Origins

Propaganda has been used by war makers for thousands of years.[1] Leaders have long exploited enemy images to inculcate fear or otherwise extend control over subjects. Historically, propaganda has assumed critical importance in times of war, in particular when a casus belli was sought to try to inflame public sentiment when starting a war. Propaganda has been produced on a large scale for around a century - i.e. since the time of WW1. In UK, MI7 was formed to exploit the commercially-controlled media, planting "fake news" to try to rally support against Germany.[2]

Research

Full article: Stub class article Propaganda/Research

Edward Bernays stated that Propaganda (and those who emanate it) are the hidden driving force behind "democracy", referring to propaganda as "the invisible government". Analysis of propaganda, especially "wartime propaganda" is a topic of history classes and communication sciences.

Britannia arm-in-arm with Uncle Sam symbolizing the British-American alliance in World War I.

Reframing

Reframing means seeing things from a different point of view or in different light. In propaganda, however, this technique is used to deceive the public about the intent of measures, a mere glossing over of reality, in a power struggle over meaning of words. Edward Bernays, a widely acknowledged master of propaganda reframed the term propaganda itself as "public relations".[3] Other examples of positive reframing include "freedom fighters" (proxy army), "responsibility to protect" (war of aggression), "enhanced interrogation" (torture) and "countering disinformation" (psy-ops to shut down criticism).

Examples of negative reframing: "Propaganda" itself is used to smear critics, or "hate speech" if criticism is too unwieldy or ill-mannered. Fake news", which arose in November 2016[4] initially backfired but the intended devaluation of criticism was recaptured by throwing money at the campaign, which as of 2020 resulted in "fact checking" outlets. "Conspiracy theorist" was loaded with the connotation "wired", "hysteric", "paranoid" or "psychotic", insinuating mental insanity to counter criticism of the Warren Report, a powerful technique used successfully to this day and broadened to include "deniers" (skeptics) of "official truths".

Enemy images

Full article: Enemy images

Long running campaigns can be used to create and sustain enemy images that can be used to divide and conquer groups by promoting fear.

Rise in 21st Century

Amir Taheri's smear against the government of Iran

Propaganda in Western Europe seems to have returned to World War Two levels after the roll-back of the state in Europe and the United States. Multinational corporations have taken more and more power, and a complicit commercially-controlled media has become an integral part of that 'power grab' and increasingly ideologically aligned with it. Secrecy has become normal, even with governments no longer seeing themselves as serving the populations that elect and pay for them.

Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012

Full article: Rated 5/5 Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012

The Smith-Mundt Act originally did prohibit the use of propaganda, produced for foreign audiences, to be directed at domestic audiences in the United States. With the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 this was changed; originally justified with the explanation that it would help to inform expat communities in the US.[5] Early criticism cited the Department of Defense intention to get rid of the Smith-Mundt Act and other restrictions, "because it prevents information activities designed to prop up unpopular policies—like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan".[6] Robbie Martin noted that after the ban was lifted, the use of foreign news sources funded by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) did spike on Vice. He also notes that now many narratives friendly to the US government position first appear at media organizations overseen by the BBG before they become part of corporate media reporting.[7]

Fake News

Full article: Rated 3/5 “Fake News”

After the 2016 US Presidential Election, in November 2016, the phrase "Fake News" was launched, with the help of commercially-controlled media. Perhaps counter intuitively to Wikispooks' readers, it was not used to describe the output of the corporate media, but instead, used to describe smaller, independent groups, especially websites. One list which has attracted particular attention was a list of 200 websites, including RT, Naked Capitalism, Zero Hedge and Wikispooks. This was published by the spooky ProporNot group, and cited as a source by the Washington Post.

Propagandists

Full article: Propagandists

External links


 

Examples

Page nameDescription
"Dancing Nurses"One of the most peculiar parts of the COVID-19 propaganda effort saw thousands of nurses dancing in choreographed routines - something that blatantly clashed with one of the other PR-messages, the one of "overwhelmed hospitals".
"Discredited and disproven"ON affirming phrase.
"Disinformation"Disinformation is a word used by those in power to malign opinions and people they don't like, and as a scientific-sounding pretext for censorship. Those in power often use projection when accusing others of spreading disinformation, as the official narratives tends to be full of lies and omissions. Can also be a real thing.
"Domestic extremism"An enemy image used to try to justify repression of alternative ideas
"Fact checking"A thinly veiled effort to counter suspicion in official narratives as promoted by the commercially-controlled media. i.e. "Trust us, we've fact checked this article".
"Fake news website""Fake news website" is a meme started after the 2016 US election, to disparage websites that dissent from the opinions expressed by commercially-controlled media. It backfired and lead to the phrase "fake news", which promoted scepticism about corporate media and discouraged uncritical belief in their output.
"Iraq/WMD"
"Korean War/CIA brainwashing spin"A word coined by the CIA in an effort to cover-up the US Army's use of biological weapons in the Korean War.
"Misinformation"
"Protect the NHS"A slogan used in Great Britain to justify government actions around the NHS during COVID-19.
"Russian Propaganda""Russian Propaganda" is much talked about recently by NATO-aligned countries.
"To increase awareness"To raise awareness (to threats) if aired by politicians and commercially-controlled media is, in deep politics, an indicator that a false flag event might be looming.
1981 Libyan hit squad scare
2008 Counter-Terrorism advertising campaignA UK government program to ramp up fear of "terrorism" that was banned after public complaints.
2016 Brussels Bombing/Media manipulationFalse Belgian media reporting on the Mass murder in Brussels
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine/War CrimesA list of War crimes and propaganda in this event.
9-11/Commission/ReportAn official narrative crafted to deceive the ignorant, which highlights the roles of Al Qaeda and the 19 hijackers.
AdvertisingUsed by corporations to try to increase or create people's desire to purchase their products
Ambassador News Service
AstroturfingRolling out of fake grassroots movements
BBC/PropagandaThe BBC has been a tool of the UK deep state since its foundation in 1922.
Black propagandaType of propaganda misrepresented to be written by the enemy, often to discredit him.
Brainwashing
British Briefing
British Information ServicesThe New York based information department of the British Consulate in New York
British Satellite NewsA semi covert propaganda operation funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
CENTCOM/Media outreach
Casus belliA pretext for war, typically a false flag attack
Central Office of InformationThe main UK government body dealing with official advertising and publicity
Committee on Public InformationCommittee to boost US public support for World War I.
Controlling the narrative
Corporate mediaThe corporate media refers to itself as 'mainstream' in an effort to marginalize so-called "alternative" media. While some instances (e.g. BBC) are not strictly commercial, all the corporate media is hierarchically structured, so a very small number of editors can censor or modify its output.
Defence Online Engagement Strategy
DistractionThe creation of attention-grabbing events to draw attention away from matters of importance
Document:Is Fukushima's nuclear nightmare over? Don’t count on itUpdate on the developing Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster and a good illustration of BBC use of "Experts" to present and give credibility to outrageous falsehoods in support of the "nothing to see here" propaganda of the nuclear industry.
Document:Leaked Karl Rove email
Document:Ukrainian soldiers' organs tradedAn apparent hoax about hacked correspondence between Donbass Battalion commander, Yulia Tymoshenko's lawyer and a German medical practitioner evidencing a burgeoning trade in the organs of Ukrainian soldiers
Dodgy DossierA concoction of lies which successfully eased the UK public's reluctance to enter the Iraq War - notwithstanding its exposure as lied by David Kelly.
Doublespeak
EXPOSE NetworkA proposed multi-million pound consortium to "counter disinformation". Exposed in the 7th tranche of documents in the Integrity Initiative leak. The UK government declined to fund it.
East StratCom Task ForceThe EU's cold warriors 2.0
Epik data breachData breach in September 2021. Is Anonymous doing the job of the FBI for them because the facts aren't adding up.
File:Carter-Ruck Syria Report.pdfA text-book example of the how and why of demonising one's enemies. A widely reported shock-horror document is 'leaked' just prior to a conference, the outcome of which is regarded as crucial to Western global policy interests.
File:Nato-master-narrative-2008.pdf
File:Report on Terrorism 2014.pdfA summary of global "terrorism" in 2014.
Hasbara/History
Hit piecesomething published with the intent to sway public opinion by presenting false information in a way that appears objective and honest.
IPCC Sixth Assessment ReportClimate catastrophe report published in August 2021.
Information DepartmentA successor to the Overseas Information Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Information Operation
... further results

 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
"COVID-19/Vaccine"“We need to be careful, as it's obvious pharmaceutical companies wish to make a profit and would like to keep always selling vaccines for everyone. But we need to prioritise; we need to know if they're needed or not. (We need to) not be subordinated to Big Pharma dictating us: "we need a third dose", "we need a fourth", "we need to vaccinate children".”Andres Manuel Lopez ObradorJuly 2021
"Fake News"“In the article, the [Washington] Post blurred the lines between “fake news” – stories that are simply made up – and what was deemed “propaganda,” in effect, information that didn’t jibe with what the U.S. State Department was saying.”Robert Parry28 February 2017
"Iraq/WMD"“Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.”George Orwell
Edward Bernays“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country... In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons... who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”Edward Bernays1928
George Carlin“Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal their sins. It's as simple as that. The CIA doesn't kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people, or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie, it engages in disinformation. The Pentagon actually measures nuclear radiation in something they call sunshine units. Israeli murderers are called commandos, Arab commandos are called terrorists. Contra killers are called freedom fighters. Well, if crime fighters fight crime, and firefighters fight fires, what do freedom fighters fight?”George Carlin
Corporate media/Mendacity“Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper.”George Orwell1943
Cult“The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly selective, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. They become the start and finish of any ideological analysis.”Robert Jay Lifton1961
Theodore DalrymplePolitical correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.””Theodore Dalrymple
Joseph GoebbelsPropaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred.”Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels“A lie told once remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”Joseph Goebbels
Government“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...”H. L. Mencken
Institute for Statecraft/Projection

“Information war” (informatsionnaya voyna)

There is a clear distinction between the Russian definition: an all-encompassing, and not limited to wartime and the Western one: limited, tactical information operations carried out during hostilities.

Russian approach is much broader than simply sowing lies and denial, for instance maintaining that Russian troops and equipment are not where they plainly are.

Russian state and non-state actors have exploited history, culture, language, nationalism and more to carry out cyber-enhanced disinformation campaigns with much wider objectives.

Russian aims to extract, exfiltrate, manipulate, distort, or insert information, or just isolate a target from sources of information other than Russian ones.”
Integrity Initiative
Internet/CensorshipTerrorist propaganda online has a direct impact on the radicalisation of individuals and we work closely with the internet industry to remove terrorist material hosted in the UK or overseas.”James Brokenshire2014
Mark Crispin Miller“Propaganda has to tell you what you want to hear. It cannot go against your desires and your preconceptions. This is crucial. We can't claim to be purely victimized by the propaganda makers, because it takes two to tango. If they tell us things we want to hear, we will agree. Because people naturally don't want to think that their government killed the president in broad daylight, or flew planes into the twin towers. Who wants to think their own government engages in false flag operations, or that their top health officials are completely compromised by Big Pharma? Nobody wants to think that.”Mark Crispin Miller14 May 2022
National Endowment for Democracy“The NED is the umbilical cord of gold that leads directly back to Washington...And by this I’m not only referring to official U.S. government programmes, but to the vast network of clandestine players that plan and enact its information warfare operations. The cultural Cold War has never gone away, it’s just shifted from target to target.”Frances Stonor SaundersJanuary 2022
PropagandistRachel Schraer is a propagandist. She is not interested in basing the message on the information, but on selecting/fabricating information to help support the pre-determined message.”Tareq AlbahoOctober 2022
Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez“There's a powerful public opinion campaign induced by Big Pharma. If one explores the national and international press, and traces recommendations like these, one can perceive an important lack of scientific information to support these kind of recommendations. And by contrast there are statements by Big Pharma executives that already take it for granted.”Hugo López-Gatell RamírezJuly 2021
Refugees International“If I’m reading in the newspaper about a crisis somewhere in the world, it is of great consolation to me to know that, if not at this moment, then very soon I will be hearing from Refugees International about how we should think about the crisis and more importantly what we should do about it.””Samantha Power
StopFake“[StopFake] has been criticised for a monomaniacal fixation on Russian hybrid warfare, but its work has been widely praised.”June 2018
Mark Twain“How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and [how] hard it is to undo that work again!”Mark Twain2 December 1906

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:25 Rules of Disinformationessay28 May 2011H. Michael SweeneyRules covering most of the tactics and stratagems employed by disinformation artists to promote official narratives and counter information and arguments that expose them as fraudulent.
Document:5 July Seminar; Potential guest list for discussionspooky seminar invitation list26 February 2016Integrity InitiativeSeminar with a mix of media, academics and lots of spooks
Document:Ampiric Myopiaarticle28 April 2014Edmund DalpeAn examination of unfolding events in Ukraine and the role of the media, informed by the philosophical approach of Linguistic determinism
Document:Architecture of Modern Propagandawebpage20 August 2011Zahir Ebrahim
Document:Avisa Partners Presentationcompany presentationJune 2016Avisa PartnersThis is very revealing but more official presentation of the company's influence work. Compare with the dirty tricks in Document:Combatting Russian Disinformation
Document:Bid for MoD Funding 2017-2018project proposal14 March 2017Integrity Initiative"Creation of a Europe-wide network of groups who understand the danger of Russian active measures and who can pass the message on to their own decision-makers and public, often using material which we initiate"
Document:Cabinet Publicity Committeebook extract1994David Miller
Document:Chief of Defence Intelligence at RUSI 180518speech summary24 May 2018Euan GrantThere need to be exponential growths in information operations [..] and in cooperation with offensive cyber ops.
Document:Chris Donnelly Paris Brussels May 2016 v2report13 December 2018Chris DonnellyChris Donnelly talks to his French II connections. "They think our main target needs to be the parts of the political class and the security structures 'where the rot is'"... "As an independent NGO we can do things they can’t do and national governments can’t do"
Document:Combatting Russian DisinformationreportJune 2016Avisa PartnersA truly astonishing II document, with a lot of dirty methods. It is written by an established covert French propaganda network, spreading more than a 1000 stories a month, offering to work for II. "our ability to publish articles across hundreds of credible media outlets means that any campaign we undertake will have far more sway than the content published only on state-sponsored outlets RT and Sputnik, and their local few allies."
Document:Elites Link Anti-Government Thought to Mental Illnesswebpage11 March 2016Daily Bell Staff
Document:Filtering Sources On The Syrian Wararticle4 February 2014David EdwardsA cogent demonstration of the gross bias of the mainstream media in its coverage of the ongoing 2011 Syrian insurgency. It shows that they are immune to any lessons of their similarly mendacious reporting both before and during the 2003 Iraq war
Document:Hijacking the word 'Islam' for Mantra Creationwebpage31 May 2009Zahir Ebrahim
Document:Ideas for Ramping up IfS Contributions to the Causestrategy document16 March 2018Victor MadeiraOutline of the Ifs-parts of a big covert propaganda campaign to synchronize and spread the British narrative ('the Cause') in the Skripal case.
Document:Institute for Statecraft project on Russian influence - Impact as at 19 04 2016report19 April 2016Chris DonnellyA list of stories II has planted in media per April 2016, some openly, some secretly, like "Trolls on the Kremlin Payroll"; plus a number of youtube lectures with a lacklustre number of unique views.
Document:Integrity Francereport25 June 2018Integrity Initiativea partial list of II-France members. For complete list, see Integrity Initiative/Cluster/France
Document:Integrity Initiative Budget for the 12 months ending 31 March 2019Budget and activity plan2 November 2018Integrity InitiativeBudget outlining how Integrity Initiative is going to control the information space, and influence policy-makers, specialists and media.
Document:Is media just another word for control?audio transcript2 January 2014John PilgerThis is a transcript of John Pilger's contribution to a special edition of BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme, on 2 January 2014, guest-edited by the artist and musician Polly Harvey.
Document:Korea and the "Axis of Evil"article2002Brian Willson
Document:Leaked Karl Rove emailemail27 August 2011Karl Rove
Document:Manufacturing Dissentarticle1 June 2008Zahir Ebrahim
Document:NATO’s new Cold War runs into trouble in Germanyarticle2 May 2014Christoph GermannEvidence of a substantial and growing disconnect between the German establishment and its population. The official narrative of an agressive expansionist Russia is being comprehensively rejected and it spells trouble for NATO
Document:Northern Ireland Information Service - Planting Storiesbook extract1994David Miller
Document:Overthrow Incarticle6 August 2009Stephen Gowans
Document:Politics and the English Languageessay1946George Orwell
Document:Real Lives - Extract from Don't Mention the Warbook extract1994David Miller
Document:Russia, Novichok and the long tradition of British government misinformationarticle12 April 2018David Miller
Document:Russian Lies and the Skripal Casestrategy document10 March 2018Chris Donnelly
SPCD
II document describing the backstory to the British narrative of the Sergei Skripal incident
Document:Social Media as a vector for propagandapaper26 December 2018Integrity Initiative
Document:Staged ISIS Videos Exemplify Fake Newsarticle7 September 2014Jay DyerISIS and the methodology, motivations and people behind the production and stage management of FAKE NEWS
Document:Terrorism as Seen From Washingtonarticle5 May 2014Thierry MeyssanA brief expose of the US Annual Report on Terrorism in the world as the propaganda.
Document:The BBC’s vaccine cheerleader Jeremy Vine gets his comeuppanceArticle15 August 2021Kathy GyngellThe BBC and their COVID-19/Vaccine propaganda is getting pushback.
Document:The British Media and Gibraltarbook extract1994David Miller
Document:The Committeebook extract1994David Miller
Document:The Dominant Grand Narrative Of Our Timearticle27 January 2014David CromwellMainstream media spokesmen, journalists and reporters are corralled into supporting and promoting the Establishment 'Dominant Grand-Narrative of our Time' while most appear blissfully unaware of the gross deceptions their careers are harnessed too - 'a man cannot see what his livelihood requires him NOT to see' - as the saying goes
Document:The Integrity Initiative Guide to Countering Russian Disinformationanalysis2 November 2018Integrity InitiativeA guide to Russian disinformation, an ideological prep guide for dedicated II operatives
Document:The Network of Networksanalysis30 May 18 JLChris DonnellyA handbook for Integrity Initiative activities, including starting clusters
Document:The Propaganda Modelarticle5 October 2011David CromwellAn overview of the 'Propaganda Model' that accurately defines the nature of the western mainstream media. It also illustrates why "Commercially Controlled Media" is probably a better and more accurate term
Document:The Russian Party in FrancereportJune 2016Françoise ThomEveryone in France not following the strict pro-American NATO-line is a "linchpin of the Russian networks" because "we are dealing with a strategy of pre-conquest."
Document:The Weaponisation of Informationarticle9 August 2007SATS
Document:Towards the End of US Propagandaarticle21 April 2014Thierry MeyssanAn analysis of Anglo-US propaganda techniques from their post-WWI origins to the absurdities of their explanations about the 2014 Ukraine coup and it aftermath. It's author opines that its days are numbered
Document:Visit of Ukrainian Reserve Officers DraftWikispooks Page13 December 2018Integrity InitiativeBritish forces are interested in what Ukrainian colleagues have to say (including what seems to be some tall tales from a Roman Myhailyk)
Document:What is the point of tourists' checks and tests if migrants can just walk into Dover?article5 June 2021Peter HitchensA blog post outlining the illogical policy of lockdown measures in the pandemic era, followed by sections about political correctness, and the Douma attack whistleblowers and Wikileaks.
File:Hotel Rwanda.pdfreport1 November 2007Keith Harmon-Snow
File:ISAF-Spokesperson.pdfpresentation17 September 2012ISAF Staff
File:MindWar.pdfpaper1980Paul E. Vallely
Michael A. Aquino
File:Persona-Management-Contract.pdfofficial document22 June 2010US Air ForceA USAF 'specification and invitation to supply' for 'persona management software'
File:Propaganda.pdfbook1928Edward BernaysA seminal work on the systematic manipulation of public opinion.
File:US Psychological Warfare in Ukraine Targeting Online Independent Media Coverage.pdfarticle20 March 2015George EliasonCyberwarfare operations are getting targeted at anyone.
New Climate Reality, New MediaArticle10 August 2021Mike SmallCall out the worst of columnists and publications spouting writing that is clearly against the common good and against humanity’s future. A weekly prize for the worst culprits. Naming and shaming disinformation and sponsored propaganda.
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References