Theme of Zoom Meeting

Theme of Zoom Meeting: Propaganda

I dedicate this discussion guide to my favorite website PropWatch.org -- a nonprofit, non-partisan source dedicated to educate the public on the subtle influences of propaganda from both the left and the right, from liberals and conservatives, from Democrats and Republicans, and every thing in between. I hope that our schools will include one day in their curricula such non-partisans sources so that all our youngsters will be less vulnerable to the tactics of propaganda that may threaten the very foundation of our Democracy. RG

Questions:
For several questions, I have provided underlined links that will take you to related online information. Try coming up with your own thoughts first – then investigate the links or ignore them – whatever you wish.

If the links don’t work with just your mouse arrow, hold down your Ctrl key as you click. Any problems with a link, please let me know: regordon356@gmail.com

1. What is your meaning of propaganda?

2. What are some propaganda techniques you are familiar with? A second link.

3. What is disinformation? Any examples? How about fake news?

4. What are some factors we should keep in mind when we are evaluating internet information, especially when this information is related to politics?

5. Have you ever read a great book on propaganda – especially one that points out how influential propaganda has been in our own Country for non-political reasons? How about in marketing products?

6. Consider a political leader – how did he make use of propaganda tools? How can you tell the difference between fact and opinion?

7. In our own Nation, can propaganda lead to frightening results?

8. Can propaganda techniques be used to sell products including pharmaceuticals?

9. Is propaganda more a problem today than it was thirty years ago? If it is, why?

10. How has the internet affected propaganda? How has Cambridge Analytica played a role in propaganda?

11. How can you evaluate fact from propaganda on internet sources?

12. How the Nazis propagandist Joseph Goebbels spread his poison?

13. Describe examples of propaganda you have seen in the media during these last few years.

14. Can you cite any conspiracy theories since the 1960s, eventually proven false, that have been embraced by millions of Americans? Any that may have helped determine the election of a Presidential candidate?

15. What are examples of tools the propagandist uses to persuade her/his viewers? A video.

16. What are examples of conspiracy theories that have been circulated in our country during the last few years? Why do conspiracy theories seem so difficult to eradicate?

17. Why might it be a good idea to offer courses in propaganda in high school and college?
courses google advanced search

18. Should every high school and/or college student know how to recognize propaganda? How could their instructors find resources for teaching their students?

19. Do you think spreading propaganda can become a main occupation of big, powerful businesses? What do you know about Cambridge Analytica ?

Additional Suggested websites for propaganda information:

1. PropWatch – includes videos with college professors enlightening viewers with information on propaganda

2. Propaganda Machine – Includes information on Cambridge Analytica and the Digital Influence Industry

3. Google Advanced Search hits on Propaganda, limited college/university sites (.edu) updated in the last week

4. The Art of Lying – discussion of five images steeped in lies (propaganda)

5. Psychology Today -- defines various kinds of propaganda

6. Exploring the paradox of why outlandish lies can be easier to believe and so hard to dislodge, once they take root.

7. Dr. John Cook, research assistant professor of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, discusses seven traits of conspiratorial thinking and their relation to the video Plandemic, which promotes a grand conspiracy around the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quotations:

1. “Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.”
― Noam Chomsky, Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda

2. “The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.”
― Adolf Hitler

3. “You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Revolt in 2100/Methuselah's Children

4. “Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.” Joseph Goebbels -- Some sources give the origin of this quote to Hitler

5. “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”
Unknown

6. “Propaganda is as powerful as heroin; it surreptitiously dissolves all capacity to think.”
Gil Courtemanche

7. “Photography is a powerful medium of persuasion and propaganda. It has that ring of truth when all the time, in artful hands, it can make any statement the manipulator chooses.” Michael Langford

8. “Today the world is the victim of propaganda because people are not intellectually competent. More than anything the United States needs effective citizens competent to do their own thinking.” William Mather Lewis

9. “Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?” Bertrand Russell

10. Propaganda is a soft weapon: hold it in your hands too long, and it will move about like a snake, and strike the other way. Jean Anouilh

The End