1:Propoganda and its uses in modern time
2:How the pacificts population was turned into war hysteria
3: Lipmans theory of liberal democracy
4:Role of specialized class and bewildered herd
1:Propoganda and its uses in modern time
propaganda which is a form of persuasion used to influence people's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. A working definition of propaganda is the spread of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person. While propaganda has been around for almost a thousand years, only recently (last 100 years) with the advent of technologies that allow us to spread information to a mass group has it evolved to a scientific process capable of influencing a whole nation of people
Uses
1:Brag about political achievements
election commercials on TV, where the candidates are using propaganda techniques to elevate themselves above their competitor.
2:creating and reshaping people opinion about a particular phenomenon. For instance Indian channels brag about the surgical strikes in pakistan without any clear and solid evidence they somehow made people around the world believe that India has done some successful surgical strikes to deal witb terroists in Pakistan.
3: To influence people mind.
China used the propaganda to cater the rebelious groups in China. they brag about the killings of rebelious groups by the Chinese government. It was such a huge number that it shakes the world forums.
4:To controll the people.
Balochistan movement is totally controlled by Pakistani establishment. when people of Balochistan ask for the missing person government call them pro Talibans and use their protests as a threat for Pakistan.
5: To create perception
Pakistani establishment is creating perception that Politicians are responsible for everything happened in Pakistan.
2:How the pacificts population was turned into war hysteria
Woodrow willson was elected president in 1916 on platform "peace without victory". Willson administeration was actually commited to war and in order to reshape public opinion they established the propaganda commission the Creel mission.They targeted the intelectuals of society , influencers, those who took pride, They write about the possible threats the society will face if the war is avoided by them.Their writtings made people terrified about their future, fake stories were published. They targetted the literate people reshaped their opinion.intelectuals were used by the government to control the people thoughts.
3: Lipmans theory of liberal democracy
Lipman was of the view that in liberal democracy there are two types of poeple, minority specialized class and minority bewildered herd
Lippmann said that mass man functioned as a "bewildered herd" who must be governed by "a specialized class whose interests reach beyond the locality." The élite class of intellectuals and experts were to be a machinery of knowledge to overcome the primary defect of democracy, the impossible ideal of the "omnicompetent citizen". This attitude was in line with contemporary capitalism, which was made stronger by greater consumption.
4:Role of specialized class and bewildered herd
smaller group of people of society who are considered as spcialized class usually consist of influencers, intellectuals who play an active role in running general affairs.These people influence and reshape public opinion , analyze issues execute plans for the future of people take important decisions for masses in political , economic and idealogical systems.They are the people who are busy in talking about what to do about bewildered herd.
The other group or big majority of population are called bewildered herd.He said we have to protect ourselves from trampling and roar of bewildered herds. The role of bewildered herd in democracy is to be spectators not participants in action.as in democracy they are allowed to choose people who can rule over them but not allowed to be rulers.They can choose the people who can decide what is good for them.The bewildered herd cant make decisions for them but the poeple who can make decisions for them are chosen by them.
2:How the pacificts population was turned into war hysteria
wood row wilson administration was actually committed to war and had to do something about it.but the population was pacifict and dont want war in order to reshape public opinion Woodrow wilson*s government established a propaganda mission named Creel commission.They used progressive intellectuals, media , people of John Dewey circle who took great pride and other influencial elites. They propagate the agenda of the government through writings debates , spreading rumors, fabricates the facts and terrify the masses.
Questions of the assignment.
1History of public relations,and agenda.
After world war two the traditional mechanism of society was demolished , depression was on boom,markets were flooded with goods and services , the bewilderd herd was kind of out of control from specialized class so the need to cop the situation rise and in order to again controll over them The
idea was to figure out ways to turn the public
against the strikers, to present the strikers as
disruptive, harmful to the public and against
the common interests.
2.What is Mahawk valley formula?
The Mohawk Valley formula is a set of guidelines and actions for strikebreaking based on, according to Noam Chomsky, a propaganda-based framework rather than one based on more traditional methods of violence.The Mohawk Valley formula includes: discrediting union leaders and labelling them ‘agitators,’ scaring the public with threats of violence, intimidating strikers using the police force and vigilantes, forming puppet groups of ‘loyal workers’ to influence public debate and discredit strikers, protecting and fortifying workplaces, often with private security forces, employing large numbers of strikebreakers to work in place of strikers, and threatening closure of the workplace if the workers do not return to work.
3.How and why opinion is engeneered?
opinion engineering is the practice of making laws or using other methods to influence public opinion and solve social problems or improve social conditions.
public sees no reason to get involved in foreign adventures,killing, and torture. So you have to whip them up. And to whip them up you have to frighten them.It's necessary to constantly ram through
domestic programs which the public is
opposed to, because there is no reason for the public to be in favor of domestic programs that are harmful to them.In order to controll them propagnda tools are uses influence ,inform, and to inculcate individuals with the values beliefs and codes of behavior s that will integrate them into the institution structueres of the large society.
Questions on todays reading.
1.what is dissident culture?
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution.
Dissident culture refers to the active participation of individuals on the formation of society structure ,in perspective of economic and political affairs. They are the people who are not only awared of whats happening around them as well as how to bring positive change in it
2.How bewildered herd is engaged through mechanism of social control?
They are told about the future threats for their common interest.Influencers intellectuals keeps on brag about non issues to divert the attentions of people from the policies of government that are effecting their daily lives.
3,what do you mean by "parade of enemies".
Parade of enemies here refers to the possible threats and non issues bragged by government institutions to divert the public attention.instead of coping the internal issuse like educational standards are declining, poverty is increasing, racism ,crime rate, inflation , etc the soecialized class or elites are propagating about the issues that are not directly effecting the people's life but in order to gain their own objectives.
Q1,How well functioning propaganda system works,explain with examples.
We're expose to a continuous flow of questions, criticisms, or information persuasive messages on a nearly daily basis, sometimes by paid advertisers and other times by groups looking to forward their own interests. The entities behind these messages all have the same idea in mind: Convince the audience to agree with the message presented and adopt it as their own belief, thus rejecting the viewpoints of the "other" side. These messages are referred to as propaganda, a persuasive technique where we are intentionaly or unintentialy are consuming certain messages that are brodcasted , spread or shared by some channels of communication.Ironically some propagandas have been full of outright lies or deception, and many people believe. Rather, it's the statement of facts and beliefs with the intention of influencing a particular audience, trademarked by the omission of any details that might persuade the audience to the other side.
For instance few years back when Pakistan was facing a military dictatorship , in the name of slogan ( sab say pehlay Pakistan) which means Pakistan comes first was constantly repeatedly shared by governmnet channel Ptv as well as controlled media reshaping a majority people ' s opinion. which was Pakistan should not be a mediator or helper of America ' s invassion in Afghanistan. Though people were influenced by this propaganda still a huge majority was against this opinion which was totally blacked out on mainstream media which helped in creating a perception that people of Pakistan are not opposing America -Afghan war.It was kind of success ful propaganda runned by the government as still poeple are if the view that we were left with no choice but to help american in invasion.
secondly back in 2013 /2014 there was a strong support for Talibans even they were targetting innocent people with sucider attacks. People some how were of the view that they were doing this just in protest. Even mainstream media channels were doing programs in support and giving their view point a proper airtime even Imran khan asked government to give talibans a proper office where they can negotiate but after amry public school attacks , government changed its policy and took strict action against them , mainstream media , social media social workers , political workers each and every tool was used to reshape the public opinion.This help people realizing the cruel facts related to Talibans, resulting in successful army operations like zarb e azab and operation rad ulfasad.
well in coutries like Pakistan where majority of people dont use internet sevices and are deprived of cable networks the propaganda can be a totall failure as well.
current PM Imran khan was launched through social media campaigns,on mainstream media he was given prime time to project his views , paid advertisements were running on media ,paid journalists were keep on bragging about his faithfullness and competence but still this type of propaganda didnt help him in 2013 elections and in 2018 elections as well. Pmln clean sweeped him in both elections. He keeps on saying about rigged elections but the voters who dont have access to the mainstream media or social media were also taking part in general elections by giving their precious votes.and they totally rejected him. still a lot of people are of the view that 2018 elections were rigged and the success of Imran khan totally depends upon alien unconstitutional invasion in general elections
Q2,what choices writer refers at the end of the section The gulf war?
Nom Chomisky was very disappointed with the propaganda policy of America which leads American society into a insecure war mongers.He concluded that Amercans are left with two main choices
It's whether they want to live in a free society
or whether they want to live under what
amounts to a form of self-imposed totalitari-
anism, with the bewildered herd marginalized,
directed elsewhere, terrified, screaming patri-
otic slogans, fearing for their lives and admir-
ing with awe the leader who saved them from
destruction, while the educated masses goose-
step on command and repeat the slogans
they're supposed to repeat and the society deteriorates at home.
Q3.what was drilled into public mind through media according to the writer in context of Iraq?
Through successful propaganda it was drilled into people ' s mind that Saddam Hussain is a war monger monster who if left alone will conqure the world.He has weapon of mass destructions that can be used against the peaceful country like us , we need to stop him immediately otherwise he will destroy everything. He is so powerful that he is about to take everything
