All Things Transcription

Propaganda; the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines it as:

The spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.
Ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also: a public action having such an effect.

Follow up:

I refer directly to the type of propaganda used by such historical figures as Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and many others of the same ilk throughout history; political propaganda. This type of propaganda is used to create something called “Cult of Personality.” This term is used when a political leader uses the existing media of the time to create an “idealized and heroic public image.” The aforementioned figures and their governments were masters of this type of propaganda. Here is an example:

Hitler also used film as a media for propaganda. Most of us are very familiar with his speeches. However, some of the most impressive propaganda was created by filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl. Her best known work is Triumph des Willens, or Triumph of the Will. This is a sample of that film.

Riefenstahl was a prominent member of the Third Reich and maintained personal friendships with Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, the Reichsminister of Propaganda. Her films gave her the reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century. She was arrested after the fall of the Third Reich but was never charged.

Mao Tse Tung of China also used film as propaganda. This example from 1966 was made at the beginning of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

There are many more film images created as propaganda available for viewing from different sources. They are most interesting from a historical perspective and it behooves us to have at least a basic familiarity of this type of propaganda if only to avoid the repetition of these times in history.

Art has also been a much-used vehicle for political propaganda. All of the historical figures mentioned above used art as a means to further their dictatorships. There are many examples still in existence of this art. Posters, sculptures, and paintings were common. Again, there are many examples in existence today. Some of this work is very powerful and, from an artistic point of view, very beautiful. However, we should keep in mind the purpose behind the creation of these works and understand that in most cases the artists were often manipulated and forced to create propaganda for these leaders. Here are several examples of this type of work.

Notice the images of smiling happy people surrounding their “beloved leader.” The message of this image is plain. These leaders wanted to put out the message that they were kind, beneficent leaders of content and happy populations. It doesn’t take much effort to refresh your memory about the reigns of these people and just what happened to their “content and happy” populations.

You will also find many of the leaders portrayed in heroic portraits. Most often in uniform; their chins raised with a steely stare. All the big dictators have one of these. Here are a few.

Look again at the definition of propaganda; the deliberate spread of ideas about someone or something. Think about the fact that these dictators had many people working behind the scenes to accomplish this spread. Propaganda, marketing; call it what you will, this method of controlling whole populations of people was and is still very effective. We are exposed to it during every campaign for every public office.

Now we have the added attraction of television to further political propaganda. Commercial advertising for political candidates, both positive and negative, costs millions of dollars. However, if you look closely you will still see the same types of imagery. Politicians either dressed to the nines, chins up, stares steely; speaking to the public seriously and thoughtfully. Politicians smiling, kissing babies, shaking hands. There really is no difference in modern propaganda and the techniques used in the past. It has just become more sophisticated.

I will leave you with two more examples of propaganda.

Then there is this example:

They’re kind of “the more things change, the more things stay the same,” aren’t they? You may be interested in this article.

“Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”
George Santayana