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As the government cannot follow opinion. opinion must follow the government. One must convince this present, ponderous, impassioned mass that the government's decisions are legitimate and good and that its foreign policy is correct. The democratic state, precisely because it believes in the expression of public opinion and does not gag it, must channel and shape that opinion... Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. Henry A. Wallace The essential element in war is not killing per se, but rather the compelling of an opponent to do one's will. Killing may or may not be involved... The essence is a contest of politial will, whose means may involve varying forms and degrees of compulsion. Paul A. Smith Jr., On Political War,
National Defense Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The masses have to be won by propaganda. Hannah Arendt |
Human behavior is the end product of emotion, need, desire, and the external influences that shape reality. Propaganda is a planned, sophisticated, scientific means to shape all of these. Those who under-estimate the power of propaganda are helpless to defend themselves against it. |
Citizens of the democratic societies should undertake a course of intellectual self defense to protect themselves from manipulation and control... Noam Chomsky, From Necessary Illusions: The modern citizen is asked to participate in wars such as have never been seen before. All men must prepare for war, and for a dreadful type of war at that - dreadful because of its duration, the immensity of its operations, its tremendous losses, and the atrocity of the means employed... Man must be plunged into a mystical atmosphere... Only propaganda can put man into a state of nervous endurance that will permit him to face the tension of war. Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (1962) The existence of the state is inseparable from the existence of slavery. Karl Marx, Critical Notes on the Article, It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged. G.K. Chesterton (March 1921) |