Propaganda: Government Falsehoods for the Best of Humanity?

        When the term “propaganda” is mentioned to the masses, many people have the same words come to mind. Maybe propaganda is harmful, dangerous, or manipulative, intentionally harming those who are simply looking for the truth on a specific subject just to be met with the iron fist of censorship. Many instances in modern times have proven such suspicions of propaganda true, such as China’s numerous efforts to hide both national and international affairs from its population. While there are numerous instances of censorship that can be listed off that reflect the previously mentioned connotations of propaganda, our perception of the term and its negative associations with dictatorships may be causing more harm than good. Instead of viewing propaganda as only a dangerous weapon for iron fist societies, propaganda should be viewed as a form of government motivation to help a country strive for the betterment of its people, if such methods are not harming or censoring an entire population/populace in the process.

        First, one should acknowledge the denotation of “propaganda” before forming an opinion and applying such attitudes in discussion. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, “propaganda” is “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.” One tiny component of the term’s definition that caught my attention was the inclusion of “helping or injuring.” For some reason, many people choose to ignore how propaganda has helped societies all throughout history, specifically the United States. Nowadays, it is common to see western journalists call everything across the Pacific or in the Middle East “propaganda,” for the term has become nothing more than a political buzzword that catches the masses’ attention. However, the opinion of foreign propaganda changes depending on the American people’s attitudes towards a country. For example, many people dislike what China has done in the past, and even now. Censorship strides such as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Great Firewall of China, and the Uyghur Muslim camps have all been prominent topics regarding propaganda in autocratic nations. Those negative feelings towards these scenarios are completely valid and reflect how horrific propaganda can become if utilized as a tool to harm the public rather than a form of government motivation socially and mentally. However, if one were to focus only on the negative instances of propaganda being abused to keep a nation’s people under an iron fist, they would be ignoring the numerous instances in the past in which propaganda had a positive outcome. Look at the United Kingdom and the United States as examples of such. During both World Wars, both the United States and the United Kingdom made propaganda that encouraged women to join the war effort. In fact, the famous “We Can Do It” poster is an example of not only propaganda but has also become a symbol of modern American culture. Notice how different one form of propaganda is from the other. It is not the concept of propaganda that is full of ill intentions, leaders who abuse a form of media to manipulate the masses are the problem.

        Despite separating propaganda from a country’s intentions, some will argue that any form of propaganda, regardless of its intent, is wrong since it fails to give an entire list of positive and negatives on the issue its shining light on. While misinformation is a valid concern, especially when it comes to economic and political subjects, the goal of propaganda is not meant to show both sides. Rather than viewing propaganda as a subsection of misinformation, propaganda should only be considered a tool of misinformation if such is being abused to hide the truth about a situation from the public. For instance, China did not always consider Taiwan to be a part of China. During China’s cultural revolution during the 60s and 70s, Chinese Nationalists who supported Chiang Kai-Shek during the Chinese Communist Revolution would flee to Taiwan to live separately from Communist mainland China. As a result of such, the Communist Chinese Party would release a poster called, “We are determined to liberate Taiwan” to protest the immigration of Chinese nationalists. Notice how the term “liberate” acted as a replacement for harsher phrases and terms. The Chinese government could have used terms such as “invade” or “interfere,” but the term “liberate” may lead followers of the Chinese Communist Party to believe that those who fled to Taiwan are taking in hostages to ramp up their protest the nationalists. Also, this is not just an issue that has occurred in autocratic nations. During World War II, the United Kingdom released a series of propaganda posters called “Your Country Needs YOU,” which focused on people joining the war effort to defeat Nazi Germany. Again, the word choice in this series is also manipulative. The use of “your” and “you” emphasizes the inclusion of anyone looking at this poster, relying on the bandwagon effect to lure people into the war effort. But what about those who did not want to join? While this is not misinformation like the Communist China example, this piece released by the British government ignores those who opposed going to war and settling on appeasement or diplomacy with the enemy. The quality and attitude towards each piece of propaganda simply comes down to the intention behind such works and the viewer’s previous knowledge of a subject.

        While propaganda is not the most logical (or moral) method of persuading a group of people, it is crucial to recognize that propaganda has been used since the beginning of time to help their argument gain popularity. Regardless of the entity pumping out such works or the cause for such work to be produced, anyone can turn the tables of an argument whenever they need to buff up their stance on a situation. However, it is important to recognize that the intention of the propagation of an idea or belief is appropriate under specific circumstances, and those circumstances all come down to one’s opinion on a situation. While I believe that a government should only utilize propaganda techniques if it is being used for a good cause (women’s suffrage, equality, economic prosperity, etc.), someone else may view my opinion and claim that those are issues the government should not be releasing propaganda about, which is completely fine. Rather than abolishing the use of propaganda to increase desired efforts; however, the common people and the government should strive to put an end to utilizing propaganda to silence or harm a population or populace and focus on using propagation to benefit those who may be unheard in modern society.  

Works Cited

IISG. “We Are Determined to Liberate Taiwan!” We Are Determined to Liberate Taiwan! - Red Eagle Corps - 1970, International Institute of Social History, 1 July 2016, https://iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/chn29.php.

Norwich University, Online. “History of American Propaganda Posters: American Social Issues through Propaganda.” Norwich University Online, Norwich University, 6 Oct. 2020, https://online.norwich.edu/academic-programs/resources/history-of-american-propaganda.

“Propaganda.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propaganda. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.

Welch, David. “Propaganda for Patriotism and Nationalism.” British Library, British Library, 29 Jan. 2014, https://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/patriotism-and-nationalism.