In Propaganda, American-style, Noam Chomsky (1988) refers to Walter LippmannÆs description using communication to shape opinion in others, ôLippmann said that the art of democracy requires what he called the æmanufacture of consent.Æ This phrase is an Orwellian euphemism for thought controlö (1). Ironically, thought control is not germane to democracy but to all states and regimes. For HitlerÆs Nazi regime and StalinÆs communist regime both skillfully used propaganda to manufacture consent among the public as a means of controlling their thinking. Propaganda is typically used by an individual or group that wishes to shape the opinions or thoughts of another individual or group(s) in order to achieve agenda or aims of the propagandist. Recently, we might say that President BushÆs State of the Union speech in which he accused Iraq of buying uranium from Africa was propaganda. It has now been proven this was untrue and high ranking administration officials new of its inaccuracy. However, it was used in the speech anyway and now many feel it was merely propaganda to garner domestic support for military action against Iraq.
Propaganda is not always used in a harmful way. For example, those who are against teen pregnancy often use propaganda to help young people understand the dangers of unprotected sex. Those who are opposed to big tobacco and the ills of smoking often used propaganda to expose corporate deceit and help individuals become aware of the dangers of smoking. Such forms of propaganda are not inherently harmful. However, the propaganda disseminated by Hitler and his Nazi regime was inherently harmful and was used to justify the extermination of six million Jews. By using propaganda to paint Jews as the ôevil otherö in the minds of Germans, Hitler and his henchmen were able to gain public support for the quite horrific atrocities they were carrying out behind the veil of propaganda. Thus, propaganda is n...