Do You Feel Insulted By Propaganda?

[Sunstone]

Do you ever feel that when someone exaggerates or lies to you, or when someone only tells you half the truth, in an effort to persuade you to adopt their views that you are being insulted? Is propaganda basically offensive?

How do you usually deal with being propagandized?

Do you think they believe you are stupid enough to swallow their exaggerations, lies, or distortions?

What do you think of as propaganda?

Please give two examples of propraganda: One from a side that you might support, and one from a side that you might oppose or not support.

Is there a difference between propaganda and indoctrination? If so, what is the difference?

Last, is it true Mike and Paw have formed a secret alliance with Anade to take over the State of Kentucky and reap millions by selling off the State's armory of Daniel Boone Coonskin Hats, or is that just another silly RF rumor no one knows how it got started?

 

[gnomon]

Let me just say this. I'm not sure if this qualifies as propaganda. Imagine being in a heated argument with someone over a very important issue. Someone's life may be at stake. The person you are arguing with, as well as the mute fools standing on the sidelines, keeps proclaiming that he is right because everyone else believes and says the same thing he does. Is this propaganda? Or is it just another illogical tool? Either way it sucks and I cannot stand it. Seems to be a standard argument to make among humans.

You ask to many questions and my mood is too ill-mannered to contemplate them.

 

[robtex]

I guess I see propoganda is either distorted truths or white lies used to inflict an agenda. indoctrination is a meathod that can be used to present propoganda but it is a meathod that can be used to present any piece of information. For instance I was indroctrinated on a hip throw when I joined the townlake jujitsu club in 1992 by doing it over and over hundreds of times a day on each hip. I saw that as a good thing instead of a bad thing.

Propoganda can have factual information but leave out relevant information on the other side of the arguement. In that sense the opposite would be academic, which is where as much of the info known to exist is presented as opposed to only that info that benefits the desired outcome or decision.

I would actually qualify most if not all religions that have "evidence" of their God as propoganda. Bush's announcement of WMD of Iraq was propoganda because it used false information to achieved a desired end.

This is kinda a broad question and make take some "thinking on" before really digging into some answers.

 

[Booko]

Do you ever feel that when someone exaggerates or lies to you, or when someone only tells you half the truth, in an effort to persuade you to adopt their views that you are being insulted? Is propaganda basically offensive?

I am insulted and it is offensive.

How do you usually deal with being propagandized?

1. Mute button
2. Do not spend money on company's products, if applicable

Do you think they believe you are stupid enough to swallow their exaggerations, lies, or distortions?

They must believe I am, and the thing that shocks me most is, obviously someone IS that stupid, or they wouldn't keep pumping it out like that.

What do you think of as propaganda?

Not "public relations," but the knowing distortion of truth so the propagandist can get what they want: power, your money, whatever.

Please give two examples of propraganda: One from a side that you might support, and one from a side that you might oppose or not support.

I support none of it that I can think of.

Other examples:

Wal-Mart ads with employees telling you all about how benefits helped them through school, yadayada. Only the managers get benefits, but they put this crap out there to convince us they are a "responsible" company and take care of their employees. Bushwah.

The latest ad out there with people asking oil companies "gee, tell me what I can do?" and directing the sheeple to their website, where you can loaded up with more nonsense about how wonderful all those oil companies are and no, they haven't stood in the way of progress in energy conservation and efficiency. :149:

Is there a difference between propaganda and indoctrination? If so, what is the difference?

Hm, is indoctrination the prolonged exposure to propaganda?

Last, is it true Mike and Paw have formed a secret alliance with Anade to take over the State of Kentucky and reap millions by selling off the State's armory of Daniel Boone Coonskin Hats, or is that just another silly RF rumor no one knows how it got started?

I thought they were headed for Fort Knox...

(oops, I wasn't supposed to let the cat out of the bag!)

 

[Radio Frequency X]

I don't have a problem with it. I mean, it really is the most effective way people have found of spreading their point of view. I'm in sales, and I see most other salesmen using those kinds of tactics and while they don't work as well as blunt, direct, pushy honesty, they still work. Most people like to lie to themselves as a shortcut to thinking, so when other people do it, it helps them out. They just don't want to know its BS.

 

[c0da]

Do you ever feel that when someone exaggerates or lies to you, or when someone only tells you half the truth, in an effort to persuade you to adopt their views that you are being insulted? Is propaganda basically offensive?

Hell yeah.

How do you usually deal with being propagandized?

Just don't read/watch/buy the source of the propoganda, and I usually have a moan about it to somebody.

what do you think of as propaganda?

I think it is the exageration or distortion of the truth to advance ones personal agenda or hinder the oppposition.

Please give two examples of propraganda: One from a side that you might support, and one from a side that you might oppose or not support.

I can't think of any I support at the moment. An example of blatant propoganda would be things like the cartoons posted in Jyllands Posten having a go at Islam or the anti-jewish stuff that gets put in some arab newspaper. Then theres more subtle propoganda which can be something as simple as the choice of words in an article. The front page of The Independent, I think, is an example of this. An anti-Israeli bias was evident from the choice of words. I've tried to find it, but to no avail, so if anybody can find it or has a copy of yesterdays paper, maybe you could post it?

Is there a difference between propaganda and indoctrination? If so, what is the difference?

I think indoctrination is what happens when one is fed so much propoganda that they actually belief what it is they are being told.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Propaganda is the opiate for the masses.

Both indoctrination and propaganda are an attempt to lull the human mind to sleep.

However, neither indoctrination nor propaganda are completely useless or evil when it serves my purposes or that of the greater good of the community. Sometimes the community needs to have a single goal in mind for survival, and it is better to shape the minds of thoughtless idiots when you need them rather than to let them be the downfall of the group.

 

[Yerda]

Is propaganda basically offensive?

Sometimes.

I can hardly hold it against people in a position of power from spreading propaganda, it seems quite natural that they will perpetuate their conditions by any means, and lie about it. I do tend to get annoyed when people not in a similar position use the same messages. For instance, I understand that people accustomed to the privileges of political hegemony will justify what amounts to murder of X people or theft of Y amount of land with propaganda drives. I accept it as normal and try my best to navigate the bulls**t. I do not accept the same justifications from people who don't enjoy the same conditions. In fact I often get annoyed. I won't listen to apologies for state terror without objection.

 

[OneStraw Revolutionary]

Propaganda is dangerous, more than it is offensive. Lies perpetuated to lull the minds of the populace are inexcusable. A few nights ago on CBS news was a small story about the heat and its relation to global warming, ending with, "Did you know that it might actually be hotter if not for (media-style pause) pollution?" They gave a scientist's opinion that if smog and such wasn't there to blot out some of the sun, we'd be feeling Global Warming's effects much sooner.

Now, that's the same pollution that started the global warming in the first place, but CBS News didn't see fit to add that. Such a dangerous statement seems intended to make the public passive and remain entrenched in their life-threatening lifestyles. This is coming from the media which claim to strive for unbiased reporting.

Robtex:
Propaganda can have factual information but leave out relevant information on the other side of the arguement. In that sense the opposite would be academic, which is where as much of the info known to exist is presented as opposed to only that info that benefits the desired outcome or decision.

Worse yet, is propaganda passed off as academic materials. Text books disguise themselves as truthful, unbiased accounts of events, but unlike the media which many people question, these books are accepted as fact. These must be the most powerful tools of submission ever created.

angellous_evangellous:
However, neither indoctrination nor propaganda are completely useless or evil when it serves my purposes or that of the greater good of the community. Sometimes the community needs to have a single goal in mind for survival, and it is better to shape the minds of thoughtless idiots when you need them rather than to let them be the downfall of the group.

It is words like these that reinforce my fear of propaganda. I have yet to meet a single person who knew without contestability what truly was the greater good. I have, however, met and seen plenty who make such claims. Through agendas hiding behind claims of a "greater good" have come great tragedies of war and suffering across this world.

Then there is propaganda which is less extreme, as it either exists on a personal scale, or with less dire consequences. Anyway I hear it, when it's discovered I feel like I'm being lied to. Who doesn't get offended when lied to?

 

[Khalid Muhammad]

I think of one thing when I think of the word propaganda, that being the word propagate, I'm fairly sure they share a root.

 

[niceguy]

Blatant propaganda are a sure way to loose me as a supporter/customer.

 

[ALifetimeToWaitFor....]

propaganda |ˌpräpəˈgandə| noun 1 chiefly derogatory information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view : he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda. • the dissemination of such information as a political strategy : the party's leaders believed that a long period of education and propaganda would be necessary . 2 ( Propaganda) a committee of cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church responsible for foreign missions, founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.

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