Allen Weber’s Take On The World

Limited Power of Propaganda

It is really important to know the limits of what propaganda can achieve. To paraphrase Clint Eastwood “A man’s got to know his limits” to that I add a propagandist and the public got to know propaganda’s limits.

In the 1950’s a very interesting book came out several actually. But one in particular I am going to reference here. It is by a man named Eric Hoffer perhaps you know the name of the book I ma talking about. The title is The True Believer. His book is a fascinating study.

Throughout his book Mr. Hoffer mentions propaganda, among other things.

He brings up the idea that

Propaganda On It’s Own is Ineffective

Propaganda on it’s own, all by itself is useless, ineffective, impotent. Here is how he explains why…

The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new; nor can it keep people persuaded once they have ceased to believe.

Remember, propaganda is basically salesmanship. And as in a sales situation, if you can not get the person to listen to you or pay attention to you,… you will not make the sale. If the person does not believe you… you will not make the sale. With propaganda, you can not just wave a magic wand and “Poof!” it works and people are persuaded to come to your side. In a vacuum propaganda will not work. It has to work on triggers, preparation, groundwork. And once the message (propaganda) is no longer believed, it is not believed and it (the message being delivered, or belief(s) being delivered in the propaganda) loses it’s potency.

He goes on…

It [propaganda] penetrates only into minds already open, and rather than instill opinion it articulates and justifies opinions already present in the minds of its recipients. The gifted propagandist brings to boil ideas and passions already simmering in the minds of his hearers. He echoes their innermost feelings. where opinion is coerced, people can be made to believe only in what they already ‘know’.

So just like with salesmanship, the prospect must be primed and ready to hear the message. The prospect must already have some even small belief in what the salesperson is saying. And must have a desire for the results promised. For instance a con man sees a persons greed. He sees their desire for easy riches. He sees they believe that others have made millions easily, without work, and the only way to do it is through “inside information”. The con man promises inside information, and dupes his victim into acting on his victims beliefs. Now if you have seen some of the commercials on TV regarding internet scams, and how they are not believable in real life, you realize how if the message is no longer believed, it is ineffective. If you have not seen these commercials, you really need to do so. They are quite funny. One of them, a man is sitting on a bus, when some guy dressed up in some African costume sits down next to him, and begins to tell him the African was related to an oil minister in his country and he trusts this complete stranger to hold the money so he (the African) can get it out of his country. Certainly you have seen spams like that. If someone came to you in person, you would never believe them. The message loses its effectiveness.

The propagandist plays on what people overtly believe, or have a little, teensy tiny belief or hope it might be true. But the belief or hope must already exist. “You are not a dumbass for not doing research into the neighborhood and house before you bought it… Not by any means. It was that crook mortgage broker who took advantage of you when you bought that million dollar house and it lost one hundred thousand dollars of value when the housing bubble burst. Not your fault at all.” Or “Anyone who is rich does not deserve to be, because the only way they got that way was because they cheated.” So a propagandist appealing to these beliefs gets a willing participant, whether what he is saying is true or not.

This is not to say propaganda is bad. It isn’t. I believe it is neither good or bad. It just depends on the use you put it to.

Hoffer continues…

Propaganda by itself succeeds mainly with the frustrated. Their throbbing fears, hopes and passions crowd at the portals of their senses and get between them and the outside world. They cannot see but what they have already imagined, and it is the music of their own souls they hear in the impassioned words of the propagandist. Indeed, it is easier for the frustrated to detect their own imaginings and hear the echo of their own musings in impassioned double-talk and sonorous refrains than in precise words joined together with faultless logic.

Propaganda by itself, however skilled, cannot keep people persuaded once they have ceased to believe.

Words Are Essential In Preparing The Masses

Hoffer continues…

… words, are an essential instrument in preparing the ground for a mass movement. But once the movement is realized, words, though still useful, cease to play a decisive role. So acknowledged a master of propaganda as Dr. Joseph Goebbels (Adolph Hitler’s propagandist) admits in an unguarded moment that ‘A sharp sword must always stand behind propaganda if it is to be really effective ’ He also sounds apologetic when he claims that ‘it cannot be denied that more can be done with good propaganda than by no propaganda at all’

Hoffer explains…

Contrary to what one would expect, propaganda becomes more fervent and importunate when it operates in conjunction with coercion than when it has to rely solely on its own effectiveness.

Both they who convert and they who are converted by coercion need the fervent conviction that the faith they impose or are forced to adopt is the only true one.

Propaganda thus serves more to justify ourselves than to convince others

Hoffer sums the preceding thoughts with this…

Propaganda thus serves more to justify ourselves than to convince others; and the more reason we have to feel guilty, the more fervent our propaganda

So if we fear our innermost thoughts and beliefs, we should fear propaganda. If we do not trust ourselves to do the right thing… we should fear propaganda.

In the next post you dear reader, and I, and the others reading this blog will start to have some fun. We will learn about the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, and some propaganda mechanisms they discovered. Then we will begin to dissect some political speeches. It’s going to be fun, until the “Thought Police” come a knock, knock, knockin at my door!

Thanks for reading!

 

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