this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2025
1 points (100.0% liked)

Memes

46115 readers
216 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] davel@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)
[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I'd define propaganda as misconstruing the truth towards political ends. If it's commercial ends rather than political, it's false advertising. If it's not misconstruing, then it's advertising or public communications. Just to set a baseline.

I can't find what your sources are defining as propaganda from a brief look, let's compare to my definition.

[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

it doesn't need to be misconstrued. the best propaganda imho is totally true and in context. spreading it with some kind of political goal is still propaganda.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Cool, I wouldn't call that propaganda, but we can work with that.

Do the Captain America movies have an irl political goal? What would it be?

[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I haven't seen them, but I do know they work with the pentagon, so my guess is they aim to legitimize American hegemony and military spending

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have seen them, and the government is the bad guy, with the overreach of public surveillance being major topic. You'll need to be more specific, but that would probably entail watching them.

[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have no interest though. do you have a point?

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It doesn't seem to fit with the criteria of being for political ends, so it wouldn't be propaganda.

[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

not having seen it, I obviously can't tell you what is messages are.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

So I don't think it should be on this list, and I guess you don't disagree.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (2 children)

From the first one

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.

Sounds like it's referring to any marketing or public communications from any company government or individual. I'd qualify that as overly broad.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 0 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Hollywood's role is propagate the owner class views upon the wagie population to create obedience with a few exceptions... And they don't make those movies anymore.

Lastime they did it was jocker and elites go to scared that they ensured to ruin the prequel. That vibe changed real quick lol

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago

So no Luigi movie for us is what you’re saying 😞

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Hollywood's role is to make money. They do that by making movies that appeal to people so that they'll pay for them, while not alienating their funding. There isn't some top down directive to portray oligarchs well, it's just part of the ballance. Another factor is that directors, at least established ones, tend to be rich, so they have that perspective in their work.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The profit motive certainly is a major aspect, maybe even the largest, but there’s more going on than just that. For instance, the US military-intelligence-industrial complex gets directly & indirectly involved, and this is well documented.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Though money. They don't let people film with their equipment unless they have some say in the outpout. But again, it isn't a conspiracy, it's factors and pressures that sometimes effect the output.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Okay sure, they conspired, but again, it’s not a conspiracy 😂

It seems like you’re jumping through hoops to maintain some kind of Panglossian, high school civics worldview.

Michael Parenti, Dirty Truths:

Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: “Do you actually think there’s a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things?” For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers. But where else would people of power get together – on park benches or carousels? Indeed, they meet in rooms: corporate boardrooms, Pentagon command rooms, at the Bohemian Grove, in the choice dining rooms at the best restaurants, resorts, hotels, and estates, in the many conference rooms at the White House, the NSA, the CIA, or wherever. And, yes, they consciously plot – though they call it “planning” and “strategizing” – and they do so in great secrecy, often resisting all efforts at public disclosure. No one confabulates and plans more than political and corporate elites and their hired specialists. To make the world safe for those who own it, politically active elements of the owning class have created a national security state that expends billions of dollars and enlists the efforts of vast numbers of people.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Conspiracy I take as being secretive. I think this strategy is publicized.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

To the extent that it has been exposed, yes, it is now publicly known, and to the extent that it hasn’t been, it’s not.

I pointed you to some of the seminal and most often cited works on the theory and practice and history of propaganda. Instead of telling us that you question the very validity of the term “propaganda” out of ignorance, how about engaging with the literature, or the Wikipedia entries about the literature, or the YouTube explainers about the literature?

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm trying to nail down what propaganda is so we can talk about it. It's not much use taking about it if we mean different things.

I'd define propaganda as misconstruing the truth towards political ends. If it's commercial ends rather than political, it's false advertising. If it's not misconstruing, then it's advertising or public communications. Just to set a baseline.

I can't find what your sources are defining as propaganda from a brief look, so let's compare to my definition.

[–] hamid@vegantheoryclub.org 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You define it wrong. Propaganda is the same thing as public relations. Public relations is literally the American name for it per Bernays who coined both terms. He believed propaganda is a good thing but the term became loaded so he renamed it in a classic public relations style.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Okay cool, so your definition of propaganda is any communication for political ends?

[–] REEEEvolution@lemmygrad.ml 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Every public communication is propaganda, politcal content is irelevant. It depends on the goals of said proaganda if it is bad or not.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 0 points 1 week ago

That's how censorship works in practice... Profit motive and ownership structure is just the American way of doing it.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

In some languages “advertising” and “propaganda” are the same word, and not for nothing. Bernays worked in both advertising and politics. It’s the same set of tools whether its to sell cigarettes or war.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Would all rhetoric (persuading people) be propaganda? I think that makes the word useless.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Rhetorical exchange between two people is one thing, mass persuasion is quite another, though they are not entirely unrelated.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago

So would any speech to a bunch of people be propaganda? What makes something propaganda?

[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

it's not useless if it describes something.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's describing all communication, good and bad. This conversation we're having right now would be propaganda.

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You're trying to influence someone's understanding of the term propganda, which makes it propganda.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And you're communicating, which makes your comment propaganda. Or is it only propaganda when it's to political ends?

[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

turns out, everything is political, so, yes, it's all propaganda.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So I think that definition is useless, since there's nothing that isn't propaganda.

[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I wanted to see if it was worth continuing this conversation

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You thought I'd have read it?

[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I thought if you had read it this might be a worthwhile conversation.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] nsrxn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago

this hasn't been a conversation for hours