Propaganda:

The Manipulation of Symbols

I. What is Propaganda?

• A way of manipulating people using images and words to achieve a desired affect or outcome

• Propaganda clouds reality and gets in the way of clear and honest thinking

• During wartime, propaganda is designed to provide a focus for our mistrust and hatred, to dehumanize the enemy so they may be killed without remorse

II. Types of Propaganda

• The Enemy As Enemy of God

• The Enemy As Barbarian

• The Enemy As Criminal, Committer of Atrocities

• The Enemy As Death• The Enemy as Beast,

Reptile, or Insect • The Enemy As Rapist• The Enemy As

Abstraction

III. The Enemy As Enemy of God

• The enemy is not merely flesh and blood, but devil, demon, agent of the dark forces

• God sanctifies our social order, our way of life, our values, our territory

A

B C

IV. The Enemy As Barbarian

• The enemy is portrayed as an atheist and barbarian, a denier of God, and the destroyer of culture

• Enemy is rude, crude, and uncivilized

A

B C

V. The Enemy As Criminal, Committer of Atrocities

• Enemy depicted as liars, cheaters, thieves, and opportunists

• Enemy does not play by the rules of civilized warfare

• The enemy is a sadist who delights in inflicting pain on others

A

B C

VI. The Enemy As Death

• War is always portrayed as a cosmic drama, a battle between life and death, light and darkness

• Enemy relegated to role of agent of death

A

B C

VII. Enemy as Beast, Reptile, or Insect

• Enemy descends from barbarian to non-human form, from savage to animal

• Enemy depicted as a dangerous, violent, and irrational animal

A

B C

The Enemy As Rapist

• Enemy portrayed as unadulterated lust defiling innocent women

• Women are shown as pure and in need of protection from the enemy’s uncivil passions

A

B C

IX. The Enemy As Abstraction• New weapon technology

no longer makes it necessary for us to respect or hate those we intend to kill

• The missile technician or bomber pilot is so far removed from the “target,” that they need not confront the carnage they inflict

X. Now You Choose...

1

Now You Choose...

2

Now You Choose...

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To Create an Enemy

Start with an empty canvasSketch in broad outline the forms ofMen, women, and children.

Dip into the unconscious well of your ownDisowned darknessWith a wide brush and Stain the strangers with the sinister hueOf the shadow.

Trace onto the face of the enemy the greed,Hatred, carelessness you dare not claim as Your own.

Obscure the sweet individuality of each face.

Erase all hints of the myriad loves, hopes,Fears that play through the kaleidoscope of Every finite heart.

Twist the smile until it forms the downwardArc of cruelty.

Strip flesh from bone until only theAbstract skeleton of death remains.

Exaggerate each feature until man is metamorphasized into beast, vermin, insect.

Fill in the background with malignantFigures from ancient nightmares-devils,Demons, myrmidons of evil.

When your icon of the enemy is completeYou will be able to kill without guilt,Slaughter without shame.

The thing you destroy will have becomeMerely an enemy of God, an impedimentTo the sacred dialectic of history.