Propaganda - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages According to Magstadt (147), Propaganda is the deliberate and a systematic effort to manipulate the perceptions, cognitions and or behavior using false, true or partial information in order for the informer to achieve certain specific responses that serves his or her intention. Propaganda may therefore passing information mainly to direct perception towards a certain point for the benefit of the propagandist. It therefore follows that propaganda may not benefit the audience but benefit only the architecture of the propaganda. Propaganda may also be intentional deception of individuals by changing their perceptions towards a particular issue. It can be engineered by the government or politicians for political reasons or just by an individual for self benefit. However, victims of propaganda do not often realize until they are completely deceived. Most of the times, propaganda is used to garner political support for politicians and they do this by spreading propaganda against their rivals. However, it is important to clarify that propaganda is not only for political reasons but may be also witnessed by other societal organizations that have intensions of manipulating the perceptions of the people. The understanding of propaganda in a class setting has therefore to start with the differentiation of propaganda with the other forms of advocacy. There are other forms of advocacy that are used to persuade people and hence change their perception by not necessarily using lies and false information. From the explanation given above, it is clear that there is a difference between propaganda and other tools of persuasion. One idea that has come out is that with propaganda, is that the propagandists are willing and uses confusion and deception to change the people’s perception rather than ordinary persuasion and understanding (Magstadt, 148). Another difference is that they may take the opportunity that the audience do not have the full information and hence use partial truth and partial lies to confuse them and make them believe. For example, in an organization, the leaders of that particular organization know very well that the information may not be true, however for the individuals in the organization that helps in the dissemination of the information; they might not know this. Bringing this difference in class aids in the understanding of propaganda as it it makes the members in a classroom stay focused and avoids confusion with other methods of advocacy. It also brings the concept clearer for the members in the classroom. It is therefore clear that propaganda is deliberate, deception and confusion that is intended to benefit individual interest or group of individuals. The techniques that are used to share propaganda are also very important. Since it is not a direct deception, it is important to outline the various techniques that are used by the propagandist to share information. The two commonly used avenues for sharing propaganda are the advertisements through media and public relations. However the difference should come out clear between the advertisement that are meant to promote a commercial product and the advertisement that is only meant to share propaganda. It should be noted that the propaganda often takes a specific forma and is totally different from the commercial advertisements in the media. Propaganda often takes the political or nationalist kind of messages and hence should not be ...Download file to see next pagesRead More