Readings for Reading Response - Essay Example

Hitler on Propaganda Mein Kampf that means ‘My Struggle’ is a book written by Hitler as both an autobiographyand an expression of his political ideology. In chapter six of the book, he expressed his view of political and war propaganda. Hitler defined the right use of propaganda being an art in itself. In the chapter, he says that the use of propaganda does not depend on the scientific knowledge but rather captures the attention of the masses within the society towards some certain issues that may be seen to directly affect the masses (Hitler, 1943).

Hitler insisted that for propaganda to be popular, its intellectual level must be reduced to the point where lowest intelligence members of the society can easily understand its message. He added that the propaganda on war aims at influencing the largest number of people within the society to support the war. The fact, therefore, requires that the propaganda should be of low intellectual level. The best propaganda deeply arouses the emotions and the mental reaction of the masses towards or against some target group or factor.

The propaganda, according to Hitler, aims does not satisfy or make much of the sense to the highly intelligent members of the society (Hitler, 1943).According to Hitler, the art of propaganda aims at understanding the emotional ideas of the masses and finding the best ways of capturing the masses attention. He says that most intelligent people find it hard to get the main idea in the propaganda. The rule result of propaganda is that it is to be aimed at a particular group. Its intentions should be to arouse the masses’ attention towards a specific detail and not just a general idea.

Propaganda should, therefore, be simple to understand yet strong enough to arouse the emotions of a large number of people within the society. Propaganda is a tactic Hitler used to recruit more soldiers during the First World War and to depict their opponent and enemy as being evil. That is the sole purpose of propaganda (Hitler, 1943).Cited WorkHitler, Adolf, and Ralph Manheim. Mein Kampf,. Boston: Houghton Mifflin company, 1943. Print.