March 27, 2006

If we lose the propaganda war, we lose the war

W. Thomas Smith in Townhall:

Perception is everything. And when applied to the war in Iraq, perception, public opinion, and a far-reaching press are all variables that could ultimately have a hand in any setback or defeat for U.S. and coalition forces in that country...

I do, however, have concerns about false and deliberatively inflammatory propaganda aimed at manipulating audiences. I am not suggesting that any press – good or bad – be quashed. What’s good or bad is open to interpretation anyway. But I think we should recognize the difference between news (including reported facts, analysis, and opinion) and propaganda.

The most important variable in defeating an enemy is that they believe they will lose. Rarely will people fight for a cause that they believe will ultimately fail. That is why we must believe we can win, and why we must convince the enemy that they will lose. And that is why propaganda is such a positive tool. Unfortunately, most people believe that propaganda is somehow bad since it allegedly distorts reality. It can, but so can "unbiased" news. In fact, I would argue, that no news can be "fair and balanced". The very questions we ask are the outcome of our predispositions and therefore lead to inevetable biases.

We will only win the war on terror when the media bias becomes one in favor of American victory rather than one of defeatism.

Posted by: Rusty at 10:07 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 252 words, total size 2 kb.

1 This is exactly the point I was trying to make when Background argued that I was being "naive".

Posted by: Oyster at March 27, 2006 10:17 AM (V9juS)

2 To be effective propaganda must be believable. Propoganda must be perceived as accurate reporting of both the good and the bad, mistakes and successes. If a story is "unbelievable" it had better have massive irrefutable documentation.

Posted by: john Ryan at March 27, 2006 11:32 AM (TcoRJ)

3 Actually propaganda can take the form of good or bad information, John. It doesn't necessarily have to be both. And it doesn't even have to be factual. Now if you're talking about "news", that's a different story. Since the onset of this war journalists have used "news" as a propaganda tool rather than a reporting of unbiased accounts of what is happening along with a major imbalance of of good v. bad in that reporting.

Posted by: Oyster at March 27, 2006 01:22 PM (V9juS)

4 In other words, we won't lose this war in Iraq, we'll lose it here at home against the MSM.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at March 27, 2006 01:52 PM (WCwrR)

5 Hate to break this to you, but you have already lost the war.

Posted by: Sonic at March 27, 2006 10:35 PM (Gsn6c)

6 You are absolutely right - we're showing our enemies the vulnerability of our country through the media reporting on the War in Iraq. The media, it seems, wants us to lose this war and have already begun pushing that idea to their audience. While a political war rages here over whether we should be in Iraq, our men and women are still over there fighting to complete their mission. This is a fact and the only one we should be focusing on at this point. They need our support as a nation and this support is not there when they read what the media is putting out. Stick to the facts and you will know we are succeeding in our mission - and we will win this war. Americans are too smart to fall for this media manipulation...

Posted by: AnnaB at March 30, 2006 09:12 AM (+K/WF)

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