prop·a·gan·da
the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing causealso : a public action having such an effect
Propaganda is information that is not objective and is used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is presented.[2] Propaganda is often associated with material prepared by governments, but activist groups, companies, religious organizations and the media can also produce propaganda.
en.wikipedia.org/...
Not all propaganda is bad, and is necessary during a campaign:
The modern development of politics was another stimulus to propaganda. Propaganda as promotion is a necessary part of political campaigns in democracies. When political bosses controlled nominations, comparatively little promotion was needed before a candidate was named to run for office, but under the direct primary system the candidate seeking nomination must appeal to a voting constituency. And in the final election he must appeal to the voters for their verdict on his fitness for office and on the soundness of his platform. In other words, he must engage in promotion as a legitimate and necessary part of a political contest.
www.historians.org/...
But damaging propaganda is something very different:
This from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum explains it very well,
In contrast to the ideal of an educator, who aims to foster independent judgment and thinking, the practitioner of propaganda does not aim to encourage deliberation by presenting a variety of viewpoints and leaving it up to the audience to determine which perspective is correct. The propagandist transmits only information geared to strengthen his or her case, and consciously omits detrimental information.
www.ushmm.org/...
Propaganda was weaponized during the 2016 election cycle, especially memes:
While memes originally had a comedic purpose, they invaded the political realm in a far more sinister manner during the 2016 presidential campaign. Like the propaganda posters from the world wars, politically pointed memes employed a striking visual coupled with effective communication intended to alter the mind frame or subconscious of a viewer.
From the same article:
While memes may seem like the silly clutter of Internet culture, studies of advertising and the way we consume information have shown that such images can alter our subconscious, often in ways we do not understand. Or as one Garfield meme put it, “You are not immune to propaganda.”
www.washingtonpost.com/...
We saw the aftermath of those memes and other social media propaganda here at Daily Kos; heck we are still seeing it every time someone says the DNC rigged the primary or Hillary had no charisma.
Our Facebook and Twitter timelines are full of people and bots pushing propaganda talking points. We have to be cautious when retweeting commentary. It will be more difficult to tell who’s a real person, who’s not; and who’s sharing manipulated information
Speaking of manipulated information, you can expect to see plenty more like what we’ve seen recently with the deliberately slowed Nancy Pelosi video. How do I know there will be more? Well, Facebook and Twitter didn’t remove the Pelosi video from their platforms; only Google tried to remove it from YouTube. We cannot count on social media to provide much more than lip service to the truth.
Expect more propaganda; it’s just so easy to do and the payoff can be huge. I’m looking at you, #PizzaGate, and #HillarysForPrison. As a matter of fact, the Mueller Report tells us that in the 10 weeks prior to the November election, ~3800 Internet Research Agency accounts tweeted ~176,000. That works out to ~2500 tweets per day, that were then retweeted and amplified by hundreds of thousands of users.
But wait there’s more. According to the report Facebook deactivated 80,000+ IRA accounts in August 2017, but not before these posts reached at least 29 million, and maybe up too 126 million people.
emphasis mine, because damn!
We've been warned and the dirt will be dirtier this cycle:
With just over 18 months to go until the next U.S. presidential election, Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian organized crime, said Russia may even double down on this aspect of its campaign—despite a greater vigilance over Moscow-funded trolling on the part of U.S. intelligence officials as well as Facebook and other social media companies.
Assuming Trump runs again, he said, “It’s going to be a dirty campaign, and that suits the Russians just fine. They will just try and ensure that the dirt is that much dirtier.”
“The Russians can only exploit existing divisions,” he said. “You’re not going to deal with this by the NSA [National Security Agency surveillance] and indictments. It’s actually social cohesion” at stake.
foreignpolicy.com/...
Here are some ways to resist propaganda;
The article lists 13, but here are a couple of simple and key ways:
- Go to the source of the information, which works hand in hand with reading before sharing an article.
- Follow the news in more than one medium.
- Report lies and misinformation, when possible.
www.theodysseyonline.com/…
More reading:
www.nbcnews.com/...
Now for the palate cleanser: