Bartolome De Las Casas Destruction Of The Indies

Propaganda is used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. The use of artistry can be justified in visual and print propaganda depending on if the intentions are beneficial, the audience that it targets, and the outcome of using said propaganda.

Propaganda can be used only if the intentions are good and the artistry is not harmful. A bad example of using propaganda in print is in Bartolome de Las Casas’s, Destruction of the Indies. Las Casas clearly exaggerates the number of native deaths to appeal to pathos. This is not okay, because he is exaggerating his findings. Therefore, his experiences and exposures should not be altered because he must provide accurate information to the prince. Las Casas states

that “during these eleven years, more than two million souls have perished and, in an area of more than a hundred leagues by a hundred leagues, only two thousand survivors are to be seen” (Las Casas 56). Las Casas used artistry to make one feel pity for the natives. He could not have confirmed seeing two thousand survivors, nor see two million deaths. Las Casas is providing false information to the prince, which is not a good use of artistry. Another bad use of artistry in print propaganda is Patricia Smith’s “The Cruel Truth about Cancer” article. This article interviews a young cancer victim named Claire. Smith later revealed that many of the quotes in her publications were fictitious. Smith made up Claire in order to receive more publicity and appeal to pathos. Smith then quit her job as a Boston Globe columnist saying, “from time to time in my metro column, to create the desired impact or slam home a salient point, I attributed quotes to people who didn’t exist” (Smith “Columnist Quits, Admits Fake Quotes”). Lying to the public for personal gain is not a good use of propaganda.
Visual propaganda is the use of pictures or videos to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Visual propaganda is most common during political debates. In Donald Trump’s first television ad for his run for office, his ad depicts his desire to build a wall at the southern border. This wall would disallow illegal immigration from Mexico. The video clip that Trump used was not the Mexican-American border, and was actually the small Spanish enclave on the mainland of Morocco: Melilla. This is Trump trying to trick the public to become scared of the idea of illegal immigration. This is a bad use of propaganda because it is for his personal gain and the outcome of showing this ad was not good. People researched the video clip of the Moroccan border and were enraged to find out it wasn’t the Mexican-American border. The people in Africa did not pertain to them, they lost that sense of relatedness if the border had actually been their own. A good example of visual propaganda is art by the children experiencing the Holocaust. These images are an innocent child’s account of what they witnessed in Nazi internment camps. One drawing depicts a dark camp enclosed by barbed wires, only the use of browns, white and black signify the mood of the art piece. Four people can be seen in black and white striped clothes with the Star of David above their hearts. In this artwork, the artists are Jewish children, they are describing what their eyes see in these

camps. The mood of the drawing is morbid and dark, conveying probably what the child did not intend, but people can understand the message. This propaganda is genuinely telling someone a message, while Trump’s ad is manipulative and not beneficial to anyone else but himself.
Some people may argue that it is never ok to lie or manipulate. Manipulating is wrong and it is seen as immoral. Others may argue that it is always ok to lie or manipulate, because it gets a message across and allows for gain. However, audiences need to be more critical of what they see. Always lying gets one nowhere, look at Mein Kampf. Hitler was a master of manipulating large numbers of people. He understood that if one simply tells a lie, people who know (or find out) the truth will easily reject it. This was his motive for the “Big Lie” in an attempt to manipulate people into thinking the Jews were complete animals. One knows how this technique ended, because one cannot solidify something so good on a blatant lie. Lying is only ok when it benefits people, and no negative repercussions occur. One cannot live their entire life not lying. People argue it is never ok to lie, but everyone does it in their daily lives. Lying about a test grade, lying about what someone is doing. It’s simple and nothing bad usually ever comes out of it.
In conclusion, the use of artistry can sometimes be justified in visual and print propaganda. If the intentions are beneficial toward a cause, and it is not done for personal gain. The audience must also positively react to the propaganda, and they must be educated and critical about the topic.