Propaganda

We must remember that in time of war what is said on the enemy’s side of the front is always propaganda, and what is said on our side of the front is truth and righteousness, the cause of humanity and a crusade for peace. Propaganda has been part of the United States since the time we started war; till the moment when we fought in World War II, Vietnam, and how it has affects ours news today. Often the media claims that the purpose of the media is to offer a non-biased view of current events. This nearly impossible to achieve because every bit of writing takes some angle on an issue.

Propaganda is a powerful weapon in war,it is used to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external, by creating a false image in the mind. Throughout the United States history there were many objectives dominated the method in which propaganda was employed throughout the Vietnam war. The war had to be perceived as a threat to national security, which was relatively difficult due to the distance between the United States and Vietnam. Public support had to be sustained. Which was difficult not only because of the distance but also because the American way of life was virtually uninterrupted by the conflict. Our objectives had to be clearly outlined, because the South Vietnamese regime America was defending was contradictory to some of our basic ideals. Also, some people were misinterpreting our actions as imperialistic. Promotion of trust in the government. Trust in the government was low because of the amount of secrecy that shrouded the intervention from the beginning. Vietnam had begun as an undeclared, remote war that the American public was never briefed on. The deaths of civilians in a coup against President Di...

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...king on an engine promotes the citizens of America to work harder so the army has more materials, showing that even normal citizens can take part in the war even if they were not fighting. Another good example of this is this next poster, “Production” (I need to find this picture). “Production” shows what Americans’ attitudes were and what we were fighting for to win the war. This poster is bold and it shows that if the people of the United States give a strong helping hand, they will win the war. Most posters like these ones were successful during this time because fighting wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea so this gave people a chance to help in more subtle ways.

“We become slaves the moment we hand the keys to the definition of reality entirely over to someone else, whether it is a business, an economic theory, a political party, the White House, Newsworld or CNN.”