Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: “Do you actually think there’s a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things?” For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers. But where else would people of power get together – on park benches or carousels? Indeed, they meet in rooms: corporate boardrooms, Pentagon command rooms, at the Bohemian Grove, in the choice dining rooms at the best restaurants, resorts, hotels, and estates, in the many conference rooms at the White House, the NSA, the CIA, or wherever. And, yes, they consciously plot – though they call it “planning” and “strategizing” – and they do so in great secrecy, often resisting all efforts at public disclosure. No one confabulates and plans more than political and corporate elites and their hired specialists. To make the world safe for those who own it, politically active elements of the owning class have created a national security state that expends billions of dollars and enlists the efforts of vast numbers of people.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works -2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Conspiracy I take as being secretive. I think this strategy is publicized.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

To the extent that it has been exposed, yes, it is now publicly known, and to the extent that it hasn’t been, it’s not.

I pointed you to some of the seminal and most often cited works on the theory and practice and history of propaganda. Instead of telling us that you question the very validity of the term “propaganda” out of ignorance, how about engaging with the literature, or the Wikipedia entries about the literature, or the YouTube explainers about the literature?

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works -1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm trying to nail down what propaganda is so we can talk about it. It's not much use taking about it if we mean different things.

I'd define propaganda as misconstruing the truth towards political ends. If it's commercial ends rather than political, it's false advertising. If it's not misconstruing, then it's advertising or public communications. Just to set a baseline.

I can't find what your sources are defining as propaganda from a brief look, so let's compare to my definition.

[–] hamid@vegantheoryclub.org 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You define it wrong. Propaganda is the same thing as public relations. Public relations is literally the American name for it per Bernays who coined both terms. He believed propaganda is a good thing but the term became loaded so he renamed it in a classic public relations style.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Okay cool, so your definition of propaganda is any communication for political ends?

[–] REEEEvolution@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Every public communication is propaganda, politcal content is irelevant. It depends on the goals of said proaganda if it is bad or not.