Propaganda is something from the past and definitely not something that influences you, right? Not at all: propaganda is alive and everywhere around us. Dr. Etienne Augé explains how you can uncover propaganda in a University of the Netherlands lecture.
Etienne Augé starts his lecture with explaining the difference between propaganda and disinformation. The architect of a campaign of disinformation will use lies. And they will be spread intentionally to deceive or create confusion. Propaganda focusses on the grey area of the truth. It is a strategy of mass communication aiming at controlling people’s beliefs.
According to Augé, Propaganda exists as soon as we need to organise societies. Every society has certain stories or beliefs that we rely upon to bind together the rest of society. There are six principles that make effective propaganda: undetected, emotional, binary, cool, simple and repetitive. And there are more than 40 propaganda techniques. Auge explains a few of these techniques in his lecture. One of them is pinpointing the enemy. It means that propagandist explain who the true enemy is to its audience. Another technique is presenting your own opinion as a fact, we call this assertion.
Propaganda is very much alive. But is it possible to get protection for propaganda? Propaganda is just a tool of communication, states Etienne Augé. It is neither negative nor positive. It is a set of techniques with a touch of art. Propaganda provides orders, which can be dangerous. Some leaders might not use it for the greater good. But propaganda can also be useful for humanities to move forward. That is way propaganda needs to be known and understood.
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