Propaganda and the Politics of Perception

[IChing]

by Michael Carmichael

A version of this text was presented to the Kuala Lumpur Conference on War Crimes, Perdana Global Peace Organization, 5-7 February 2007.

War propaganda glorifies military indoctrination as the highest form of patriotism while simultaneously demonizing the enemies of the state.

Adolf Hitler realized the power of propaganda to mould and shape public opinion. Hitler wrote a highly informed essay on the powers of propaganda in his political autobiography, Mein Kampf.

Modern governments employ propaganda to incite public outcries for war in order to advance their agendas in foreign policy.

War propaganda is nothing new. The dynastic Egyptians created monumental sculptures that glorified Pharaoh as a conqueror who personally executed – frequently by fracturing their sculls with a mace - hundreds of the enemies of his state. Thus, the public glorification of war and its most heinous crimes has been with us for thousands of years.>>>snip

Confucius wrote,

“The correct use of language must begin at the very top of government.”

In contrast to Confucius, the blatant perception management and propaganda of the totalitarian regime is abundant, clear and constant. For example, Dick Cheney adopted the Hitlerian technique of the big lie to launch the Iraq War, when he promised the American people,

“I’m confident that our troops will be successful, and I think it’ll go relatively quickly . . . Weeks rather than months.”

Swiftly after the horrific tragedy of 9/11, Bush defined the thoughtcrime of today by stating,

“Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.”>>>>snip

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CAR20070312&articleId=5058

[BOSSHOG]

1. what ole dick meant was 364 weeks

to the end of their term in office. Then they will hand the baton off to someone else, wash their hands of their crimes and move to Paraguay, a country which does not have an extradition treaty with the U. S. bush backers should be so proud.