Propaganda in the 20th Century Term Paper

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..to work properly, propaganda must strike a balance between reason and emotion." That may be true - it's probably why some political advertisements have been so effective, such as the "Daisy" ad used against Goldwater in 1964 and the "Willie Horton" ad used by then-Vice President George Bush against Michael Dukakis. Both of those ads were effective, but I question anyone who would argue that the ads were honorable.

The one instance I can think of in which propaganda was utilized effectively and honorably was in some of the campaigns used by the U.S. government at home during World War II. Slogans such as "Loose lips sink ships" and the like seemed to influence the public, and they weren't harmful.

This, however seems to be the exception to the rule. In that case, the propaganda may have been essential, and it wasn't dishonorable, but it's the only case I can think of that supports Welch's argument. The rest seems to meet the "essential" part of his argument, but the other instances never seem to be honorable.

This exercise has also made me wonder if government propaganda can be effective any more for any length of time. The U.S. government apparently used propaganda to engage in a war with Iraq (whether they meant to or not), but it didn't last long because details came out about the government's information.

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And it seems that most arguments in favor of the war are falling on deaf ears any more as the public seems to want the war to be over.

Another factor that may cause the use of propaganda to be less useful for governments than in the past is today's technology. In the past, a lot of times, what the government said was the truth was the only way to know the truth. Now, media is not only more of a watchdog on the government than ever before, but with the rise of 24-hour news channels and other things, it is harder for the government to be able to control what is being said to each outlet's audience. Also, with the access to information available over the internet, it is harder for government to hide, manipulate, or otherwise control information.

Welch said at the end of his article that more propaganda might be needed to "arouse participation in the democratic process." It seems that propaganda has had the opposite effect. Governments would be most effective if they dropped the propaganda and told the media the truth. That would allow the government to get its view across to the citizenry and build the citizenry's trust in the government. The government's point-of-view (it's propaganda) would again become effective; then it would be both essential and honorable......

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