Propaganda and the Politics of Perception
by Michael Carmichael
Global Research, March 12, 2007
Planetary Movement
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.
War propaganda is abundantly evident in the fabric of our culture, and
it presents no symptoms of weakness or dissipation. Quite the opposite
is true. The latest film by Clint Eastwood, Flags of our Fathers, is
little more than war propaganda that glorifies American military
achievements in the context of a racial enemy ? the Japanese. Sadly,
Clint Eastwood has a long history of manufacturing films that are
nothing more than pulpish propaganda: Where Eagles Dare; Heartbreak
Ridge, Firefox and many other glorifications of violence and the
principle, ?Might makes right.?
While the primary purpose of war propaganda is to manufacture public
commitment to wars and their inevitable crimes, in George Bush?s
America psychological warfare aimed directly at the American public is
designed to manufacture the political platform to launch a perpetual
state of war that will produce a totalitarian regime headed by a
Commander-in-Chief who is nothing more than a military dictator.
?Perception management? is another term used to describe the process
of transforming public opinion to conform to a premeditated political
agenda. Perception management establishes underlying trends and
tendencies that drive the public perception of events in the direction
of war. During war, perception management manipulates public opinion to
accept the horrific nature of war crimes as merely nothing more than
collateral damage, friendly fire and accidental mishaps that are
inevitable consequences of the fog of war.
Psychological warfare training in George Bush?s America has reached
historic proportions. Social influence, perception management and a
full range of persuasion techniques have permeated the American
government and are now deeply embedded into the fabric of official
culture ? especially the US military. The purpose of psychological
warfare is to manufacture public support for Bush?s wars and for future
wars as well as strengthening the powers of the state while demonizing
the enemies of the Bush-Cheney regime. Concomitant with these
assignments, psychological warfare camouflages the most horrific war
crimes and makes them seem to be acts of virtue and valour that are
absolutely essential for military, ?Victory.?
Language lies at the heart of propaganda. The language of propaganda,
psychological warfare and perception management is grounded in ancient
principles that have been well known to leading sages, philosophers and
intellectuals for thousands of years. Confucius believed that the
disintegration of Chinese society in his time was directly attributable
to a general deterioration of the language.
Confucius sought to improve language in order to improve the society
and culture. He wrote,
?The correct use of language leads to the correct behavior of people?
In the Mediaeval Era of Latin Europe, Dante realized the power of
language to order society. Dante launched his quest for the perfect
language to communicate the highest levels of understanding to the
broadest number of people.
Dante taught that the development of a common language could lead to
the political unification of Italy, and he proposed the establishment
of a world government predicated on smooth, fluent and deeply
integrated communications through a more perfect language.
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 - 1527)
In the Renaissance, Niccolo Machiavelli adapted his own theories on
the political use of language to the high ideals of Confucius and
Dante. Machiavelli wrote,
?Every one admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith,
and to live with integrity and not with craft. Nevertheless our
experience has been that those princes who have done great things have
held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent the
intellect of men by craft, and in the end have overcome those who have
relied on their word.?
In order to give a vivid example of a prince who used language as
craft, or spin or propaganda, Dante described the political
machinations of Pope Alexander VI. He wrote,
?One recent example I cannot pass over in silence. Pope Alexander VI
did nothing else but deceive men, nor ever thought of doing otherwise,
and he always found victims; for there never was a man who had greater
power in asserting, or who with greater oaths would affirm a thing, yet
would observe it less; nevertheless his deceits always succeeded
according to his wishes, because he well understood this side of
humanity.?
In the twentieth century, George Orwell emerged as one of the leading
philosophers of the Machaivellian abuse of political language. Orwell
wrote his classic dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and he
introduced his theories of Doublethink and Newspeak. Orwell defined
Doublethink as,
?? the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one?s mind
simultaneously, and accepting both of them. ? To tell deliberate lies
while genuinely believing in them?
Orwell realized that the totalitarian state would redefine the
purposes of language. The purpose of Newspeak, is to wage psychological
warfare to manage the political perceptions of the populace. He wrote,
?The purpose of Newspeak was to eliminate the possibility of
thoughtcrime . . .to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was
intended that when Newspeak had been adopted . . . a heretical thought
should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is
dependent on words.?
For Orwell, the Machiavellian political abuse of language had
distorted society into an increasingly malevolent form of tyranny. He
wrote,
?Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder
respectable.?
In Orwell?s future, Newspeak and Doublethink would eradicate the
possibility of protest, sedition, insurgency and rebellion against the
state.
George Orwell (1903 - 1950)
In the first years of the twenty-first century, Doublethink became the
hallmark of the Bush Era. George Bush, Dick Cheney and their minions in
Washington adopted Doublethink and Newspeak to coerce and impel
political acceptance of their outrageous policies of perpetual war
promulgated by a reactionary totalitarian government that is
indistinguishable from the fascism and Nazism of the early twentieth
century.
The core doctrine of the Bush Era is pre-emptive war. When Bush argues
for the right to wage war to prevent war, he invokes Orwellian
Doublethink by holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously while
believing both of them: that war is undesirable while a war to prevent
war is desirable.
The contradiction activating the Bush Doctrine is invisible to Bush,
Cheney and their minions in Washington and elsewhere for they are the
victims of Doublethink. In academic discourse, the Bush Doctrine of pre-
emptive war has been equated with the idea of committing suicide
because of the fear of dying.
In the Bush Era, the American public are bombarded by a continuous
stream of propaganda designed to elicit their political support for
perpetual war and war crimes as well as for a strong, centralized
government headed by a President who is little more than his ceremonial
title indicates, a Unitary Executive functioning as Commander-in-Chief
who is indistinguishable from a military dictator.
US military class at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in social influence,
perception management and propaganda.
Manufacturing consent for perpetual war is the primary enterprise of
the Bush-Cheney government. Not only are citizens heavily taxed to
support the increasingly undemocratic policies of the Bush-Cheney
government, they are subjected to a constant barrage of propaganda
beseeching them to provide political support for policies that
undermine their constitutional rights to freedom from unreasonable
searches and seizure, habeas corpus and the freedom of speech. Many
Americans are alarmed that the USA is now rated 53rd on the World Press
Freedom Index where it is tied for that dubious distinction with the
states of Tonga and Croatia.
Bush?s propaganda engines of perpetual war are driven by: xenophobia;
the demonisation of immigrants; fears of foreign cultures ? especially
Muslims ? and the persistent application of fear and terror to the body
politic.
The Bush White House governs by public relations. Tony Snow ? a former
news presenter for the right-wing Fox News Network ? has become the
official spokesman for the Bush-Cheney White House revealing the
priority of propaganda to the political objectives of the Bush regime.
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.?
The modern state demonizes its opponents in order to manufacture
public consent for war. In the Bush Era, the demonization of Muslims
has been constant. Long a central them in the fire and brimstone
culture of American evangelical Christianity, the demonization of
Muslims has exploded into the mainstream of western civilization. In
order to understand this phenomenon more clearly, we must examine a
particularly revealing aspect of this shameful legacy of American
religious traditions to focus briefly on the theological work of an
ancestor of the current president, George W. Bush.
The Reverend George Bush was a cousin of President George W. Bush?s
grandfather. Reverend Bush?s theological writings are well known to the
Bush family, but propaganda officials of the Bush government have used
their powerful offices to suppress and camouflage this revealing
relationship in the American media ? as well as shielding it almost
entirely from the global media. In April, 2005, a propaganda official
named Todd Leventhal of the Office of Countermisinformation confirmed
that Reverend George Bush was, indeed, a relative of President George
W. Bush and his father, former President George H. W. Bush.
Reverend George Bush (1796 - 1859)
In 1837, the Reverend George Bush wrote a book titled, The Life of
Mohammed: Founder of the Religion of Islam, and the Empire of the
Saracens. It should be needless to state that the Reverend George Bush
has little complimentary to say about the founder of one of the world?s
great religions. Worse. Reverend George Bush launched what should be
considered a deliberate attack on Mohammed, his teaching and the
religious tradition that he founded, Islam. The Reverend Bush
constantly referred to Mohammed as an, ?impostor.? He wrote,
?(Mohammed?s) whole history makes it evident, that fanaticism,
ambition, and lust were his master passions . . . An enthusiast by
nature, he became a hypocrite by policy; and as the violence of his
corrupt propensities increased, he scrupled not to gratify them at the
expense of truth, justice, friendship and humanity.? (Link: http://www.
muhammadanism.org/bush/bush_mohammed.pdf)
From the theological writings of his ancestor, it cannot be disputed
that the family of President George Bush has been incubating
Islamophobia for at least four generations.
In the current generation of the Bush family, the George Bushes have
surrounded themselves with a fawning coterie of Islamophobic
evangelical Christian Zionists. For example, Franklin Graham is a
family friend of the Bushes. Franklin Graham controls a vast and
influential religious network called the Billy Graham Evangelical
Association that has an annual income of more than $100,000,000 ? most
of which is tax exempt. Even today, although the vast majority of the
American people oppose Bush?s wars, Franklin Graham?s followers
zealously support Bush?s wars and his deeply unpopular neoconservative
presidency.
Franklin Graham has made explicit statements articulating his peculiar
Islamophobic theology. He stated,
?The God of Islam is not the same God of the Christian or the Judeo-
Christian faith. It is a different God, and I believe a very evil and a
very wicked religion.?
This statement reveals that Franklin Graham is poorly informed in the
field of comparative religions, a tragic intellectual disability for a
professional evangelist.
The demonization of Muslims in popular American culture is overt, in-
your-face and taken as a matter of course. In the massively popular
television series 24, a Muslim villain named ?Marwan,? held the
American hero, Jack Bauer, hostage. Muslims frequently provide the
villains in 24 in a process of demonization that will reverberate for
generations.
Confucius taught,
?The ruler must correct his own behavior for the people to follow his
leadership.?
In Bush?s America, the President and his retinue frequently demonize
whole nations and peoples. For example, the ?Axis of Evil? statement by
President Bush demonized two Muslim nations as well as one Asian nation
fostering a climate of fear, terror, Islamophobia and a generalized
dread of all racial minorities.
In his State of the Union address in 2002, George Bush stated,
?North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass
destruction, while starving its citizens. Iran aggressively pursues
these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the
Iranian people?s hope for freedom. Iraq continues to flaunt its
hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has
plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over
a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder
thousands of its own citizens ? leaving the bodies of mothers huddled
over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international
inspections ? then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has
something to hide from the civilized world. States like these, and
their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil,?
Unfortunately, President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Prime
Minister Tony Blair are not the only leaders who contribute to the
climate of terror and fear through the media.
Many religious leaders in America frequently demonize Islam and
condemn Muslims. In Europe, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI made some
insensitive remarks that many Muslims believe were hostile to Islam ?
because they contribute to the growing climate of Islamophobia.
At a high-profile address in Regensberg, His Holiness Pope Benedict
XVI quoted Emperor Manuel II Paleologus,
?Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will
find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the
sword the faith he preached.?
The process of demonizing Muslims and manufacturing Islamophobia is
now a global phenomenon. An example is the Disney film, Aladdin, that
was released in the early 1990s. Many of the American soldiers now
serving in Iraq saw Aladdin during their childhoods when they were
vulnerable to psychological programming and the demonization of foreign
cultures portrayed as inimical to core American values. In Aladdin, the
villains are all depicted as Arabs speaking with Arabic accents, while
Aladdin is portrayed as an American youth with an American accent. This
tactic is nothing less than the transparent demonization of Arabs ? ie.
Arabophobia.
Aladdin as an American defeats the evil vizier, Jafar, an Arab.
The propaganda of Islamophobia infiltrates society through the
propaganda pronouncements of government and religious leaders that lead
to the contamination of the mainstream media. The headlines of
newspapers in the Occupied Territories proclaiming, ?Vigilantes take up
arms, vow to expel, ?Muslim Filth?? incite cultural hatred, ie.
Islamophobia. These headlines expose attitudes that are the products of
cultural prejudices compounded by the global media campaign designed to
propagate Islamophobia as the primary strategy to promote perpetual
war.
?HELL, THE MUSICAL COMES TO THE VATICAN? read the headline on the BBC
News coverage of the announcement that the Vatican has recently
authorized a new popular opera based on Dante?s Divine Comedy ? one of
the greatest works of Christian literature. But, is there a hidden
agenda behind the launch of this major new artwork? The BBC reported,
?(Marco Frisina), a Vatican composer is to stage an opera based on
Dante?s Divine Comedy, with visions of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. . .
Organisers have asked permission for the premiere to be held at the
Vatican in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI.? BBC
While this story seems innocuous enough, we should turn to The Divine
Comedy to examine its potential for promoting the demonization of
Muslims and Islamophobia.
In Inferno, the first part of The Divine Comedy, Dante wrote his
description of the torments of Hell. In the Inferno: Canto XXVIII,
Dante places ?Mahomet,? ie. Mohammad, in one of the most terrible,
tortuous and tormenting tableaus in Hell.
Undergoing an infinite series of traumatic mutilations, Dante?s
?Mahomet? is tormented by a Satanic torturer armed with a massive sword
called a ?falchion.? The sword-wielding demon slashes, lacerates and
mutilates ?Mahomet? repeatedly in an eternal cycle of Satanic
vengeance. After each one of these horrific woundings, ?Mahomet?
wanders along a circuitous path whereupon his mortal wounds heal only
to be confronted again by the same sword-wielding demon who slashes him
- again and again and again in an unending cycle of Hellish torture,
mutilation and punishment. When Dante witnesses this dreadful scene,
?Mahomet? turns to him, opens the gaping wound in his chest and says,
?See now how I rend me;
How mutilated, see, is Mahomet;
In front of me doth Ali weeping go,
Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin;
And all the others whom thou here beholdest,
Disseminators of scandal and of schism
While living were, and therefore are cleft thus.
A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us
Thus cruelly, unto the falchion?s edge
Putting again each one of all this ream?
In 1869, the Christian artist, Gustave Dore illustrated Dante?s
Inferno. Dore?s illustration of ?Mahomet? did not create global
pandemonium at the time. In the twentieth century, Salvador Dali
produced some of the most outstanding Christian works of art including:
Christ of St John of the Cross and The Madonna of Port Lligat. One of
his lesser-known works is his ?Mahomet,? whom he depicts as slashed and
lacerated following the model in Dante?s Inferno.
Dali?s mutilated Mahomet 1959
Given the course of events in the first years of the twentieth century
from the language and wars of the Bush-Cheney government and the
statements of Pope Benedict XVI in Regensberg, it is only prudent to
ask the following question. Will the forthcoming Vatican opera contain
any Islamophobic elements that might enflame international tensions and
foment wars against Muslim nations?
Confucius taught that the ruler must govern via his moral authority.
He wrote, ?The moral character of the ruler is the wind, the moral
character of those beneath him is the grass. When the wind blows, the
grass bends.?
We have seen how the rulers, presidents, vice-presidents, religious
leaders and the Pope have contributed to the demonization of Muslims
and the fomentation of Islamophobic wars.
The death toll for the wars of the Bush Era is a secret number. Highly
qualified scientists at Johns Hopkins University calculated that
655,000 Iraqis had died in the first three years of the war. It is now
one year later. We do not know the number of the deaths,
dismemberments, disabilities, disfugurations, ravages, rapine and
capricious slashings, shootings, woundings, burnings, explosions and
anarchic homicides of the Bush Era, but we do know that secret number
is still ascending.
For his leading role in manufacturing wars and the infinity of war
crimes that are boiling out of the cauldrons of war, George Bush is an
indictable war criminal. Last year, the European press reported that
Bush had negotiated the purchase of a vast rancho in remote parts of
Paraguay, a nation that refuses to extradite war criminals.
Driven by despair and disgusted with the treachery of their leaders
who have cooperated with the warmongers, the people of the planet are
mobilizing like never before in human history.
Empowered by their common sense of decency, their desire for justice
and their love of peace the people of our planet are revolted by their
disastrous leadership. There is a growing sense of urgency.
The pace of change is gaining momentum. The people are seizing the
moment to make an impact on their political institutions to bring war
criminals to justice.
The future is in the hands of ordinary people ? like those who are
reading these words.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Accuracy in the Media: Misinformation, Mistakes, and Misleading in
American and Other Media / Todd Leventhal, Chief of the Counter-
Information Team, U.S. Department of State; Dante Chinni, Senior
Associate, Project for Excellence in Journalism
The Life of Mohammed by the Rev. George Bush, AM
Hell the musical comes to Vatican
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