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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAdolf Hitler: Dumb It Down
All propaganda must be presented in a popular form and must fix its intellectual level so as not to be above the heads of the least intellectual of those to whom it is directed.
The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings, in finding the appropriate psychological form that will arrest the attention and appeal to the hearts of the national masses. The broad masses of the people are not made up of diplomats or professors of public jurisprudence nor simply of persons who are able to form reasoned judgment in given cases, but a vacillating crowd of human children who are constantly wavering between one idea and another.
The receptive powers of the masses are very restricted, and their understanding is feeble. On the other hand, they quickly forget. Such being the case, all effective propaganda must be confined to a few bare essentials and those must be expressed as far as possible in stereotyped formulas.
http://www.sjsu.edu/people/james.lindahl/courses/Hum2B/s2/Hitler%20on%20Propaganda%20and%20Organization.pdf
FM123
(10,050 posts)https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-ex-wife-once-said-he-kept-a-book-of-hitlers-speeches-by-his-bed-2015-8
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)But what of the better informed GOP voters? Are they a small enough percentage to ignore?
GeorgeGist
(25,294 posts)Divad123
(93 posts)A few days ago, I think it was Bannon quoted as saying, "this is a culture war; there's going to be casualties". I'm from Mississippi, and I know how strongly a majority of whiles there long for the freedom to scream 'NIGGER'(or FAG, or Slut, or you pick one) at a black person, or some 'other', but it goes deeper than that. It's also about making people you want to dis-empower feel intensely their lack of value as human beings. While propaganda is about 'winning hearts and minds', its also about SOUL RAPING your 'enemies'--breaking their hearts, and breaking their will to resist or fight back.
I've had the opportunity to be a fly on the wall at a few young republican meetings, and the fellows that are rising to the top are the most sophisticated sadists.
I could go on about how some fraternities are turning out 'SS light', but I think other folks got that one.
I propose a solution--we find a spiritual philosophe that lets us live a happy life in a world where evil pricks are going to end up running things--because there not going away.
Please, don't bite my finger; look where I'm pointing.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Thats just propaganda. The same as the one about rape. Its inevitable so you should just relax and enjoy it.
Divad123
(93 posts)Hell no I don't mean 'relax and enjoy it', I meant to point out one factor (a spiritual philosophy), that encourages activism without burning out or burning up.
I'm not speaking tactically here,(although the fate of civilization may hang on the next election), I'm speaking strategically. I'm asking the question of what does it take to become and STAY an activist without losing your job or relationship, and without screwing up your kids. What does it take to live a happy (and engaged) life when 'the cultural warriors' , who are not going away, are using reverse Marxism on the middle and lower class and also elevating sophisticated mental thugs to the center of the media spotlight.
EveHammond13
(2,855 posts)Collimator
(1,639 posts)Which is why Jefferson was such a strong proponent of mandatory public education.
Lonestarblue
(9,883 posts)Im a Warren supporter, but she will lose a lot of people, as will any Democratic candidate, if she fails to clarify universal healthcare as a transition to single payer rather than a loss of the employer-provided healthcare many people currently have. We first need to get people covered who have no insurance and then offer options for programs similar to employer-sponsored programs, with the idea of eventually moving everyone into a single-payer system. It cannot, and should not, happen overnight, but ideas need to be in their simplest form for our sound bite news media.
Kablooie
(18,572 posts)He describes clearly how propaganda works and what doesn't work.
Everything has to be black and white, good or bad.
Anytime you show any nuance about where your own faults lie, the propaganda is nullified and can even turn the populace against you.
According to Adolph what Trump and Fox News does is correct.
Demonize the other without any ambiguity.
What Democrats do, which is to show a degree of honesty, according to this theory, will turn the public against you.
He points out that propaganda is not meant for the intelligent class. Scientific arguments work best with them. But most people don't fall into this category and are easily swayed by blatantly manipulative propaganda.
Trump was reported, by a previous wife, to have a copy of Hitler's speeches by his bed so it's pretty clear that he has studied these theories and is actively putting them into practice and it seems to work when you see the rabid fanaticism of his toadies.