Propaganda

"To the average man (sic) who tries to keep informed, a world emerges that is astonishingly incoherent, absurd, and irrational, which changes rapidly and constantly for reasons that he cannot understand. And as the most frequent news story is about an accident or calamity, our reader takes a catastrophic view of the world around him. What he learns from the paper is inevitably the event that disturbs the order of things. He is not told about the ordinary — and uninteresting — course of events, but only of unusual disasters and crime, etc., that disturb that course. He does not read about the thousands of trains that every day arrive normally at their destination, but he learns all the details of a train accident[...]

"The man who keeps himself informed needs a framework in which all this information can be put in order; he needs explanations and comprehensive answers to general problems; he needs coherence. And he needs an affirmation of his own worth. All this is the immediate effect of information[...]

"Though a mass instrument, propaganda addresses itself to each individual. It appeals to me. It appeals to my common sense, desires, and provokes my wrath and my indignation. It evokes my feelings of justice and my desire for freedom. It gives me violent feelings, and lift me out of the daily grind."

These are a few selections from excerpts of Jacques Ellul's Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (I put a "sic" up there because Monsieur Ellul is from the old school, and exclusively addresses only one gender), which I will post a link to down below. I'm posting this here because, in a roundabout way, it's connected to some of the stuff I've written here in the past: the last entry, about the T (hence the first excerpt up top about trains running on time), for one; and also some older ones about connections between news stories.

But it's much more than that. I've read the excerpts twice and both times have shaken me, in a somewhat profound way. They've made me cringe at times. When I think of propaganda, I think of fascism, eugenics, justification for imperial wars... things like that. All bad things, mostly perpetrated by the right and far right. But, you see... Ellul's take on the subject could equally - as I see it - apply to the left, the far left, and other conceptions of society that I subscribe to, even now. In other words, it hits close to home.

That's not to say that I fully support Ellul's arguments - and that's at least partly dependent upon one's definition of propaganda, I think - but this is one comprehensive critique of a major portion of our daily lives, and the bigger picture at the same time. It doesn't strike me as very optimistic, but it opens up a very important discussion. It strikes me.

I've only read these excerpts, but if you have the chance, I highly recommend giving them a look. The commentary on them is very interesting too.