6 Mind-Blowing Achievements in Propaganda

Cracked.com ^

[TruthHound]

When you think "propaganda" you immediately picture a huge statue of a dictator, or banners stamped with corny slogans. You think of the kind of clumsy brainwashing that only works on uneducated peasants.

But then there are acts of propaganda that have changed the world, usually because you didn't know they were propaganda. If there was a hall of fame for such things, it would include...

[TruthHound]

Interesting mix from Ché to George Washington to Iwo Jima.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I actually found the premise of the article pretty interesting. The feigned thirteen-year-old tone the writer takes does something to his credibility discussing a subject he’s trying to be an authority on. And it isn’t good.

[Buggman]

Ping for when I get off work.

[Buggman]

Ping for when I get off work.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

You’re bipingual!

[Sherman Logan]

Keep in mind, George Washington wasn't voted into office--there were no primaries or debates or campaign ads or other candidates. They basically just declared him President

Uhh, no. GW was elected by the Electoral College unanimously, twice, in perhaps the only examples of the EC functioning as intended. Nobody had the nerve to run against him, but this is merely an example of the respect and awe in which he was held by the people and even the politicians of the new country.

Once GW was out of office, all bets were off, and the EC hasn't functioned as intended since.

[pfflier]

I agree with you. The tone of the article is more like something you’d expect from Jackass III or MTV.

[camerongood210]

That’s exactly what this website is all about. They basically do this in all their articles. It’s more of an entertainment site. I guess this is 2010’s version of MAD magazine.

[Defiant]

There are much bigger examples of propaganda that took hold without basis in fact:

--The myth that the Crusades were a Christian war to take Muslim land;

--The myth that Marxist and Fascist are opposite ends of a spectrum that has conservatives on the fascist side;

--The myth that FDR ended the depression;

--the myth that the constitution provides a "wall of separation" between church and state;

--the myth that Islam is a "religion of peace".

There are many others, but those are some big ones.

[pfflier]

What a terrible insult to MAD. At least MAD uses sarcasm and satire. This site only uses foul language and pseudo facts.

[camerongood210]

Agreed

[Canedawg]

That list is a good start.

[DrC]

“They basically do this in all their articles.”

I believe they’re trying to hold down their average readership age to around 15.

[Billthedrill]

Washington was the real deal. There was a case where the propaganda only succeeded in reducing the man. Che - he was the other way.

[Buggman]

lol Oops. Must have hit the post button twice by mistake.

[BroJoeK]

"There are many others, but those are some big ones. "

Good list.
Btw, how's that "hope and change" working out for you?
No propaganda there, I'm sure. ;-)

[Defiant]

Hope and Change, like "New Deal", "Square Deal", and, for that matter, Morning in America, are slogans that may be part of a propaganda campaign, but still just slogans. I have never understood the attraction to pithy slogans instead of the policies or products they represent, but it works so people use them. Then they find out what "hope and change" mean.

If McCain had any gumption, he might have asked what we were to change into. But he shut down any such talk, with a ferocity that he now uses against JD Hayworth.

[TankerKC]

I guess this is 2010’s version of MAD magazine

Cracked has been around since the late 50s. I read it (along with MAD) when I was a kid in ght 70s.