My Top 5 Insights About Propaganda

Anna Youmell
Propaganda COM 416 Fall
2 min readDec 11, 2023

#propagandainsights #education #criticalautonomy #weapons #facts

My knowledge of propaganda has entirely expanded since taking this class. In summary, I have had five insights in regard to propaganda that speak to a majority of the themes that were discussed within this course. Propaganda can easily be fit into two groups: black propaganda, meaning that the source of the message is hidden or difficult to identify, and white propaganda, meaning that the source of the message is clearly identified. Some propaganda creators will want their audience to know who they are, and sometimes not depending on what their message is, and both have strengths and weaknesses in their messages. Everything revolves around our attention economy, and people create propaganda as ways to sell and control the product that they have created to engage and hold onto human attention. This can be quite beneficial in circumstances like trying to get new messages out to oppressed populations. However, it can also be detrimental in situations where tyrants have taken control of the media and have the only say in the propaganda and messages that the public can view.

Understanding the function of propaganda is the only way to know the true underlying information. Currently, society has called upon people to act as agents of their own education and information reliability by conducting their own fact-checking. This is called culture jamming. When we examine the ethics behind the message of the propaganda, and compare that with its implications after being distributed, we unveil the hidden agenda of propaganda. Critical commentary becomes important in unmasking the underlying intentions of propaganda, which just means that it is important to know the different ways that propaganda has been and can be utilized. Propaganda must be distinguished between what is factual and what is an opinion, we must look at how it impacts the public sphere, how it is used as a weapon, how it has been regulated over time, and how education and propaganda have an important relationship overtime and for the future.

5 Propaganda Insights

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