“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;” .
Lippmann and Lasswell studied the effects of propaganda in the World War I and World War II Eras. They reached several conclusions that while true, conflict with the ideals of Democracy. Propaganda can indeed be used to motivate a populace. It is also an effective tool to unite a country in support of a war effort. In that vein, the stronger the stream of propaganda, and the longer the duration of the theme the more effective it grows. A new concept, repeated with enough frequency becomes an accepted fact . We see that in political campaigns today. This is the basic theory behind “Swift Boating” a candidate. Misinformation is presented and repeated, repeatedly, until a section of the population accepts it as fact even in the face of the reality that it is in fact a lie. This sort of propaganda is an effective method of controlling a population. However, propaganda of this sort is contrary to the idea that an informed populace is necessary for an effective democratic process. One of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson made the following observation ". . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right." .
Lippmann and Lasswell postulated that manipulation was necessary for managing individuals in democratic societies. They further expanded this to make lying and propaganda techniques acceptable. In fact, this misuse of the media is harmful to the populace, and destructive to the democracy. This is one of the reasons the founding fathers believed in the importance of education and freedom of the press. Thomas Jefferson expressed it well in the following words, “Ignorance and sound self-government could not exist together: the one destroyed the other. A despotic government could restrain its citizens and deprive the people of their liberties only while they were ignorant” . If that postulate is accepted as true then it can be expanded to include the postulate that lies and propaganda are effective means of controlling the population in a despotic government, but not in a democracy. A democracy is dependent upon an informed conclusion reached by a majority of the population. If the population in general is routinely misinformed, permitted only partial truth, or told outright lies it is indeed easier to manipulate, but it is no longer a democratic society. The Internet has added a new facet to this concept. Anyone can post anything at any time to the Internet; it can be a completely true, a well-spun half-truth, or an outright lie. The reader is then responsible to do his or her own research, and everyone knows this. There are also sites that do provide sound responsible facts that can be relied upon. In the end, Ian Williams Goddard sums it up well, “A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their government and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police State Dictatorship it’s going to get.”
Works Cited
Note to self: make sure References are Left Justified and Double Spaced
