Propaganda has always been a powerful tool in manipulating man’s wars and man’s minds.
It is the active player in the drama of all wars.
Nowadays, in a media-engulfed society, mass media is the main platform for carrying out acts of propaganda, for pushing towards an agenda, and there is always an agenda. Through the various devices and media outlets, a negative connotation is created in our modern political environment.
Even the sunniest optimist could find propaganda extremely challenging, but regrettably we concede to the easier viewpoint.
Derived from the Latin prepagare, or “to sow”, propaganda, as we now use the word, is traced to the Vatican, in 1622. It has entered the language through exalted religious origins. Pope Gregory XV (1554-1623) established the “Congregation for the Protestant Reformation” for the purpose of initiating missionary work, in order to help the Roman Church recover many of its losses from the Protestant Reformation. His successor, Pope Urban VIII (1568-1664) an astute politician, desired the extinction of Protestantism everywhere. He founded the College Urbanum, the first college for propaganda for the training of missionaries.
Throughout history, Propaganda has always been evident in momentum social movements, such as the French Revolution, especially during wartime. During WWII, the power of propaganda came to an extreme under the horrors of Nazi Germany. Since then, the word has carried more negative connotations than neutral ones.
“It can influence our morals, our thinking, our culture,” and certainly not without bias. It is exceedingly dangerous as it can select presidents, brings down governments and reveals scandals. It all depends on the proper coverage and the decisions may help determine the outcome of conflicts around the world.
We are governed by the images it chooses to show us, like the glaring example of the 7 October war. Its arbitrary bias exposes the media’s slant disinformation in favour of the one side against the other.
The horrific attack on 7 October 2023 made headlines for several days, maligning the Hamas assault, covering personal stories about individual hostages, with never a mention of the tragic history of oppression and colonisation by the people of Palestine. Hamas civilians, described as “terrorists”, were eclipsed by the coverage of Israeli propaganda, while the Palestinian casualties were left unnoticed.
War continues mercilessly as the pernicious propaganda machine continues to wield its might, while Gaza was steadily exterminates its citizens, with the help of the US and the West.
Does it matter if the dead Palestinians have surpassed 39,159 men, women and children, while 1,139 Israelis were killed? Yet, ammunition is hastily sent for more attacks against innocent civilians on a daily basis. The Israelis are still counting the poor hostages and the world only laments them. Videos of the Hamas attack are displayed daily on all outlets and in all languages; barely one or two are reserved for the Arab world.
How about the US media? Associates to Israel in the American social media deny the issue by avoiding certain terms such as “apartheid”, “ethnic cleansing”, and God forbid, “genocide”. Other delicate expressions are fed to the mainstream media in order to avoid their potentially charged nature. A few might understand, the majority are in the dark.
How about the number of journalists killed by Israel in Gaza? The number is 147 in occupied Palestine and the press is afforded legal protection in time of conflict. Media outlets missed that.
Even the BBC has criticised anti-Israeli bias, referring to Hamas as “militants”, instead of “terrorists”, but the Israeli propaganda is overwhelming as they feebly watch the dead fall all around them.
The “narrative battle” being waged against the Palestinians has been an instrument of will.
The Israeli Defence Forces spread the message on social media for decades, providing the most orchestrated campaign against Arab wars. The vilification, dehumanization, and demonisation of the enemy, particularly through the use of language, have been used as components of propaganda.
Terms consistently refer to Palestinians as “savage”, “barbarians”, “criminals”, “outlaws”, “inferiors”, and “untrustworthy” by many a media, but coming from Israeli officials they are even more abhorrent. Consider such evil names as “human animals”, “subhuman”, and Netanyahu’s favourite expression, “children of darkness”.
Ah, “the pity of it,” as it was those exact words that described the very Jews, by the Nazis.
Israel continues on the warpath, determined to eradicate Palestine, its history, its country, its people, and the world looks on us defenselessly, unsure that Palestinians are perhaps undeserving of their own state.
It is propaganda, with no authenticity of content or fact, with no intention of verifying, checking, or corroborating.
Omitting certain facts, sometimes one single word or letter, can skew public understanding of the conflict, leading to a one-sided view that is lethal.
Big television sets and other devices have turned into war weapons, as tragic, gruesome, and bloody as deadly missiles. Rather than expanding, we are shrinking our world within the walls of our existence, with its graphic imagery, slaughtering taste and truth. Why?
Propaganda is designed to manipulate, and you are willing. It tends to make emotional appeals that stir a response within us.
People lend to seek information that aligns with their views. While 7.7 billion people exist worldwide, 3.5 billion are online. How and what are they thinking?
Who is winning the battle for the narrative? Language has turned into a battleground.
“The bulk of mankind” always shows preference for demonstrable errors over undeniable truths.
It is tragic in this great haste to chase the fictitious and disregard the genuine.
“All propaganda is lies, even when one is telling the truth.”
George Orwell (1903-1950)
* A version of this article appears in print in the 18 July, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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