Wartime Propaganda is nothing new:
- Ancient Greek commander Themistocles, in 480 BCE, used a disinformation campaign to lure Xerxes into a naval battle at the Straits of Salamis. The strait was so narrow that the large Persian fleet could not manuever. This helped the outnumbered Greeks defeat Xerxes.
- Alexander used images of himself on statues, monuments and coins as propaganda.
- Propaganda was used extensively in the Roman Empire; Julius Caesar was exceptionally good at it.
- Pope Urban II used religious propaganda to stir up support for the Crusades (12th & 13th centuries).
- Martin Luther appeared to be a propaganda master, knowing exactly how to get his message out in the most effective way, thus setting off the Reformation.
- The Vatican countered Luther with a propaganda campaign in the Counter-Reformation. Its purpose was to solidify the Catholic Church's dominance, and it worked very well.
- Benjamin Franklin is noted as being skilled at propaganda in the time of the Revolution. So was Thomas Jefferson.
- From the Napoleonic Wars through the U.S. Civil War, propaganda was used extensively and effectively.
- In the 19th century, the political cartoon emerged as a very effective form of Propaganda. The name best remembered is Thomas Nast.
There's some background, now in this post we'll be focusing on the 20th and 21st Century and American.
In Wartime all sides release propaganda, counter propaganda and half-truths. In addition, the staging of False Flag operations is common.
THE SINKING OF THE U.S.S. MAINE
At 9:40pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 268 men and shocking the American populace. Of the two-thirds of the crew who perished, only 200 bodies were recovered and 76 identified.
The sinking of the Maine, which had been in Havana since February 15, 1898, on an official observation visit, was a climax in pre-war tension between the United States and Spain. In the American press, headlines proclaimed "Spanish Treachery!" and "Destruction of the War Ship Maine Was the Work of an Enemy!" William Randolph Hearst and his New York Journal offered a $50,000 award for the "detection of the Perpetrator of the Maine Outrage." Many Americans assumed the Spanish were responsible for the Maine's destruction.
On March 28, 1898, the United States Naval Court of Inquiry found that the Maine was destroyed by a submerged mine. Although blame was never formally placed on the Spanish, implication was clear. Recent research suggests that the explosion may have been an accident, involving a spontaneous combustion fire in the coal bunker. Some conspiracy theorists have even suggested that sensational journalist William Randolph Hearst may have set the explosion in order to precipitate a war. While historians will never know exactly what happened the night the Maine went down, it is clear that the incident was a significant force that propelled the United States into the Spanish-American War.
source: PBS
ZIMMER TELEGRAPH
On March 1, 1917, the American public learned about a German proposal to ally with Mexico if the United States entered the war. Months earlier, British intelligence had intercepted a secret message from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the Mexican government, inviting an alliance (along with Japan) that would recover the southwestern states Mexico lost to the U.S. during the Mexican War of 1846-47.
Arthur Zimmermann's Speech Regarding the Zimmermann Telegram, 29 March 1917
"I wrote no letter to General Carranza. I was not so naive. I merely addressed, by a route that appeared to me to be a safe one, instructions to our representative in Mexico.
It is being investigated how these instructions fell into the hands of the American authorities. I instructed the Minister to Mexico, in the event of war with the United States, to propose a German alliance to Mexico, and simultaneously to suggest that Japan join the alliance.
I declared expressly that, despite the submarine war, we hoped that America would maintain neutrality.
My instructions were to be carried out only after the United States declared war and a state of war supervened. I believe the instructions were absolutely loyal as regards the United States..."
Some suspected the telegram might be a forgery to manipulate America into the war.
Turns out it may not have been fake but the intentions were over-blown.
source: theworldwar.org, firstworldwar.com
In March 2003,
source cfr.org
ABC News Airs "Syria" Footage From A Kentucky Gun Range
THE CURRENT UKRAINE AFFAIR
'Ghost Of Kyiv' Fighter Pilot Blowing Up Russian Aircraft In Trending Clip Actually From Video Game
And who knows how many more are to come?
source: kotaku.com
https://kotaku.com/ghost-kyiv-russia-ukraine-invasion-viral-video-fake-pc-1848598266
Writing activity
Do you think we'll ever stop starting wars? Why are some countries so eager to wage war, while others aren't? What wars has your country fought in the recent past? Would you fight in a war to save your country? What if they had a war and nobody showed up?
Find some part of war that moves you, not so much emotionally but in your gut, against your principles or moral code. Expand on that.
Now Reverse Engineer above information with what you want to say about war. What does your soul say about it?
No comments:
Post a Comment