There seems to have been no clarity on the very first question: Is propaganda a means or an
end?
It is a means and must therefore be judged with regard to its end. It must consequently take a
form calculated to support the aim which it serves. It is also obvious that its aim can vary in
importance from the standpoint of general need, and that the inner value of the propaganda will
vary accordingly. The aim for which we were fighting the War was the loftiest, the most
overpowering, that man can conceive: it was the freedom and independence of our nation, the
security of our future food supply, and-our national honor; a thing which, despite all contrary
opinions prevailing today, nevertheless exists, or rather should exist, since peoples without
honor have sooner or later lost their freedom and independence, which in turn is only the result
of a higher justice, since generations of rabble without honor deserve no freedom. Any man
who wants to be a cowardly slave can have no honor) or honor itself would soon fall into
general contempt.
The most unbeautiful thing there can be in human life is and remains the
yoke of slavery
Propaganda is no more than a weapon, though a frightful one in the hand of an expert.
The second really decisive question was this: To whom should propaganda be addressed? To
the scientifically trained intelligentsia or to the less educated masses?
It must be addressed always and exclusively to the masses.
What the intelligentsia-or those who today unfortunately often go by that name-what they need
is not propaganda but scientific instruction. The content of propaganda is not science any more
than the object represented in a poster is art. The art of the poster lies in the designer's ability to
attract the attention of the crowd by form and color. A poster advertising an art exhibit must
direct the attention of the public to the art being exhibited; the better it succeeds in this, the
greater is the art of the poster itself. The poster should give the masses an idea of the
significance of the exhibition, it should not be a substitute for the art on display. Anyone who
wants to concern himself with the art itself must do more than study the poster; and it will not
be enough for him just to saunter through the exhibition. We may expect him to examine and
immerse himself in the individual works, and thus little by little form a fair opinion.
A similar situation prevails with what we today call propaganda.
The function of propaganda does not lie in the scientific training of the individual, but in calling
the masses' attention to certain facts, processes, necessities, etc., whose significance is thus for
the first time placed within their field of vision.
The whole art consists in doing this so skillfully that everyone will be convinced that the fact is
real, the process necessary, the necessity correct, etc. But since propaganda is not and cannot be
the necessity in itself, since its function, like the poster, consists in attracting the attention of the
crowd, and not in educating those who are already educated or who are striving after education
and knowledge, its effect for the most part must be aimed at the emotions and only to a very
limited degree at the so-called intellect.
All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited
intelligence among those it is addressed to. Consequently, the greater the mass it is intended to
reach, the lower its purely intellectual level will have to be. But if, as in propaganda for sticking
out a war, the aim is to influence a whole people, we must avoid excessive intellectual demands
on our public, and too much caution cannot be exerted in this direction.
The more modest its intellectual ballast, the more exclusively it takes into consideration the
emotions of the masses, the more effective it will be. And this is the best proof of the soundness
or unsoundness of a propaganda campaign, and not success in pleasing a few scholars or young
aesthetes.
The art of propaganda lies in understanding the emotional ideas of the great masses and finding,
through a psychologically correct form, the way to the attention and thence to the heart of the
broad masses. The fact that our bright boys do not understand this merely shows how mentally
lazy and conceited they are. Mien Kampf Adolf Hitler
This explains how democrats attract the low information voter. Since propaganda is a means to an end, there is no need to tell the truth, it is in playing to the needs and emotions of the masses that is important. Propaganda is then repeated, and repeated, and repeated in the simplest of terms to avoid the LIV from being confused. Note the democrats never accept responsibility for anything negative. The idea being used is it is always someone else who is making things the way they are. I think of Benghazi. The entire world knows the administration, et. al. lied but the party continues to act is if the world is lying about them, striking the emotional heart of the masses. Mien Kampf Adolf Hitler
Think of Obamacare and all the lies the administration and democrat party knowingly told while promising the LIV they would get help from the government, would save them $2,500, they could keep their own doctors, etc.. The whole time democrats knew the whole thing was a scam but kept telling the same lies over, and over, and over again.
I could go on and on about all the lies democrats have told over the years yet the LIV still believes the party is taking care of them when nothing could be further from the truth. They don't believe republicans because they are totally without a consistent message. One day they support this, the next day that, and the next day something else. That approach simply confuses the LIV and they look to someone else to hold their little uninformed hands. Perhaps the republicans should reassess how they approach the LIV.
