Institutionalized Lying and Propagada

Institutionalized Lying and Propagada

Institutionalized lying and propaganda are branches of public relations that manipulate people's attitude toward events. Pro-war propaganda and anti-war propaganda are some of the largest forms of this manipulation. However, it comes up in a multitude of different issues in our society. This propaganda is built up using methods of media manipulation, misdirection, loaded vocabulary, and staged events. There has always been a natural tension between the secrecy of the government and the right of the governed to be well-informed. According to British Scholar, F.M. Cornford, "Propaganda is that branch of the art of lying which consists in very nearly deceiving your friends without quite deceiving your enemies." (http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=War_propaganda)

Propaganda, used the correct way, can have huge effects on society; it is used by the government and media to shape the public's opinions, thoughts, and beliefs. Therefore, it is important that we have some understanding of propaganda in order to interpret events with any degree of clarity (http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?documentID=7171&tagID=1). Some reasons why states use propaganda is to emphasize misleading statistics to present a better picture of the economy in order to create a 'feel good' factor among the public. Propaganda is also used to exaggerate or invent negative aspects of potentially threatening political groups in order to discredit them in the eyes of the public. Another use of propaganda

is to selectively present facts at times of war to give a misleading impression of the war's progress. None-the-less, in each of these cases the state tries to manipulate public opinion to be favorable to interests of the ruling party (http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?documentID=7171&tagID=1)).

Propaganda, often unrecognized, has been used throughout history to shape people's views on many subjects, and often these views carry on into the present day. For example, propaganda that was used against the Muslims during the Crusades is still used today to discriminate against them. West European powers, especially the Church, were successful in creating anti-Islam attitudes and hatred; people feared and strongly disliked Muslims and tried to rid the Holy Land of them. Publications at the time portray Muslims as depraved savages who worshipped the devil; this early anti-Muslim propaganda worked hundreds of years ago and is still proving to be useful today to big powers who need to stir up anti-Muslim sentimism from time to time (http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?documentID=7171&tagID=1)

The United States has used several propaganda techniques against Muslims and during the war on Iraq. These include: misrepresentation of Muslims, avoidance of mentioning muslim civilian casualities, and fabricated demonstrations such as the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue. President George Bush has effectively used the fear of Islam and other dictatorships to divert the public's attention away from serious issues on the homefront such as the Third World poverty levels that can be found in some areas of the United States.

Propaganda is a huge subject with a long history. Its effects on society can be powerful but at the same time it is a "dirty and dangerous tool," which if used carelessly is "likely to backfire in the context of Islam" (http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?documentID=7171&tagID=1). It is important that the public understand propaganda as well as its effects in order to fully grasp what is really going on in society or in any given situation where propaganda is present.

Everyone can still remember the propaganda that began before the US entered Iraq. Warnings were heard simultaneously on various networks from the Bush Administration. Bush was warning the US that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Waiting in fear for the sinister aluminum and mushroom clouds to prevail, America grew impatient. The use of propaganda put everyone in a state of commotion, encouraging many to be in favor of attacking Iraq. Then it happened, we attacked Iraq only to find that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Fear of being attacked by Iraq turned into fear for all the soldiers engaging in war. The war that was supposed to make