“The Shortcomings of the Image”
A primer on the art of failing in propaganda.
(-and-
one little suggestion.)
First understand that failure at propaganda is redundant. Any time that a person chooses to rely on propagandistic techniques as a tool for persuasion (rather than say, safety procedures) has already failed.
The reason is that most of the times one needs to revert to propaganda, it is because the cause one is rallying to flies in the face of obvious facts. These facts take many forms. Some are historical facts, such as the corruption of an administration; some are mythological facts, such as the cult of armageddon.
We are mostly familiar with historic facticity, I think, so let me expand on what I mean by mythical facts. A mythical fact is something like Ragnarok, aka armageddon, that pops up from time to time. In this way, myths establish some indepent, verifiable reality. They are facts.
There are many types of mythological fact, but most we know through their repition. They repeat themselves in current time, in our experience. Mythological fact shapes existential colorings of each historical moment. This is why it is often the basis of propagandistic elements.
In particular the propagandistic application of eschatological premises is quite precedented. Usually forgotten by the Rasputins of any given time is that these premises have a built in shelf life. People who want the Rapture, for example, tend to look silly to their children.
There are of course some new wrinkles to the modern propaganda, such as the soft fascism of conrolling the field of referrent authority via mass media, but even this does not allow propaganda to fly in the face of reality for all that long.
In conclusion: Any attempt to deny reality does not work. Reality remains more real. No matter how you deny reality, it will get you. Reality is bigger than propaganda.
Today we are fortunate to have the tradition of historic giants such as Rousseau and Franklin; Martin Luther King Jr., I.F. Stone and Woody Guthrie.
The mythological fact of this presence in history is still being estalblished. Today, out here in the cyber-fields of Democracy, our generation takes our place alongside our heroes. For make no mistake, had corruption turned the tide tonight alongside propaganda, this would have been a tragic fall of historic proportions.
But tonight, let us remember our heroes, because we will need them. Our propagandists of the moment may be battered, but they will not be unbowed. We must continue to support the candidates we have helped into office.
My one litlle suggestion, from the heart of a Dean Progressive, is that we consider establishing blog-led subscription pools for officeholders’ off-season funding. This could be sort of modelled after Public Radio campaigns, but more anarchicly blogic.
In any case, it will work as a counterbalance, however small, to the absolute beholdenness of junior Reps to the corporate machine.
Cheers, all,
-swift
