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PROPAGANDA
POINTS THE WAY “I told the President [i.e. Franklin Roosevelt] that the Communists were not of immediate concern but felt certain that they would cause trouble as soon as the war ended. He did not seem to understand what I was talking about. I was in the process of explaining when we were interrupted by a secretary who announced another appointment.” — Lt. Gen. Albert Wedemeyer, United States Army After the defeat of the Japanese in World War II, U.S. General Albert Wedemeyer noticed a “stepped-up program of propaganda” emanating from Communist China and Russia. According to Wedemeyer, “The central theme of these messages from Communist key points was that Americans were in the Far East to exploit and conquer; in other words, that we were imperialists.” America’s allies in China and elsewhere were depicted as lackeys and collaborators. There was no similar propaganda from the American side. “A struggle for positions of strength was already in progress between America and the Soviet Union in Manchuria and North China; but unfortunately Americans were for the most part unaware of this fact. We were still in the sunset period of the ‘Trust Uncle Joe’ war era – still imagining that we could and should get along amicably with our Russian ally.” Today history repeats itself. Propaganda originating in Russia again depicts the Americans as exploiters and imperialists. This message is simultaneously broadcast from many outlets. It is the mother’s milk of dictators and totalitarian ideologists. It resonates with America’s Islamist foes in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. Today a newly emerging Islamic/Communist bloc deploys more soldiers and more weapons than America’s small, overstretched army can deal with. Through a cleverly orchestrated propaganda campaign, the enemies of civilization have taken the initiative. Only it is not 1945, but 2007, and America has been inwardly weakened. The impact of losing China to Communism was not such a heavy blow in 1949. Today, however, this blow hits us full force. Losing the mineral storehouse of Africa and the collapse of the pro-Western state in Pretoria was not felt as a defeat when it happened in the 1990s. Today, however, this blow will make the real situation all too clear. The threat of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela was long denied by policymakers in Washington. Now there is a Communist buildup in South America, on America’s doorstep, and the United States seems unable to fight this menace. Consider, as well, the crisis in the Middle East. We cannot help asking, with the prevalence of anti-American propaganda, the impact of an American defeat in Iraq. It is easy to see that an American defeat on this most vital ground would signal the ultimate collapse of America’s economic, diplomatic and military position across the globe. The propaganda out of Moscow, Beijing and Tehran already anticipates victory. They have witnessed American retreat before: in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Angola. So they expect America to retreat once again. It is an old game, of course, and a very old game plan. Jonathan Steele, writing in The Guardian, noticed that in Moscow’s “choked streets” there are new billboards sporting the colors of the Russian flag and the following words: “Putin’s plan, Russia’s victory.” That is to say, the Kremlin is admitting the existence of a plan for victory. And who is the enemy against which this victory is scored? American imperialism is the enemy. Here is the reason for Moscow’s alliance with Beijing; and Moscow’s support for Iran’s nuclear program; and Moscow’s hostility to European missile defense. Overt Communist slogans are no longer efficient for the Kremlin. The message is now pragmatic, nationalist and openly suspicious of American motives. Holding out the false prospect of partnership with America, just as Stalin did, the KGB leadership in Moscow wants to keep its options open. It seeks to avoid economic isolation. Better, instead, to isolate the Americans. Better to encourage the dollar’s crash and choke off America’s energy supplies by indirect methods. Anti-American propaganda assists Russia’s manipulations across the board. Despite the fact that Europe is suspicious of Russia, the Europeans nonetheless feel upstaged by the realities of American power. These feelings have been exploited, and now there is reason to believe that Europe’s growing financial crisis will give further scope to Russia’s anti-American message. Financial turmoil in Europe may be blamed on the United States. And it appears that Europe may be headed in a downward economic direction. When people feel pain they are more susceptible to propaganda. They want to blame someone for their problems. The loudest voice of blame, the loudest propaganda machine, is likely to win the battle of hearts and minds. At the end of World War II terrible economic conditions prevailed nearly everywhere except America. Communist propaganda then sought to infect Europe and Asia. The lessons to be learned in that episode were outlined in Lt. Gen. Wedemeyer’s memoirs. Today the United States has embarked on a democracy-building adventure in Iraq, attempting to repeat the success of American policy in Germany and Japan a half century ago. Wedemeyer warned us that man’s nature is “a compound of good and evil….” He explained that complete harmony and peace will never be established; that the “crusades and humanitarian endeavors in which Americans can justly claim to have taken the lead in good faith have twice in our generation been perverted.” He further noted, “After setting out once more to destroy tyrants and increase the area of freedom and opportunity everywhere in the world, we found that we had succeeded only in extending the area controlled by totalitarian tyranny and had ourselves enhanced the power of the Communists” who then constituted a “greater menace to our freedom and security than the enemy we vanquished.” This is not a paradox, of course. It testifies to our growing stupidity and ignorance. “We live in an age of propaganda,” wrote Wedemeyer. “It would seem that our views and opinions are determined mainly by headlines, radio, and TV. The pace of modern living has almost eliminated dispassionate, reasoned deliberation or quiet contemplation of the issues involved. Articulate orators and sensational reporting too often shape our thinking and determine our course of action.” From the president down to the man in the street, we are intellectually weak and vulnerable to propaganda. We tend toward the shortened version – and we attend it with little understanding. Even when enemy propaganda fails to nudge us in the wrong direction, our ignorance nonetheless leads us away from the proper course. No longer capable of a serious discussion, and apparently no longer interested, we remain focused on polls and simplistic theories and media sound bites. “There is no need for propaganda to be rich in intellectual content,” said Joseph Goebbels in a 1926 speech. As Hitler elaborated in Mein Kampf, one merely has to repeat the same nonsense over and over and the masses will believe it. Eventually, truth itself will be incapable of holding its own. The way is then opened to the victory of something truly evil.
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