propaganda
Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes (1965) jacques ellul via 175 pg pdf on monoskop [https://monoskop.org/images/4/44/Ellul_Jacques_Propaganda_The_Formation_of_Mens_Attitudes.pdf]
aka: any form of measuring, accounting, people telling other people what to do
adding page while reading techno society (ref’d at p 259).. and having already read anarchism and christianity
notes/quotes:
2
intro
ellul’s view of propaganda and his approach study of it are new.. diff between his and other is that ellul regards propaganda as a sociological phenom rather than as something made by certain people for certain purposes..t propaganda exists/thrives .. the siamese twin of our tech society..
any form of measuring, accounting, people telling other people what to do
3 (vii)
ellul distinguishes various form of prop and calls his book propagandes – the plural is one of the keys to his concept.. the most trenchant distinction made by ellul is between agitation prop and integration prop.. the former leads men from mere resentment to rebellion; the latter aims at making them adjust themselves to desired patters..
a related point central in ellul’s thesis, is that modern prop cannot work w/o ‘ed’; he thus reverses the widespread notion that ed is the best prophylactic against prop.. on the contrary he says, ed, or what usually goes by that word in the modern world, is the absolute prereq for prop.. in fact, ed is largely id w what ellul calls ‘pre prop’.. the conditioning of minds w vast amounts of incoherent info, already dispensed for ulterior purposes and posing as ‘facts’ and as ‘ed’..t
black science of people/whales law
the need for prop on part of the ‘propagandee’ is one of the most powerful elements of ellul’s thesis.. prop hands him in veritable abundance what he needs: personal involvement and participation in important events..
thus prop.. by first creating pseudo needs thru ‘pre prop’ and then providing pseudo satisfactions for them .. is pernicious.. most pernicious of all: the process, once fully launched tends to become irreversible ..t
aka: sea world.. but not irreversible.. graeber make it diff law et al
to make his original points, *ellul never relies on stats or quantification.. which he heartily disdains, **but on observation and logic.. to understand book.. must read twice.. because no page could be fully understood w/o knowledge of the whole.. a simple leaf thru this book will not suffice..
*graeber violence/quantification law
**can’t rely on observation and logic of sea world either..
in his view.. prop is today a greater danger to mankind than any other more grandly advertised threats
(1965) konrad kellen
4
preface
5 (x)
ineffective prop is no prop
prop is usually regarded as an evil; this makes a study difficult.. to study anything properly, one must put aside ethical judgments..
even when these obstacle shave been removed, still very difficult to determine what constitute prop and what the nature of prop is.. this is because it is a secret action
lynch fixed hidden law et al
6
to study prop we must turn not to the psychologist but to the propagandist; *we must examine not a test group, but a whole nation subjected to real/effective prop.. of course this **excludes all so called scientific (that is statistical) types of study, but at least we shall have respected the object of our study.. unlike many present day specialists who establish a rigorous method of observation, but in order to apply it, lose the object to be studied
*grammatis broken law et al
**oi.. science scientifically et al.. still ‘stats’ of sea world.. still of math and men.. any form of m\a\p
7
heart of the problem: those who accept the principle of propaganda and decide to utilize it will inevitably employ the most effective org and methods.. *the premise of this book is that propaganda, no matter who makes it.. be he the most upright and best intentioned of men.. has certain identical results in communism or hitlerism or western democracy,..t inevitable results on the individual or groups and diff from the doctrine promulgated, or the regime supported, by that propaganda, in other words, hitlerism as a regime had certain effects and the prop used by the nazis undeniably had certain specific characteristics.. but whereas most analysts stop at this specificity.. i have tried to eliminate it in order to look only at the most general characteristics.. the effects common to all cases.. to all methods of prop..
*any form of measuring, accounting, people telling other people what to do = cancerous distraction
*i shall devote much space to the fact that prop has become an inescapable necessity for everyone.. in this connection i have come upon a source of much misunderstanding.. modern man worships ‘facts’.. that is, he accepts ‘facts’ as the ultimate reality..t he is convinced that what is, is good. **he believes that facts in themselves provide evidence and proof, and he willingly subordinates values to them; he obeys what he believes to be necessity, which he somehow connects w the idea of progress.. this stereotyped ideological attitude inevitably results in a confusion between judgments of probability and judgments of value.. because fact is the sole criterion, it must be good.. anyone who states a fact (even w/o passing judgment on it) is, therefore in favor of it..
*need global detox leap
**whalespeak perpetuating sea world
the reader will be tempted to see an approval of prop.. because prop is presented as a necessity.. forced to foster/intensify it.. nothing is further from my mind; such and assumption is possible only by those who worship facts and power..t in my opinion, *necessity never establishes legitimacy; the world of necessity is a world of weakness a world that denies man.. to say that a phenom is necessary means for me, that it denies man..t: its necessity is proof of its power, not proof of its excellence
*while in sea world.. we have no idea what legit needs are – black science of people/whales law
need 1st/most: means to undo our hierarchical listening to self/others/nature as global detox/re\set.. so we can org around legit needs
8 (xvi)
he will delude himself, by submitting in fact to ‘necessity’ while pretending that he is free ‘in spite of it’ and simply because he claims to be free.. only when he realizes his delusion will he experience the beginning of genuine freedom.. to stand back and look squarely at the phenom and reduce it to raw fact
9
in midst of increasing mech and tech org, prop is simply means used to prevent these things from being felt as too oppressive and to persuade man to submit w/good grace.. when man will be fully adapted to this tech society, when he will end by obeying w/enthusiasm, convinced of the excellence of what he is forced to do, the constraint of the org will no longer be felt by him; the truth is, it will no longer be a constraint, and the police will have nothing to do.. t the civic and tech good will and the enthusiasm for the right social myths – both created by prop – will finally gave solved the problem of man
jacques ellul – 1962
12
1 – characteristics of propaganda
13 (4)
the time is past when prop was a matter of indiidual inspiration,personal subtlety, or th euse of unsophisticated tricks. now science has entered prop, as we reveal from 4 diff pov.
1\ modern prop is based on sci anal of psych and soc. step by step the propagandist builds his techniques on the basis of his knowledge of man, his tendencies, his desires, his needs, his psych, his mechs, his conditioning..
aka: based on whales within the structural violence of sea world.. prop (best?) part of that structure.. ie: people telling other people what to do
2\ it tends to establish a set of rules, rigorous, precise, and tested, that are not merely recipes but impos themselvs on every propagandist, who is less/less free to follow his own impulses.. he must apply certain precise formulas ..
3\ again formulas (that again need training to use) for both environ and individual.. so must make anal first
4\ increasing attempt to control its use, measure its results, define its effects.. he seeks precise evidence.. the beginning of sci method
and the rest of m\a of any form of m\a\p
14 (6)
one cannot blame the propagandist if he has confidence in a particular socio/psycho whose theory is generally accepted.. and considered a scientists.. moreover.. put to use.. (it) brings results and proves/receives additional confirm and that simple doctrinal criticism can no longer demonstrate its inaccuracy
science scientifically ness et al.. gray research law et al
15 (9)
the most favorable moment to seize a man and influence him is when he is alone in the mass.. at this point propaganda can be most effective
pluralistic ignorance et al
the transformation of very small groups by purely psychological means is one of the most important techniques of propaganda.. only when very small groups are thus annihilated, when the individual finds no more defenses, no equilibrium, no resistance exercised by the group to which he belongs, does total action by propaganda become possible..
55
2 – conditions for the existence of propaganda
70
3 – necessity for propaganda
90 (159)
man.. eager for self justification, throws himself in the direction of a prop that justifies him and thus eliminates one of the sources of his anxiety.. prop dissolves contradictions and restore to man a unitary world in which the demands are in accord w the facts.. it permist him to participate in the world around him w/o being in conflict w it
91
4 – psychological effects of propaganda
prop is more than external.. it produces profound changes
95 (169)
to be alienated means to be someone other than oneself.. it also can mean to belong to someone else.. to be deprived of one’s self.. this is definitely the effect of propaganda..t
107
5 – socio political effects
118
propaganda and grouping
how we gather in a space is huge.. need to try spaces of permission where people have nothing to prove to facil curiosity over decision making.. because the finite set of choices of decision making is unmooring us.. keeping us from us.. ie: whatever for a year.. a legit sabbatical ish transition
140
appendix 1 – effectiveness of prop
162
appendix 2 – mao tse tung’s prop
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be you. 