Monday, February 18, 2019

Propaganda and language


"Do not believe it until it's been officially denied." Claud Cockburn

"Let me control the media, and I will turn any nation into a herd of pigs."                                                                    Joseph Goebbels 

"Those who seek to dominate our behavior first seek to dominate our speech. They seek to obscure meaning. They make war on language."                                                                 Chris Hedges
 
It is a commonplace to say that Americans are the most propagandized people in the world, the most misinformed and dis-informed. We Pakistanis are not far behind. For example, most, if not all, Pakistanis have some pet conspiracy theory up their sleeves. The most popular ones are: Yehudi saazish, CIA, MI6, Mossad, RAW or that generic evil mastermind behind all mysterious and mystified things, the “foreign hand” (behrooni haath)---the all-purpose, all-mighty explanation that is so beloved of the bungling Pakistani ruling elite of all political stripes. I am not really against what is now disparagingly called “conspiracy thinking”. In fact, the expression “conspiracy theory” itself is a conspiracy construct, the creation of conspiring vested interests! It was first used, intentionally and systematically, by the “invisible” establishment forces (now commonly known as the Deep State) in post-WW2 USA, mainly to discredit those who refused to toe the official line on the John F. Kennedy assassination and the related narrative on the Cuban missile crisis. The label of “conspiracy theorist” is akin to name-calling, a propaganda shaming term typically used by the privileged and powerful against the powerless with the sole purpose of discrediting them. But the way it is used nowadays, indiscriminately and vindictively, it is more of a psychological thought stopper. In a world where everything and everybody is suspect, especially the official narratives of the ruling classes everywhere, it is often employed by the mouthpieces of the high and mighty to slight, contain or control certain dissenting narratives, and to prevent critical thinking. So, one must be mindful of the pernicious uses of such terms and instead of knee-jerk reactions, use one’s critical faculties, ask inconvenient questions and analyze the evidence first.
In this blog, I want to touch upon some aspects of the dark art of propaganda and especially the uses and abuses of language therein.

In our highly politicized world with its obscene wealth inequalities and unbridgeable power disparities, language is not, and cannot be, innocent. In such a world, language often encodes and reproduces wealth inequalities and unjust power relations. Increasingly, it is the instrument of choice, the lubricant, for systemic exploitation and violence. Real, physical violence smoothly follows linguistic violence. The initial injury is done through the malignant uses of language. In any act of violence, the first casualty is that of language itself. Violence, especially state or state-sanctioned violence, requires the distortion and abuse of language first, so that the minds of the masses can be corrupted and the ensuing violence made palatable to them. Again, before the physical injury and elimination, the victim is linguistically attacked and mutilated; before the napalms, cluster bombs and daisy-cutters are dropped, before the gunship helicopters arrive, and the mushroom clouds hang above their heads, the victims are systematically demonized with the devious use of language and toxic images. This has been a constant in twentieth century conflicts involving the modern West and the rest, from WW1 trench warfare, to Hiroshima to Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.

Propaganda is part and parcel of the modern social and political landscape everywhere. Since the early years of the twentieth century when its potential as a “public relations” exercise was first recognized, courtesy of pioneers in the field like Edward Bernays who was Sigmund Freud’s nephew, it has become more and more sophisticated over the years. But its common or essential techniques have remained the same. One of the early critical analyses of propaganda techniques was carried out by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA). Established in 1937, the IPA lists these common techniques as follows:
  • Word games (name calling, glittering generalities and euphemisms)
  • False connections or associations (transfer and testimonial)
  • Special appeals (plain folks, bandwagon and fear)
Let’s focus on some of these. For example, the propagandist language of name calling, fear mongering, and the use of glittering generalities serve demagogues and political extremists well. Through name calling the other (the target individual, group or country) is vilified and dehumanized. A culture of fear is created, frightening and discomforting metaphors and imagery are used to disorient and disarm the masses. The result is a sense of vulnerability in the people. Immigrants, Mexicans, Muslims in the USA. Rohingya in Myanmar / Burma. Certain ethno-religious minorities in Pakistan and India, are some examples. 

As a propaganda technique, glittering generalities play a very important role in our current political milieu, both national and global. What is a glittering or glowing generality? This is how Wikipedia defines it:

“A glittering generality (also called glowing generality) is an emotionally appealing phrase so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that it carries conviction without supporting information or reason. Such highly valued concepts attract general approval and acclaim. Their appeal is to emotions such as love of country and home, and desire for peace, freedom, glory, and honor. They ask for approval without examination of the reason. They are typically used by politicians and propagandists.”  (emphasis added)

As vague words, phrases and expressions with positive connotations, glittering generalities are what the IPA calls “virtue words”.  Strongly appealing to our emotional faculties, they disable our critical faculties and make us susceptible to all kinds of manipulations. Glittering generalities are words like science, rationality, development, progress, civilization, motherland, fatherland, democracy, freedom, human rights, sustainable, international community, civil society, community development, grassroots, empowerment, poverty alleviation and so on. These are all abstract in nature, meaning different things to different people and, therefore, amenable to manipulation. 
Let’s take one of these concepts, sustainable development (SD), to see how it works. Sustainable development as a “buzzword” is one of those concepts which are widely (ab)-used by all sorts of individuals and interests, from the ecologically destructive industrialists to slimy politicians, from NGO  and civil society missionaries, social justice activists, opportunist environmentalists to compromised (lifafa) journalists, intellectuals, writers and artists. I think nobody has improved upon Lele’s early critique of the concept. He wrote way back in 1991,

“SD is a ‘metafix’ that will unite everybody from the profit-minded industrialist and risk minimising subsistence farmer to the equity seeking social worker, the pollution-concerned or wildlife-loving First Worlder, the growth-maximising policy maker, the goal-oriented bureaucrat, and therefore, the vote-counting politician.”

These noble sounding, fix-all words, these magic wands, are all suspect. In our times, they have become like sacred cows, their particularly constructed meanings are constantly guarded by the powerful and nobody can challenge them without suffering some form of retribution. Exhibit: in recent years, the USA has destroyed at least four countries in the Middle East / West Asia with the help of mere three, although very powerful, of these glowing generalities: "democracy", "freedom" and "human rights." To challenge these is to invite the scorn and ridicule of the Western and westernized secular-liberal mobs everywhere. Often, these are like empty vessels into which are poured the interests of the powerful, the oppressors and victimizers. Following fear mongering, glittering generalities are then employed to give the frightened and the now vulnerable a sense of security and superiority.



With the fear also comes rage which, in this socially fractured and chaotic age of political and historical amnesia, is a godsend for the demagogues of all sorts. For example, nowadays populist politicians with fascistic tendencies see and understand only too well the pent up anger and frustration in the masses who are the victims of no-holds-barred casino capitalism around the world. These mendacious sheep herders exploit this rage for their own purposes, often by redirecting it onto minorities and marginalized groups of society, as has happened in the United States under The Donald, in India under Modi, and in Hungary under Victor Orban, to name just a few.
Language that hides, confuses and ignores, always serves some ulterior motives. George Orwell, one of the most profound critics of linguistic distortion, had good reasons when he advised writers, among other things, to write clearly and to use idioms and metaphors that help us visualize, that shows more and tells less. Ambiguity and impersonality in language use may sound nice and formal but they are often in the service of power and not speaking truth to it. When a doublespeaking politician uses the passive voice and says, 'Mistakes were made", then we know that language has been corrupted and truth has been distorted. We are not told mistakes were made by whom?, or who made the mistakes? and why? This evasive language hides and obscures in order to shun responsibility and to avoid culpability. It is language designed to deceive and injure. It is a communication blocking technique that often frames the issues in such a way that the audience is readily turned into a bunch of losers!

As elsewhere, this dark art is also practiced, tragicomically, in the mainstream Pakistani media, especially in its electronic form. The aim of these channels is not to inform and enlighten, but to keep the masses perpetually entertained, which often means dumbing them down. These days the shows on the mainstream channels, especially the news and talk shows, serve the same function as the old Pakistani dramas used to do some decades ago, minus the quality, the civility or just plain decency. Everything is staged, with all the paraphernalia of sets, make-up, scripts, rehearsals and all; it’s one big vacuous spectacle with bad performers. Notice how most of them are bad clones of western mainstream media---BBC, CNN, Fox, NBC, ABC--- down to the minute details of dress, stage, mannerisms and music. Oh, the music. The non-stop tasteless music that plays in the background of news and talk shows also has the crucial function of disorienting the viewer. Once disoriented, the audiences’ minds become like blank slates, tabula rasa, upon which anything and everything can be inscribed or, “consent is manufactured” through a combination of denatured language, noxious imagery and disconcerting sounds. It is this "sickness of language" to which the Trappist monk Thomas Merton alerted us long time ago and from which we need to protect ourselves.

Worth reading:

George Orwell, "Politics and the English language"
Thomas Merton, "War and the crisis of language"

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