Propaganda: It's Not What You Think

This begins our comprehensive deep dive into Jacques Ellul's "Propaganda: the Formation of Men's Attitudes," endeavouring to give you back your own actions and thoughts.

82. Propaganda: It's Not What You Think

When you pick up Jacques Ellul’s Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, you must prepare yourself to have almost everything you think you know about the nature of propaganda to be challenged. We generally think of propaganda as the product of some manipulative mastermind, spreading lies and brainwashing people into believing things that are not true. Many think, “If only we can get the truth out to people and confront the regime’s lies, then we will be able to sway them to our side.” But this is not what propaganda is, and it isn’t how it works, especially if it’s done well. Propaganda is primarily about shaping your will towards action, the actions the propagandist has selected for you. He is not as worried that you think correctly, as long as you act correctly. He doesn’t care if you walk around burdened with cognitive dissonance, as long as you do what he wants.

Propaganda is also an essential component of the technological society. Its use goes much deeper and broader that most of us understand or are willing to admit. It is fundamentally technological, that is, a set of techniques. Because of this, the only criteria that matters for propaganda is “effectiveness.” Does it work? Additionally, as an essential component of the technological society, propaganda is the main force today, holding society together and keeping it functioning. In this regard, it is as much a sociological phenomenon as it is a political one. In truth, ideology actually gets in the way, and undermines its effectiveness.

“Not only is propaganda itself a technique, it is also an indispensable condition for the development of technological progress and the establishment of a technological society.”

What Ellul is saying here is that we cannot arrive at the level of technical sophistication that we enjoy today without the use of propaganda. Its use makes the technological society possible. Without it, there is no society wide realization of technological progress.

Even though propaganda is an essential feature in our society and is omnipresent and generally regarded as an evil, this in itself makes it difficult to study. Why? Because we don’t want to see its necessary operation. Not only do we not want to see it at work, propaganda itself, if done well, operates in a way where it is not noticed. It is a secret action. This is a big part of why so few understand it properly. Our task with this, and subsequent pieces, is to make visible what is now hidden. Seeing it at work helps us to protect ourselves against its operation, reducing its effectiveness, returning to us our own thoughts, feelings and actions.

Broadly, propaganda encompasses four key activities:

• Psychological action: the modification of opinions.

• Psychological warfare: destroying your morale, your will to resist the regime and the system which supports it, as well as your belief systems such as your Christian faith.

• Re-education and/or brainwashing: the work of turning an enemy into an ally.

• Public and human relations and product advertising.

This last one often shocks people. Yes, product advertising is propaganda. Not just in terms of trying to market products, but also in the meta-project of shaping you into someone who finds their satisfaction in the buying of products. Overall, propaganda must envelope you entirely with the intention of sparking action, getting you to do the things the system requires you to do. We are so enframed within the system of propaganda, for example, that we believe that “facts” constitute truth, and are thus good, and can therefore be a basis for action. Such an understanding, Ellul argues, is itself a product of the system of propaganda within which we live, one which the propagandist uses to manipulate us. The first step to freedom and gaining mastery of one’s self in the midst of a world of propaganda is first of all to become aware of its presence and use.

“The study of propaganda must be conducted within the context of the technological society. Propaganda is called upon to solve problems created by technology, to play on maladjustments, and to integrate the individual into a technological world. Propaganda is a good deal less the political weapon of a regime (it is that also) than the effect of a technological society that embraces the entire man and tends to be a completely integrated society.”

Being an integral part of the technological society, we must see that propaganda is essentially scientific and technological. It embraces all the characteristics of science and technology. It uses the same iterative process of continual improvement towards the perfection of its use. It will have “advances” and “breakthroughs” the way that any proper scientific endeavour does. It is thus also subject to the same problems which science encounters in that its quality declines when said practice is subjected to political and ideological concerns.

In this regard, modern propaganda is based on the scientific analysis of psychology and sociology. It must submit its practices to the latest and best scientific understanding and make use of this in its practice. As a technical phenomenon — and we remember that the most important thing about technology is that it is first of all a way of thinking about the world — it sets to establish a set of rules, policies, best practices and precise formulas for its use. This set of rules impose themselves upon the propagandist, who is now himself not free, but rather part of the technological and administrative system which it manifests. Propaganda is technique. The propagandist, though, does not employ one set of tools for all situations, but rather, he has a whole toolbox of refined techniques that he employs depending upon the situation he encounters and the people to whom he is subjecting it. Finally, the propagandist wants to control and measure the results of his work. He wants proof that it is working. So he must be able to define the desired effects and obtain quantitative data that they are working. He does not merely wish to believe his propaganda is working. He wants evidence that it is working.

Propaganda seeks to create, and requires for optimum effectiveness, an individualistic society where the smallest unit of society is the individual. The individual is the most vulnerable to propaganda even as he believes himself the most free. Here is the thing, though. The individual is never addressed as an individual.

“The individual is of no interest to the propagandist.”

This is because:

“To win men over one by one takes much too long.”

Thus the individual, believing himself to be free, while all the time actually being atomized and alone, must be reconstituted into a “mass man.” He must be an isolated individual, yet part of the crowd. At once the propagandist is addressing the individual and the crowd. But yet he does not merely try to reach the group.

“Modern propaganda reaches individuals enclosed in the mass and as participants in the mass, yet it also aims at the crowd, but only as a body composed of individuals.”

Propaganda is always addressed to “persons-in-crowds.” These are not organically formed communities with real relationships with other people. The individual is abstracted from his community, rationalized and then re-integrated into something larger, the “mass,” the “crowd,” the “audience,” by means of propaganda. The person loses his individuality. He is little more than part of the “average” that makes up the group. He is merely a point on a bell curve.

This is an important thing to understand. The concept of the “person-in-crowds.” Think of a crowd attending a football game or a rock concert, even a classical music concert in a one of the world’s best performance centres. It is not an organic event. It is music produced in everyday contexts that has been abstracted, refined and pressed to its technical and artistic limits. People share the same space as a crowd, but the experience is mediated to them through the performer.

Radio is a good example of this. Everyone who listens, participates in the show and feels like they are a part of something larger than themselves, but the whole experience is curated for them by the radio host. Even when they listen together, or, as in the example of television, all watch together, they are isolated from each other. When they discuss the show, it is the show they are discussing. It is not an organic discussion. It has been framed and set by the show. Little real interaction occurs between man to man. It is all mediated through the communication medium within the confines of the crowd. The individual feels like the host is speaking directly to them. He feels like he is a “strong individual.” But, in truth, his mere participation in the medium has weakened him, put him in a receptive state, ready to be manipulated.

“Mass man is clearly sub-human, but pretends to be superhuman.”

Propaganda profits from the structure of the mass and exploits the individual’s need for self-affirmation.

It is here that we should reflect on a form that Ellul did not experience, that of social media. We must understand that the content of social media is almost irrelevant in regards to its propaganda use. Social media exploits the dopamine reaction to feed the need for self-affirmation. It keeps the individual isolated and relating to a larger group through the various social media platforms. This interaction is controlled in part by moderators but mostly by means of sophisticated algorithms. If we fold in Marshall McLuhan’s “the medium is the message,” then we are able to see that the fact that you use social media is itself a form of propaganda. You are in a situation where you can be easily controlled and manipulated. The media itself begins to define the shape of the “person-in-crowd.”

“The most favourable moment to seize a man and influence him is when he is alone in the mass: it is at this point that propaganda can be most effective.”

In this regard, social media becomes part of the means of holding technological society together. The medium itself is a form of control. And this is also why Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter created such a shock. As we will see, propaganda must be all encompassing. No cracks can be permitted or allowed. But at its heart, a medium like Twitter is still a form of mass media. Thus, it must always be remembered that even in the hands of someone whose loyalty to the regime is questionable, that it is still a medium that reinforces and maintains the technological society. Even owned by Musk, when you use Twitter you are still within the system of propaganda and it is still reinforcing you as a “persons-in-crowd.”

“Propaganda…can have practically no effect on individuals before that [organic] group is fragmented…only when very small groups are thus annihilated, when the individual finds no more defenses, no equilibrium, no resistance exercised by the [organic] group to which he belongs, does total action by the propagandist become possible.”

Each media has its own characteristics and appeals to the person in different ways, touches them differently, activating or suppressing different parts of the totality of who they are. Propaganda must be total. This is why it is an integral part of technological society as a whole. Every television show you watch. Every movie you see. Every advertisement you view. Every mass event you participate in. They all work to slowly integrate you into the technological society. They present life to you a certain way, then show you advertisements tailored to realizing that life. Conferences and other big events like the meetings of political parties or even religious revival events are all looking to shape your actions. The “call to action” of a tent style revival meeting is a typical propaganda technique. If you do the action, come to the front, then you have made a commitment and now your thoughts will begin to follow. Of course the press is central to shaping the general views of the people. The propagandist does not want to write a single melody, but rather to write a symphony that envelops you. It is a total campaign waged against you for complete control.

“Propaganda tries to surround man by all possible routes, in the realm of feelings as well as ideas, by playing on his will or his needs, through his conscious and his unconscious, assailing him in both his private and public life. It furnishes him with a complete system for explaining the world and provides immediate incentives for action.”

Everything from mass media, to censorship, to legal texts, to diplomacy, to workforce training, to proposed legislation, to education, to religion and churches, to conferences, to personal contacts, to literature, to history, to science itself, anything that you think might be used to carry or suppress a message is used and utilized as a vehicle for propaganda.

It might not be as surprising today as it was even a couple of years ago, but the church plays a vital role in the propaganda machine.

“Religion and the churches are constrained to hold on to their own places in the orchestra if they want to survive.”

What Ellul means here is that the necessity of the technological society requires the full participation of all the institutions and groups that make up the society if they want to remain fully a part of the society. This is the case even when there is a perceived mutually friendly relationship with the technological society as a whole. This does not mean that the churches necessarily apostate themselves, only that they play a role in maintaining all the messaging and propaganda of the state. They would be, of course, pro-America and anti-communist. They would celebrate the free market economy. They would support the founding myths of the country. Today, they build technologically friendly mega-churches run like businesses and that focus on growth. They embrace key policies like diversity, equity and inclusion. They have played a vital role in immigration, integrating people into its necessity and moral value. Many churches also dutifully closed and supported Covid lockdowns, masking and vaccinations. But it was also during this period that there was some fracturing between the churches and the regime system. This has since resulted in propaganda being directed against the churches in the form of the “Christian Nationalism” narratives. It has also resulted in divides within the churches between those who support state narratives and those who don’t. Expect this to intensify going forward. That said, I am of the mind that a full break cannot come until those churches now breaking away and facing the hostility of the regime fully confront the ways that they have participated in supporting state propaganda narratives in earlier periods of the technological society era, even unwittingly.

We will delve more deeply into the different forms of propaganda and how they work as we proceed through Ellul’s work, but for now it is enough to understand that there are a multiplicity of different kinds of propaganda, each of which plays its part. One is direct and open, aimed like a blunt instrument to force changes in opinion or incite specific actions. Other types are more sociological, meant to be slow, operate beneath the level of awareness, creating a climate of receptiveness for direct propaganda. Direct propaganda cannot operate in a vacuum. It needs the ground to be laid by indirect propaganda to operate properly. Sometimes it is overt and other times it is covert. Sometimes you are incited directly, but other times the incitement is indirect and somewhat diffuse. Whatever type or style of propaganda is at work, it must not leave gaps. It must fill the life of the citizen completely. The individual must not be allowed other points of reference. And the propaganda must be a continuous action that completely envelopes the person.

“Propaganda continues its assault without an instant’s respite; his resistance is fragmentary and sporadic.”

We must think of propaganda more as a machine, like the technological society of which it is a necessary part. The propagandist, in this regard, though, must always be separate from the propagandee. He is a stranger. Even when they know each other, the propagandist is always the manipulator, part of the machine which controls technological society. The propagandist, as a part of the technological machine, makes himself something that is not human. The propagandee will often think of and receive the propagandist as human, but even when they connect in a seemingly horizontal relationship, the propagandist is always separate, always on the other side of the machine, protected by this knowledge that he is the operator. All human relationships between the propagandist and the propagandee are inherently false. This is one of the dangers of trying to use an instrument like social media to build community, is that because, at its core, it is a medium of propaganda, it inherently works to falsify the relationships mediated through it. Propaganda is at once always working to alienate people from each other and then reconstitute and hold them together in a pseudo-human arrangement for the purpose of sustaining the technological society as a whole. This is the true purpose of social media.

As we draw this introduction to a close, the final point that we should try to grasp about propaganda is that it is geared primarily towards action and secondarily to thought. Its goal is not first of all to change your mind and how you think, but rather to change how you act. Once you have participated in the desired actions, your thinking will adapt. This is one of the reasons during the 20th century, the age of propaganda, that the Republicans and conservatives have generally been so bad at politics. They have the mistaken belief that if they can convince you of the superiority of their ideas, that right actions will follow. That is not the case. You may agree with the Republican, but this may have no effect on your actions. You might vote Democrat anyways. Many elite liberals live like conservatives. They get married, stay married. Handle their money well. Are diligent and conscientious in their work habits. They likely even believe that they have succeeded through their hard work. Maybe they even go to church and are pro-life. But they reliably vote Democrat. That is effective propaganda at work.

“Simply to ask an individual if he believes this or that idea, gives absolutely no indication of what behaviour he will adopt or what action he will take; only action is of concern to modern propaganda.”

And,

“More over, to place propaganda efforts on the intellectual level would require that the propagandist engage in individual debate with each person — an unthinkable method.”

It really does not matter what you think as long as you vote the right way or wear the mask when you are told to wear the mask. Propaganda is about participation. We should not think of this in primarily political terms, for that would be a mistake. Political propaganda is an important part of the phenomenon, but the true participation that is demanded of you is your embrace of the technological society. If you are an active part of modern life and ways of living, then you are a product of propaganda. If you are thinking about issues and what to do and how to act, then the propaganda is not working properly. The best propaganda works subconsciously and is invisible to you, leaving you with the feeling that your participation is your choice, that you do so of your own free will. This is an illusion.

“Such an action cannot be obtained by the process of choice and deliberation. To be effective, propaganda must short circuit all thought and decision. It must operate on the level of the unconscious.”

The goal of propaganda is always orthopraxis, right action, and not orthodoxy, right thought. The propagandist is not concerned with how you think; but rather, with what he wants you to do. If this one understanding can take root within you, it goes a long way to helping you immunize yourself against the manipulations of the propagandist.

“Modern psychologists are well aware that there is not necessarily any continuity between conviction and action and no inherent rationality in opinions or acts. Into these gaps in continuity propaganda inserts its lever. It does not seek to create reasonable men, but proselytes and militants.”

But this action is not the action of the individual alone. It is always the action of the “individual-in-crowds” even if that crowd is as large as the nation. The individual is always subsumed within the mass, but yet always isolated. But once the person acts, though, he is trapped. The propagandist has him.

“For action makes propaganda’s effects irreversible. He who acts in obedience to propaganda can never go back. He is obliged to believe in that propaganda because of his past action.”

Once you put on the mask, you must now accept the reasons why you have been told that you need to mask. You are a “masker.” You will continue to justify your action, long after it makes sense, even when in hindsight it now seems foolish. You will still come up with reasons why, at the time, it was the right thing to do. This is propaganda at work. You action causes you to do the work of building the justification for that action, which the propagandist will hand to you ready made.

These actions, though, become possible because you have been prepared for action. No one simply puts on the mask out of the blue. The person who dons the mask has been prepared for it by a lifetime of pre-propaganda which has emphasized the importance of certain type of cleanliness, a fear of germs, a certain conception of civic duty, and many other ideas that have been planted over the years by the slow work of pre-propaganda.

“Pre-propaganda does not have a precise ideological objective; it has nothing to do with opinion, an idea, a doctrine…he must be made to live in a certain psychological climate.”

It is this cultivation into the general psychological climate that makes you ready to be activated by propaganda in the moment. In the best case scenario, you will not even think about your actions. They will be obvious to you, deriving directly from the climate created for you. It just feels good, just and true to you. So you act the way you are supposed to act. You sign up to fight in the Global War on Terror because you are a patriotic American. This basis for pre-propaganda lies in the foundational myths of a society or a culture. It is these myths that become the primary material with which the propagandist attempts to prepare and shape us for action. And since propaganda is an essential feature of the technological society, it relies on the foundational myths that gave birth to this same society. It is to a discussion of these myths and how they are employed that we will turn in the next installment of this series.