You Need Propaganda
We tend to think of propaganda as something done to us. But given the effects of the technological society, we have come to need propaganda to keep ourselves and society functioning.
The common way that propaganda is thought about by many is that the propagandist is an evil manipulator and we are his passive, innocent victims. People have similar views of advertising — which is a form of propaganda — that it is something inflicted upon us by people trying to manipulate us into buying their products or services. This view is wrong.
“The individual must participate in all this from the bottom of his heart, with pleasure and deep satisfaction.”
This can be startling if you are hearing it for the first time. Even if you have been following this series on Jacques Ellul’s Propaganda, your natural inclination is to pull back from a statement like this. But, if we remember that propaganda is a necessary component of modern life because of the alienation and nihilism that modernity brings, it is easier to understand how we might come to want it, to welcome it, to allow it to fill the void and give life meaning.
“It is necessary to obtain the worker’s allegiance to the cause of productivity; he must accept and search for innovations, like his work, support his organization, understand the function of labour. All this is attained by psychological manipulation, by a propaganda conducted with precision over a considerable length of time.”
It becomes so much a part of us that we can no longer see the propaganda. It just seems like the way things are. It is thought of as the American way of life. It never even occurs to you that all the shape, meaning, history, purpose and values of American life, and the economic and political system which supports it, are the carefully constructed products of a propaganda system that is all encompassing. It just seems right to you. You welcome the messaging as reassuring that everything is right with the world.
“For propaganda to succeed it must correspond to a need for propaganda on the individual’s part…even derives satisfaction from it.”
Here we get at the heart of the problem when dealing with and confronting propaganda in our lives and how we are shaped by it. We have to accept our role as a willing participant. Recovering your own thoughts means grappling with your own need and desire for the familiar and comforting messages of the propagandist.
“There is a citizen who craves propaganda from the bottom of his being and a propagandist who responds to this craving.”
You must confront within yourself that the propagandist is merely giving you what you want.
The State’s Necessity
The modern state is confronted with a dilemma. Because of the combination of mass media and democratic institutions, the masses have come to participate in the political and to feel a concern for the political affairs of the nation. Since the the state, in order to exercise power, must have the general support of the people, this becomes a problem that has to now be managed. When the general population was not involved in political decisions and for the most part political decisions did not touch their daily lives, maintaining the support of the people was simpler. But now that people have a great awareness of what is happening in the political and a greater sense that they should participate in the political life of the nation, this new proximity of the masses to the political becomes a problem that must be dealt with. Alignment becomes an issue. The leader can no longer escape the masses. The actions of the political class are no longer above and removed from the life of the people. The difference between city and the countryside in many ways collapses due to mass communication and the relative ease and speed of modern transportation. The affairs of the capitol now become immediately present to those who live in the countryside, in the hinterland.
“Because the state’s decisions affect me, I intend to influence them.”
The presence of mass media gives us the impression that the goings on in the capitol are happening right on our doorstep. We now feel that we need to be involved.
The presence of a relatively well educated middle class also creates a problem. If the citizenry knows what is going on in the halls of power, this could adversely affect the decisions being made. Too much information can also give an edge to state rivals. This means that the leadership must put up a veil between themselves and the people as well as them and their enemies. This screen, this illusion, allows the leadership to operate freely without having to respond to the people who wish to participate in those decisions. Because the support of the masses is vital and governments cannot operate without it, they must grapple with the pressures that populism places on the state in order for it to conduct its affairs freely. This space to operate freely is created and maintained by means of propaganda.
Even though much is made today, correctly, about elite theory and the circulation of elites, no governing class can rule without popular support. The people must buy into your ruling formula, your spiritual justification for leading the people. Unless the people accept the legitimacy of those who rule, or the ruling system, the reality is the leadership class is vastly outnumbered. If the masses turn, they become ungovernable. This is doubly true after Rousseau and all his talk about “the will of the people.” Once this idea gained broad acceptance among the masses, it had to be accounted for by those in charge. Even when ruled by a dictator, he must rule in accord with the will of the people. Napoleon recognized this:
“Power is based on opinion. What is a government not supported by opinion? Nothing.”
But this creates a problem. The masses are unpredictable in their opinions. You as a leadership class cannot be held hostage by the vagaries of public opinion. Additionally, your typical mass man, in terms of intelligence, education, personal disposition and so forth, is not really suited to exercise the rights of citizenship. The forces which create mass man, as we have discussed them in previous pieces in this series, render “mass man” unsuitable for such a task. At the same time, the government cannot operate outside the pressures of public opinion. Additionally, public opinion does not really express itself through the mechanisms of democratic government.
“Even in a democracy, a government that is honest, serious, benevolent and respects the voter cannot follow public opinion. But it cannot escape it either. The masses are there; they are interested in politics. The government cannot act without them. So what can it do? Only one solution is possible: as government cannot follow public opinion, opinion must follow the government.”
Democracy in a mass society requires propaganda to have a functioning state. This does not exist in a vacuum, though. Citizens organize. Corporations have interests. They both pressure the government to act in their accord. The government must respond and push back. It often does so with propaganda. Propaganda gives the government and the leadership class the freedom to act according to its own designs.
We must understand that there is no difference between information and propaganda. They are the same phenomenon. There are no “value free” or “neutral” facts. Through the process of selection or de-selection, noticing or not-noticing, all information from the moment attention is fixed upon it, it is part of the propaganda process. That which is in alignment with the interests and ruling formula of the state is noticed, framed and made to play its part in sustaining the narrative. Anything which does not fit the narrative is not-noticed or memory holed. Unless your narrative counter factual can seize the attention of the mass, they do not matter and they stand outside of the story, the “truth” that is being told by the propagandist.
One of the key aspects of “the narrative” is giving the masses the feeling that the government is doing what the people want them to do and that the government is responsible to the people for their actions when this is not the case at all. This is the core “big lie.” All political players and parties engage in this kind of narrative creation. And even though this understanding within the people is a creation of propaganda, it is vital for the effective functioning of the government. The people cannot be allowed to have their own opinions, a real opinion. The people must think that they have an opinion and that the government is acting on their behalf, when in fact this feeling in the masses is created by the governing authorities. We are living in a time when increasingly our current ruling class can no longer maintain this alignment. The people are developing opinions that are distinct from that of the ruling class, who, in many places, are becoming more shrill, scolding and authoritarian in response. Ideally, the people must believe that what you as a government are doing emerged out of the people. Propaganda must create that feeling within the people, that what you are doing is exactly what they want you to do.
“The point is to make the masses demand of the government what the government has already decided to do.”
This kind of government should not be thought of as authoritarian because it governs in accordance with the will of the people. That the will of the people was manufactured is of no consequence to the ruling formula. It remains fully democratic.
Democracy itself, in this formula, becomes a part of the propaganda. All governments must use propaganda and the use of propaganda requires an authoritarian structure. All mass democracies must be authoritarian in nature because they must use propaganda to form the will of the people. This is the “tank problem” of mass democracy. As long as you have a mass society, you must use propaganda to shape the will of the masses and you must do so in an authoritarian manner. It does not matter if you consider this evil and soul destroying, which it is, the necessity of politics in the age of mass democracy requires you to be a skilled user of propaganda and a skilled use of propaganda requires you to be authoritarian, regardless of what the messaging makes people think or believe about the transaction.
If you want to delude yourself into thinking that you will be different, that you will build public opinion organically, up from the communities in a true spirit of the people, you must recognize that you do not have that luxury. In an age of mass media and instant communication, you must be able to form public opinion almost instantaneously. The only way to effectively and efficiently form opinion at scale in a timely manner is the skillful use of propaganda. In this way, all modern mass societies, even those with a fair degree of ethnic homogeneity and long histories, become, to some degree, the deracinated products of propaganda. The effects of propaganda are fairly uniform everywhere where it is employed, whether it is your propaganda or your opponent’s counter-propaganda. The effect on the person and on society are fairly similar.
The Individual’s Necessity
Just as the state needs propaganda, so too does modern man, living as he does in mass society.
“Propaganda fills a need of modern man, a need that creates in him an unconscious desire for propaganda. He is in the position of needing outside help to face his condition. And that aid is propaganda.”
Modernity, mass society, the technological society, all together creates a condition of deep alienation and nihilism. This condition used to be filled by religion, specifically the Christian faith. It was an organizing whole that created meaning for the person living in this society. As this was swept away, man’s need for belonging, meaning and purpose did not go away. As “history” elevated the political, pushing aside “the religious” as the locus of man’s attention, the meaning that faith and community provided for a person had to be replaced with something. That something was propaganda. Propaganda works because you want to be propagandized. You need to be propagandized. Propaganda becomes a necessary and essential part of living in a technological society.
“Psychologists and sociologists are aware of the great problem of adjusting the normal man to a technological environment — to the increased pace, the working hours, the noise, the crowded cities, the tempo of work, the housing shortage and so on. There is the difficulty of accepting the never-changing changing daily routine, the lack of personal accomplishment, the absence of apparent meaning, the family insecurity provoked by these living conditions, the anonymity of the individual in the big cities and at work.”
You want to belong. And because belonging means participating in mass culture, including the political, you will express any opinion rather that be left out.
“The majority prefers expressing stupidities to not expressing any opinion: this gives them the feeling of participation.”
Because of the complexities and uncertainties of politics, because you don’t know everything that is needed to be known to have an informed opinion, and yet it is expected of you, if you wish to belong, to have some opinion. This is why propagandistic “slop” fills so much of the political discourse. It gives you the feeling that you have an informed opinion and you are a part of something larger than yourself. You belong. But so much of it is stupid.
“As most people have the desire and at the same time the incapacity to participate, they are ready to accept a propaganda that will allow them to participate, and which hides their incapacity beneath explanations, judgements, and news, enabling them to satisfy their desire without eliminating their incompetence.”
Being truly informed is a lot of work. It takes real commitment and dedication. And it requires intelligence and ability. Laziness and a lack of capacity makes propaganda possible. All manners of policy from those about work, to taxes, to international relations and war are sustained by propaganda. The constant barrage of information which now comes at us requires that we have some help in making sense of it all. Propaganda fills that role for us, giving us the all encompassing meaning of everything. Propaganda succeeds because it is exactly what the masses need and want. Propaganda orders our world and gives it meaning.
“Above all [modern man] is a victim of emptiness — he is a man devoid of meaning … he is emotionally empty, open to entreaties and in search of one thing — something to fill his inner void.”
Modern man is desperately alone and he suffers for it. He feels the violent need to be reintegrated into a community but can’t find one. Propaganda is the remedy. It makes him feel a part of the mass.
“Propaganda is the true remedy for loneliness.”
Once integrated into the mass by propaganda, he becomes passive. Modern life induces us to wait until we are told to act. Here again, propaganda comes to the rescue to tell us when and how to take action.
“Though a mass instrument, [propaganda] addresses itself to each individual. It appeals to ME. It appeals to MY common sense, MY desires, and it provokes MY wrath and MY indignation. It evokes MY feelings of justice and MY desire for freedom. It gives ME violent feelings which lift me out of the daily grind. As soon as I have been politicized, I can look down from my heights on daily trifles. My boss, who does not share my convictions, is merely a fool, a prey to the illusions of an evil world. I take revenge on him by being enlightened.”
The fact that I am propagandized tells me that I am important enough to propagandize. I feel powerful and alive because I am in the grips of the propaganda. This is why propaganda is so powerful when directed at “the oppressed,” because it makes them feel superior to their “oppressors.” Much of what happened with decolonialization and its dynamics can be understood once you grasp how the former colonies were propagandized against their colonial masters. Propaganda allows for a mass catharsis. Everyone knows who to hate. Everyone knows who the enemy is and why they are the enemy. It clarifies and justifies your hate and gives permission for its outward venting.
Ellul argues that the diminishment of the Christian faith in western society can be linked to the propaganda which promoted both divorce and adultery.
One of the enduring features of the technological society is that it induces diffuse, hard to identify, nonspecific anxiety. But because of the nature of mass technological society, the cause of our anxiety is almost always opaque to us, if not the anxiety itself.
“As a result of all the threats and contradictions in contemporary society, man feels accused, guilty.”
In dealing with all of these threats and contradictions, the general lack of meaning, man is never able to feel “right.” He is never at peace. Never has a feeling of rest or of being at home. He needs justifications for his life. He needs to know that he is a good person and the things he does are right things. He needs a scapegoat, some object at which he can direct his anxiety. Propaganda, by telling him what is wrong, and who to blame, and where to direct his anger resolves all of his internal conflicts and assures him that his actions are just. He is aligned with the good people in society and together they are battling a common enemy.
“Propaganda dissolves contradictions and restores man to a unitary world in which the demands are in accord with the facts.”
Propaganda fills this role and gives man the assurances he once derived from his religious beliefs. Propaganda gives you the key that opens all the doors, explaining all the mysteries.
"The politician who uses [propaganda] is not a monster; he fills a social demand. The propagandee is a close accomplice of the propagandist … propaganda, far from being an accident, performs an essential function in society.”
This does not mean that propaganda is a good thing. Rather, it underscores the truly monstrous nature of our society. Modernity, the technological society, creates a co-dependent relationship between the propagandist and propagandee. They need each other. They want each other. There is a necessity to the relationship. Without it, the empty nihilist nature of modernity would confront us in full force and it is unlikely we could face the truth of what we have become.
Read Previous Pieces in the Propaganda Series:
Sponsorship Partners
Fascinating read. I downloaded Substack just to read your pieces. I agree that propaganda is necessary now that the political has replaced the religious. Many of my closest friends have an astute intuition about the political, like mandated lockdowns being bad for society, but they are not interested in the laborious task of engaging deeply with the political or being ‘informed’. Propaganda is the means by which a coalition can be built among those with an astute intuition.
I am interested in exploring the ways I, a right wing thinking Mormon, or member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, can become more involved with The Christian Ghetto group. I am not interested in religious disagreement, but I see the Mormon movement as being deeply rooted in the traditions of the pioneers who came before us, and that tradition being threatened by both the political and the feminine managerial influences that you speak about. I will continue to follow along. Thanks!
Very interesting balance of what we need as individuals and what our modern society leaves us with.
I think you could describe the individual as needing an organizing principle in order to exist with the rest of society. If men were solipsistic, their opinions would go in billions of disorganized directions, such that the net effect on society is that it goes nowhere (all men pulling in every direction at once). If I am reading you correctly, the nature of modern society, particularly its nihilism, kills off all the organizing forces (religion, values, etc.) that formerly guided individuals into coherent strains of thought with others in their communities, thus killing off the ability of communities to have any net direction (most men pulling in the same direction).
I think you are saying propaganda is the unfortunate only solution to restoring our ability to give society direction or purpose, given modernity's effects. I suppose I agree in a way--modernity has ingrained in our minds such that we think in its terms, and the idea of having simple convictions about values and faith seem alien to us. But, I guess I still think we can regain a mindset of simple values and convictions rather than settle for propaganda.