Propaganda Free America is an educational service organization. Our Mission is:
To eradicate destructive political propaganda in America “one mind at a time.”
This website is devoted to increasing public awareness about tools of propaganda so that each individual will be able to free his or her own mind from political manipulation. The United States is experiencing increased political polarization. Millions of dollars per year are spent influencing the public, while professional political manipulators are becoming increasingly sophisticated . The media no longer feels responsible to support sound investigative journalism to inform the public what is truly happening underneath the rhetoric. As a matter of fact, they just repeat again and again accusations and propaganda generated by political figures. The media participate in the flow of propaganda through their unwitting use of “repetition”, one of the tools of propaganda.
Here are a few other common tools of propaganda that we may all recognize:
Demonizing the other side: This is probably the most common and destructive tool of propaganda for a number of reasons.
- Once the other side is demonized, a compromise becomes impossible. People become afraid to compromise with the “devil”. Good legislation depends on compromise. Demonizing inhibits legislators from working together to find solutions.
- It leads to extreme positions. If the other side is demonized or “evil”, then only by being on the extreme opposite side of the spectrum can one be “good”.
- Demonizing implies an ultimate good and evil. This invites people to adhere to their positions with religious fervor. Religion is the domain of absolute good and evil. Good politics is the art of compromise.
Using anger and fear is another important tool of propaganda: Many political messages are transmitted by creating fear or anger in the person receiving them. Strong anger and fear distorts clear thinking.
Many individuals are discouraged by the extreme partisanship of politics. Some have tuned out, avoiding political shows, conversations, or other political activity. PFA is an opportunity for these individuals to re-engage in politics in a manner that is essentially helpful and does not engage in the same old arguments and conflict. PFA is different in that instead of asking individuals to adopt a set of beliefs, we are asking people to learn the skills needed to free their own minds, then help others do the same.
What you can do: There are many ways to combat the influence of propaganda. The most important way that you can help is to take an honest inventory of your own political beliefs and discover the areas you fall victim to propaganda. Most of us are heavily influenced by exaggerated opinions and lies. It is very difficult not to be manipulated by the experts who make their life’s work the “art” of political manipulation. Take the questionnaire on this site entitled, “Are you a victim of political propaganda?” It is a good place to start.
Once you feel that you have an understanding of propaganda and have developed some immunity to the propaganda from the right or left, then it’s helpful to talk to others about propaganda and educate them on some of the techniques of propaganda. This can lead to some interesting conversations. You can also teach your children about propaganda techniques.
Propaganda Free America (PFA) would like to invite all individuals to work on this problem no matter where one lies on the political spectrum. PFA is a non-partisan organization. We are concerned with educating the public about the tools of propaganda. It is not our goal to support or fight any party, individuals, or part of the political spectrum. We believe that it is OK to be on the left or right and that people will tend to gravitate toward one side of the political spectrum or the other. We do believe that distortions and untruths put out by any political entity is not in the interests of democracy. We will never have the resources to fight all the specific examples of propaganda. However, we do believe that there is hope each individual can immunize themselves from the destructive influence of propaganda by being aware of how propaganda is delivered.
Email me at jimpiekarski@propfreeamerica.org if you would like to contact me or if you would like to publish a piece on the website.
Jim Piekarski lives in Carpinteria, CA and works in a non-profit in Santa Barbara, CA., Phoenix of Santa Barbara. “I created this site to help fight propaganda from the Left and Right through establishing a political dialogue that appeals to those who are tired of the rancor of partisanship. I feel that many people have strong feelings that what is happening in American politics is unhealthy. However, it is important to find a way to translate these feelings into words and give ourselves a voice. The media and the major political parties are not going to do this for us. They have a different agenda. Hopefully this site will contribute to a grassroots movement to articulate some of these views. ”
My new book is coming out on September 14, 2012. You can also check out my other website at www.masteringyouremotions.net.
I could not agree with you more. The teaching of Media Literacy in the schools is another important vehicle to reach young citizens early on so they understand how they are being manipulated for political reasons as well as to become “good consumers”. There is also a great show on public radio called Counter-spin that looks at distortions and lack of investigative journalism in the mainstream media every week.
I believe that to be an ethical and professional journalist, the goal should be to objectively provide information so that people can make up their own minds about issues. Its difficult to be objective if someone is unaware of their own biases, so I think their is a need to participate in some process of reflection and honest soul-searching to approach objectivity in Journalism. But ultimately, it will be the culture of the news organization that will either promote objectivity in their reporters or promote some other agenda.
So beyond reporting, we also must look at who owns the media and how there is less and less real choice when seeking media outlets. Laws have been changed so that, in your community, the same person or corporation can own several radio and television stations, newspapers, and other media outlets. There used to be stricter limits about media ownership within a community but media lobbyists have worked to erode these protections.
And it seems like at this time these media monopolies work hard to portray complex issues in black and white terms, purposely injecting emotionally activating language into their stories to increase people’s arousal levels, then pointing them in the direction of the individual or group they should hold accountable for their emotional reactions, and towards whom they should direct their anger (or hate in many instances).
I see the internet as an evolving tool that empowers the average individual to rival the mainstream media outlets and level the playing field somewhat. For this reason people need to be diligent in understanding proposed legislation that may work to restrict internet access. Most recently this has given rise to the Net Neutrality movement in response to proposed restrictive internet legislation.
Jim. I agree with you 100% .I will pass this on.
You did a great job developing this site. All Republicans and Democrats should read your article. I have been a voting Republican for the past 50 years but I am very disturbed by the negative and in my opinion unAmerican politicting of three of the candidates(excluding Paul). I am thinking of changing my registration fo Independant. DWJ
great article.http://www.jogosdobackyardigans.com