Propaganda is defined as information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. When I think of propaganda I think of my time in the Army. The first propaganda film I saw was in basic training, called, “The Red Menace,” which detailed the brutality of the Soviet Army as a fighting force. (This is not the film from 1949 starring Robert Rockwell.) My second experience with propaganda was toward the end of my tour in West Germany. I was voluntold to paint the mess hall while my company was training in Hohensfel—I did not have enough time left in country to go, and they had to find something for me and the other short-timers to do. After the cooks had gone home, and the mess hall was closed at night the four of us would go to the mess hall and paint. The only three radio stations we could pick up were AFRN (Armed Forces Radio Network), VOA (Voice of America) and one station whose name escapes me, but it was the Soviet version of VOA.
AFN would go off the air around midnight, and we still had four hours left to work at that point, VOA would be broadcasting news that while accurate was clearly propaganda, which left us with the Soviet radio station—they played current western rock music, interspersed with laughable propaganda. I do not recall the specific stories, but they would take what was then a current event, and twist it with a decided anti-American slant, or a pro-communist slant. We would often make up our own propaganda while painting to make fun of this.
Post Army, I went to college, and while pursuing my Masters I took a course on visual communications. The two things I remember about that course were the unreadable textbook, and the section we did on effective use of propaganda—in which we touched upon Nazi Germany’s use of film in getting the party message out. While taking this course I was once again reminded of the propaganda I heard while stationed in Germany.
Controlling information is every totalitarian dictator’s wet dream. If information can be controlled, then the population can be controlled. Which is why a news outlet like Fox is so troubling. It is one thing to have slanted news coverage, it is quite another for a news organization to become the propaganda arm of a major political party.
What is even more troubling is when the president of the United States has a propaganda film made specifically to show a totalitarian dictator during a summit meeting. Now that I am older than I was when I was that young private in the Army, I can say I have seen a lot of propaganda films. I have seen good ones, and laughable ones. The one that the current White House resident showed Kim Jong Un (noted despot), looks like it was made by high school students. Actually, I am pretty sure high school students could do a better job.
The first time I saw this video, I thought to myself that it could not possibly be real. Sadly, it is, and was released on the official White House Facebook page, and was not only shown to a North Korean dictator, but to the world press. What is most frightening is how it portrays Trump and Kim Jong Un as heroes, when they are anything but.
This is a very dangerous road we are on right now. We must do everything we can to stop this grifter and his dictatorial fantasies. He is nothing but a shitty person, and is going to leave a permanent stain our history.
The video is below—watch it if you can stomach it.