Propaganda

I have always thought of "propaganda" as something a lot more subtle, or rather, I also thought of it as a subtle domestic phenomenon as well as something employed by many, many organizations throughout centuries. I mean, fascist and totalitarian communist propagandas are certainly the most blatant forms of propaganda but I grew up noticing almost idol-worship of American ideals in advertizing, film, television, my education--practically everywhere. I am not saying that the US's propaganda machine is exactly like facist propaganda but I find it more subtle and perhaps even more effective because of that. The difference is that as a part of the US doctrine of individuality, lip service is paid to free speech. I say "lip service" because if there was any real threat to free market capitalism, it would be brutally suppressed. Not only would it be suppressed, but more importantly, it would be silenced.

As I was reading this article, I also picked up the new edition of Adbusters, the magazine harshly critical of consumer culture. One of the articles criticized Gap's "T-Shirt Shop" campaign that essentially says that if you wear these basic tee-shirts, you assert your individuality. The author of the article, Nathaniel Mahlberg, rants over the craziness of the idea that the ads sell. Wear the same basic clothes: be your individual self. However, I remember when I first saw these ads I was at first struck by their perverseness but then I thought about how I like to do portraits: I tell my subjects to wear their simplest clothes. That way, the viewer is drawn more to their faces. I decided to read the ad campaign like that. In my mind I could not be bothered by a pervasive, permeating image. I needed to make it fit with my worldview so that I could calmly ignore it as I walk down the streets of New York.

It's funny, with Gap--even though I think their (RED) campaign is cute, I refuse to buy any of the (RED) products because I feel like they are selling the idea that if you wear a certain item of clothes, you will be more virtuous and do not have to worry about how the actual capitalist system is furthering the spread of AIDS.

I objected to Jaques Ellul's ignoring American national myths when he listed Nazi and Communist ones. I would add, the myth of the Individual, the American Dream, and again, they myth of race to Ellul's list.

I see the systems of the free market, namely products and entertainment, as functioning similar ways as a Ministry of Propaganda would in a more totalitarian society. However, I must say that I would rather live in a society like ours than a totaliarian one in which I do not have the option to criticize it. I just wish the Jaques Ellul made use of this freedom in Propaganda.