Whether watching television, reading the newspaper, or simply conversing with a friend on a topic along the lines of religion, politics, or philosophy, people are constantly bombarded with propaganda. An objection to the above statement is likely, given the modern, modified view of the term propaganda. Propaganda has roots the word propagate, which means to multiply, or spread. Propaganda, in turn, is the spreading, or propagation, of ideas, whether they are true or false. What is important to understand here is that propaganda was not always viewed as a means of spreading false beliefs. In fact, Pope Gregory XV, in 1718, formed the congregation of propaganda, which became the partition of the Catholic Church responsible for spreading Catholicism (Propaganda, Wikipedia). This short position paper will focus on the ethics of propaganda, its effectiveness, and its significance in our lives.
Because (by definition) propaganda is simply the spreading of ideas meant to influence opinion, it is by no means “bad”, or unethical. I base this on the fact that it is generally accepted for people to express views. In fact, even the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms, which is a direct representation of the moral values and beliefs of the public, includes the freedoms of speech and opinion. If an idea is expressed by a person who genuinely believes in it, the act of doing so is not unethical. However, ideas can and often are, spread with an intention to deceive. In such a case, propaganda is, in my opinion, unethical. In the end, the criterion for determining the morality of spreading beliefs is the intention of the propagator, to deceive.
In the information age, institutions of prorogation, whether they be individuals or groups of individuals, rely on a method of propagation which is subject to much controversy- Subliminal Advertising. Subliminal advertising, or subliminal propaganda, aims to influence the most vulnerable part of the mind- the subconscious. Through the use of subliminal messages and imagery, it is possible to bypass a person’s critical thinking region (his conscious mind), and embed ideas into the vulnerable, submissive part of the mind. I believe that whenever people impulsively and irrationally believe in things which they themselves are unable to provide proof for, they have been subjected to Subliminal Propaganda. Subliminal Propaganda is outright unethical; weather the information conveyed through it is true, false, or a mix of the two. My reasoning is as follows- If a person believes in something that he/she cannot explain, then he/she does not REALLY believe it on a conscious level. Respectively, If a person “believes” something that he/she does not REALLY believe in, he/she has been deceived. Every person has the ability to evaluate information, and to choose what to believe in, based on his/her OWN logic and understanding. The neutralization of this ability should never be considered just. It is a human right to be given the opportunity to discern fact from fiction before believing in one or the other.
The prime problem with subconscious propaganda is that it aims to rob people of their choice, or conscious decision making. Instead, it focuses on creating a stimulus response in an individual or group. While some forms of propaganda, including ideological indoctrination, simply appeal to a person’s reason (leaving the person to decide what to believe in), creating a stimulus response in people can cause them to act in ways which their cognitive level of thought would not otherwise allow. Such responses are not decisions, they are automatic. While some of these stimulus responses are innate, such as running in the face of danger, Ivan Pavlov, a Russian scientist, proved that they can also be artificially created. These created responses are called Conditioned Reflexes. As an example of an innate stimulus response, dogs salivate in the prescience of food, as saliva helps the initial digestion and break down of food. Artificially creating responses in animals (including humans) is called conditioning. After his famous experiment involving dogs, food, and a bell, Ivan Pavlov proved that dogs can also be taught to salivate at the sound of a bell. For an amount of time, the dogs would be fed after the ringing of a bell. After a period of time the animals began to associate the sound of the bell to food, and began to salivate at the prescience of the sound. Pavlov had successfully created a conditioned reflex (Pavlov’s Dog). In an alarmingly similar fashion, humans, too, can be “conditioned”. In humans, this is sometimes used in hypnosis, or in the treatment of phobias. When a hypnotist snaps his fingers (stimulus), the volunteers start to strip (response), without their own consent. An example more in line with our daily lives would be the association of an emotion (hunger, pride, fear etc.) to a stimulus (MacDonald’s, a national flag/anthem, Muslim terrorists etc.)
Now, why is deception even generally frowned upon? The idea that it is unethical, or sinful to deceive, is also the result of propaganda. The belief was, after all, propagated by religion. Interestingly, I cannot find a concrete reason to why the act of deceiving is ALWAYS bad. The fact that I myself cannot understand why it is that I believe in such a virtue, means I have been subjected to subliminal propaganda. In the same way that Ivan Pavlov created a Conditioned Reflex in dogs by training them to associate the sound of a bell to food, in turn making them salivate, I myself have been subliminally taught, from a young age (when my subconscious mind was more prone to propagation), to associate deception, or lies, to evil, or the devil. This potentially false association, in turn, gives rise to negative emotions, which I have also simply been conditioned to believe. Because my very views of what is or is not ethical are the result of propaganda, I cannot conclude that propaganda is either ethical or not.
-Hayk Amirbekyan
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