Propaganda is iniquitous. These days, it’s coming from a multitude of sides. In the broadest sense there are two main streams of propaganda: The radical, extreme left-wing and hardline right-wing. The far left-wing is gaining massive ground as it spews out propaganda. There’s not much fight back from the conservative or right-wing side but early signs show that it is coming.
What is propaganda?
Let’s look at a simple definition. Britannica defines propaganda in this way:
propaganda, dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion. It is often conveyed through mass media.
Behind propaganda is someone who is trying to sway your viewpoint, beliefs, and views with their slanted and even untruthful opinions.
How has propaganda influenced your personal views?
Today there is so much propaganda, and in many countries, the politicians, many of whom are criminals, try to gain the upper hand.
People swallow their propaganda, and soon it becomes their way of thinking.
I’m not going to touch on specific instances of propaganda. I would just say that you need to, or perhaps you’d like to, look at some of the viewpoints that have gained ground at present, and try to see where they are coming from.
Use your critical faculty and logic to determine whether there is any truth in what these propagandists are spouting out.
Propaganda is insidious. It’s interesting how propaganda weaves its way into people’s brains. It becomes fixed inside their heads ?and determines their personal viewpoint.
It’s actually laughable how people can be duped like this.
If you go back into the past, and I’m not going to mention any countries, people were brainwashed by politicians with frightening consequences.
Now what’s this all got to do with business writing?
You need to carefully navigate through the danger zones of propaganda. Otherwise you can land yourself in an awful lot of trouble. Some might say stick to the middle ground of reasonableness and fairness, or even neutrality, but even this approach can be disastrous.
If you need help with your business writing, and a clear approach to navigating propaganda, then send me an email.
