Government Censorship Whacked, Propaganda Exposed

Here is a good lead editorial from the Orange County Register on the Solicitor General's decision a few days ago not to defend the Istook Amendment in court. The Amendement would have denied funding to any transit authority that accepted advertisments that question the federal government's wayward, supraconstitutional, and draconian War on Drugs.

That the federal government would act as a censor is unsurprising. Throughout human history, governments have sought to supress expression of individuals and those entities that challenge the status quo. What is more notable are the recent developments surrounding the White House's direct payment to journalists for the purposes of advancing the No Child Left Behind Act -- and the use of "video news releases" by the Office of National Drug Conrol Policy and the Deaprtment of Health and Human Services.

The mavens of message management in the Beltway seem to have absorbed the following lessons from Joseph Goebbels well:

Propaganda is a means to an end. Its purpose is to lead the people to an understanding that will allow them to willingly and without internal resistance devote themselves to the tasks and goals of a superior leadership. If propaganda is to succeed, it must know what it wants. It must keep a clear and firm goal in mind, and seek the appropriate means and methods to reach that goal. Propaganda as such is neither good nor evil. Its moral value is determined by the goals it seeks....

Propaganda must be creative. It is by no means a matter for the bureaucracy or official administration, but rather it is a matter of productive fantasy. The genuine propagandist must be a true artist. He must be a master of the popular soul, using it as an instrument to express the majesty of a genuine political will....

The effective propagandist must be a master of the art of speech, of writing, of journalism, of the poster, and of the leaflet. He must have the gift to use the major methods of influencing public opinion such as the press, film, and radio to serve his ideas and goals, above all in an age of advancing technology....

Propaganda is therefore a necessary life function of the modern state. Without it, seeking great goals is simply impossible in this century of the masses. It stands at the beginning of practical political activity in every area of public life. It is its important and necessary prerequisite.

The full address of Herr Goebbels at the 1934 Nuremburg rally may be found here.