Propaganda works. So why aren't we using it?
Sometimes 'stooping to their level' is the best way to fight.
It's clear are in an undeclared war with the forces of anti-democracy., so why are we acting like it's a polite disagreement, or worse, a moral superiority beauty pageant? That's a formula for losing. Democracy’s destroyers are brings all their propaganda weapons to bear because they know that simple, emotional appeals work wonderfully on the less thoughtful and politically engaged. Their approach is cynical, but effective. Yet many of us insist on "going high."
Are we high?
The proud history of propaganda
The last time that democracy was so endangered, pro-democracy Americans, and especially Britons didn't scruple to use the techniques of mass propaganda to undermine the enemy. Today we focus on the hackneyed, often racist imagery of some of those posters, songs and slogans while ignoring the fine and effective work by dedicated artists like Ben Shahn whose poster, "This is Nazi Brutality" exposed the Third Reich's policy of casual mass murder in occupied Europe.
The partisans of occupied Europe knew the value of simple propaganda messages too. That's why the French Resistance painted the double-barred "Cross of Lorraine" on public buildings every chance they got, even though they risked arrest, torture and execution if caught.
That's why the anti-Fascist partisans of Italy dragged antique hand-set printing rigs out of dusty attics and again, risked arrest, torture and execution to create and distribute partisan newsletters.
Propaganda doesn’t have to mean lies
When Russian trolls or American true believers post lies in comments sections or social media posts, that’s lying propaganda. When Josef Goebbels’ ministry announced in September 1939 radio broadcasts that the Poles had invaded Germany, that was lying propaganda. When the BBC reported on the Third Reich’s Sonderabteilung executioners slaughtering civilians in occupied Eastern Europe, and when artist, Ben Shahn gave form and color to that news in a powerful poster, that was truthful propaganda.
Creating truthful propaganda to combat totalitarian lies is not just an ethical act, it’s a moral obligation. When you share the simple, emotionally compelling truths that dictators want to suppress, you diminish their most essential power: the ability to control reality. That’s why resistance partisans risked life itself to get their messages in front of ordinary people as directly and often as they could.
Mass information doesn't just happen. It's a commitment, a job and often a risk. But people with far fewer resources than we have, did it because they knew it mattered.
So let's do it.