1. Preliminary remarks
Someone wages war on others by means of words; someone
seeks adversely to affect the conditions of other peoples’ lives, to obtain
power over them, to rob them of their human dignity or, in the extreme case, of
their physical existence, using among other means words, statements, texts. –
81
2. Some linguistic considerations
3. Propaganda and censorship (1914-1933)
3.1 A case study of a piece of propaganda of the Allies
3.2 Propaganda strategies of the allies
The methods and ingredients of British propaganda in the
First World War are generally reduced to eight basic features:
1. Stereotypes (“bull-necked Prussian officer”)
2. names with negative connotations (“huns”)
3. selection and suppression of facts, often with
palliative terms (retreats are called “straightening the front”)
4. reports of cruelty (“Belgian nuns violated”, “hands of
children cut off”)
5. slogans (“a war to end all wars”)
6. one-sided reporting (small victories are exaggerated,
large defeats are glossed over)
7. unmistakably negative characterization of the enemy
(“German militarists)
8. the so-called “bandwagon effect” (“every patriot joins
up”)
He (Hitler) rebuked the Germans for not having understood
the value of propaganda as a terrible psychological weapon; all statements
issued by the government and the press, both internal and external in nature
must be subjective and one-sided on all questions, they must appeal to the
primitive feelings of the masses and they must endlessly repeat the same few
points. – 87
4. Glimpses on the present-day situation
4.1 A Bavarian example
5. Conclusion
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