Institutional Delusions and Social Distress as Part of Political Propaganda Today: Why Obama`s H

Discussing propaganda study is a challengeable academic task which demands historical knowledge, willingness to interpret propaganda symbolism and comprehension the media engagement towards the subject. Conceptual sensitivity regarding institutional and public audience reactions related to the topic is also recommendable during the observation process.

Many researchers attempt to design a persistent structure of analysing the propaganda discipline and its sophisticated essence by examining its short-term aspects during propaganda campaigns. This text will focus on propaganda by analysing its long-term impacts in social, media and democratic spheres.

The paper will attentively observe propaganda as a valuable provider of information concerning democratic flows, as a deliberative tool of citizenship in the current digital age and as a strategy of global marketing progress through the media support. The case study of Barak Obama presidency and Ferguson protests in this work will attempt to describe propaganda as a gainful technic in contemporary politics which is achieved by the creation of delusions in relation to the institutional fulfilment of civil electoral expectations.

Classical Understanding of Propaganda

Propaganda does not simply mean a strategic attitude which states and organizations utilize so to sustain their power and continuity over society. It provides valuable information to researchers and citizens regarding institutional and public manners of interconnection.

Initially, there are no precise scientific neither juridical sources affiliated to propaganda but only historical practices of it. The method of defining the term is tightly related to its theoretical understanding. Public positive or negative reactions towards the utility of propaganda also represent significant part while indicating its features. However, the most demanding propaganda aspect of all, refers to emanation statements inspired by each information, message or story that society does not like (Schumpeter in O`Shaughnessy; 2004).

In its common sense, propaganda is frequently associated with the idea of overabundance, abuse and extreme rhetorical expressions. The concept affects antithetical elements which are established mainly by emotional and not rational convictions. The definition implements verbal, written and digital communication practices to spread an idea or an ideology that is destined to attend the self-interest of the person or group of people who perform the communicating.

Historically, propaganda becomes more favoured by some and more declined by others. The essence is collated with education since it involves an objective search for truth although the propaganda teaches individuals what to think whereas education coaches them how to think. Similarly, war and revolutionary propaganda should be studied not as exclusive factors for propaganda but rather as certain variations of it.

Visual Propaganda in Digital Space

Contemporary propaganda contains a deliberative character which points out the significance of certain facts and spotlights the importance of others (i.e. writing about political leaders and publishing comments about them). Due to this specificity, the term is frequently related to media and journalism.

The rapid development and vast transmission of information and communication technologies during the late 20th century period is recognized by many researchers (Rieger et al.; 2013) as the most prominent in propaganda`s evolution. One reason for establishing such statement is Internet which not only made contribution to all media techniques used until then but also enabled propagators to spread their messages and ideas to global audience by neglecting national borders and governmental control.

Moreover, through the intensive use of Web 2.0 applications in network space nowadays (e.g. fan-sites and online discussion groups), citizens got the opportunity to become propagators themselves. Universal websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Wikipedia are already a recognizable part of global mass media. This facet increased the activity of extremist propaganda which still remains unrecognizable by the majority of public audience.

Nevertheless, visual propaganda which is presently expanded by an intensive production of videos, music, texts and pictures in digital world does not require a sophisticated knowledge concerning multimedia and story creation. An example for this particularity can be given with the numerous video uploads in YouTube which are made mainly by mobile devices and which appear to be one of the basic information sources for both digital and mainstream media while making news (e.g. CNN and Al-jazeera).

Propaganda as Part of the Global Marketing Improvement

Improvements in communication sphere did not leave the international political matters unaffected. Since the last decades, the general world requirement for balance between domestic and global affairs became managed by the so-called propaganda model which refers to the act of provision and discussion of important information concerning democratic matters and citizens` participation which occurs in a number of Web places and forums (Chomsky & Herman 1988: 13).

With the end of Cold War, capitalism achieved victorious gain over world nations. This event gave a great power to market ideas and privatization interests among the elites. Business trading created an impression of more open-handed than democratic and nonmarket mechanisms which seriously damaged the prestige of political leaders. As a result, all side-effects which emerged, during the passing years of economic transition in many countries, were categorised as political and not as marketing failure by certain global media and journalistic agencies (e.g. The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post).

Furthermore, the growing corporative influence on institutional level truly injured the public sphere. The steady advance of cultural development in the name of trading and advertising progress provoked replacement of the traditional civil society by a depoliticized consumer one. These modern consumption and living standards based on different demographic and taste preferences can be well exemplified in the late history by the emergence of virtual communities in the United States (U.S.) which, even today, are at repetitive odds with the seeking for democratic order physical groups. In this case, as we will discover below in the text, the advertising operates more as an effective political propaganda mechanism instead simply to facilitate the provision of business supplies.

Barak Obama and the Raise of Hope into Afro-American Society

Year 2008 was one of the most memorable in American history due to several reasons: the presidential elections, Barack Obama`s impressive image among public and his political slogan of Hope. The candidate, who has a different geographic and cultural background in comparison many of his governmental colleagues, Pacific border in Hawai`i, claimed to be the new symbol of black and white biracial heritage and current ethnical unity in the U.S.

Through his speeches which were generally focused on topics of race and ethnical equality, Obama was often compared with Martin Luther King Jr.`s and his ‘’I Have A Dream’’ political address which was delivered to the American audience in 1963 (Chang; 2010).

Barak Obama`s appearance on national governmental stage was proclaimed by the media sphere as an event which no person has never been witnessing before. His presence into the state affairs and proclamations of multicultural tolerance and minority inclusion became a reborn metaphor for civil rights as central values for contemporary U.S. democracy and incorporation of more cultural merits into the globalized world.

However, Obama`s political propaganda brought him a complete success on presidential elections but the dreams of hope were left somewhere on the democratic road.

Institutional Hostility and Biracial Antagonism in Ferguson

Instead of further dialogue concerning civil equality and acceptance of multiculturalism, the events in Ferguson, a suburb in St. Louis County, Missouri, which occurred during the summer 2014, posed fierce discussions regarding the necessity of national mobilization against police violence and institutional racism in the U.S.. The death of Michael Brown, an 18 years old teenager, who was shot and killed in the area by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, and the followed non-standard prosecution, demonstrated the fact that certain social groups in the state are still more privileged than others (Buchanan et al.; 2014).

According to the official video records, before the shooting on 9 August, Michael Brown was stealing some cigarillos from Ferguson Market and Liquor store. After refusing to obey an order given by Officer Wilson to move to the sidewalk, Brown tried to escape from the place of evidence. In return, the police officer fired several shots which leaded to the teenager`s fatal end.

Number of witnesses reported seeing a strife between the suspect and the official. The medical examination verified that Officer Wilson had some physical injuries on his face after the incident. On 24 November, the grand jury which was consisted of nine white and three black members decided not to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson.

The prosecution itself was performed differently from the common in Missouri juridical process: grand jurors meetings continued not one but 25 days, 60 witnesses were called to provide pictures taken at the time of events, Officer Wilson testified for four hours, the County prosecutor did not make a recommended charge against the defendant, there were no hearings of police investigators and instead the grand jury`s activities to be kept in secret, all evidences and testimonies were made public after proclamation of the final juridical decision. The police officer reprieve by Ferguson authorities induced a massive wave of public fury. Soon after the decision was officialised, the demonstrations grew more intense and several administrative buildings were set on fire. Michael Brown`s death inspired weeks of protests and a response from the local police that included tear gas and rubber bullets.

Why Obama`s Hope Fell Down in front the U.S. Justice in Ferguson?

The intensive demonstrations against officials set the predominantly black community against mainly white police force in the suburb (i.e. in Ferguson Police Department 53 commissioned officers are white and only four are black). According to some academics, the occurrences in Missouri`s County are not inspired by black anger against police but by white hostility against public improvement (Anderson; 2014). American history still remembers similar events of such national and institutional manner (e.g. the Civil War, The Black Codes and The United States versus Cruikshank decision) after which the progress concerning civil rights and cultural equalities in the state was re-established. Why the hope for race tolerance never became a reality and why Obama`s optimism was let down by the U.S. penalty system?

Delusive Propaganda as a Guarantee for Effective Political Advertising

Explaining the reasons of emergence the present negative aspects in American society cannot be reached through the inception of a unilateral analytical perspective. From one side, the concept of equal society refers to the process of building a citizenship of autonomous individuals (Rosanvallon in Bhambra; 2014). As we noticed, this classical understanding of a well-fare state democracy based on social redistribution and importance of equality of opportunity is no longer functional towards the contemporary global requirements for marketing expansion. From other side, the idea of gender equality was never being favoured by the world colonializing states such as France, Great Britain and the United States. Theoretically, the historical achievements of these great powers demonstrate a restraint towards public aspects related to dispossession, appropriation and enslavement. Here, the enslavement of African populations during the past refers today to the creation of political and labour slavery analogy.

The contemporary economic changes required from the world most powerful democracies a solution towards the issue of inequality therefore the delusive propaganda became the most effective form of mass persuasion concerning cultural prejudices and racism (Jowett & O`Donnell 2012; 39). This current propaganda model can be defined also as lucrative since it’s both verbal and visual representations reflect on pre-existing struggles and events which still have social valuable significance (e.g. war, peace, human right, etc.).

What fall in Ferguson was not the citizens` hope for social improvement but the institutions, recognized in the face of Police and Judicial authorities, who remained unable to continue the propagandist goal related to civil persuasion and fulfilment the public electoral expectations.

Ultimate Propaganda and the Modern Society

From classical perceptions through digital visualization and political merchandising, the ultimate goal of propaganda is to influence civil behaviour and to manage public opinion since the audience constantly search for persuasion while expressing its individual and collective preferences (e.g. fighting for a cause, joining organizations, displaying symbols, voting, selecting entertainment and buying products).

The new mass communication technologies release access to information around the globe and encourage citizens` participation in democratic affairs but at the same time allow the corporate agencies to increase their authority over institutions that lead to suppression of data related to products in particular and public development in general.

Ferguson`s case indicates that propaganda may operates as an informative communication technic when ideas are shared or messages need to be provided (e.g. presidential elections) but the final goal is not to provide mutual understanding but rather to advertise the propagator`s own objectives. In return, the audience can believe the persuader` intentions and thus this to be manipulated but this process of interconnection will continue only until the collective social interests meet a positive reciprocity with national institutional.

References

Anderson, C. ‘’Ferguson isn`t about black rage against cops. It`s white rage against progress.’’, The Washington Post, August 2014, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ferguson-wasnt-black-rage-against-copsit-was-white-rage-against-progress/2014/08/29/3055e3f4-2d75-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html> (22.12.2014)

Bhambra, G. ‘’The Society of Equals (part two): Some Groups are more Equal the Other Groups’’, in TCS Website Reviews, November 2014, <http://theoryculturesociety.org/gurminder-bhambra-on-the-society-of-equals-part-two-some-groups-are-more-equal-than-other-groups/> (23.12.2014)

Buchanan, L., Fessenden, F., Lai, K.K. R., Park, H., Parlapiano, A., Tse, A., Watkins, D. & Yourish, K. ‘’What happened in Ferguson?’’, The New York Times, November 2014, <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html?_r=1> (19.12.2014)

Chang, J. ‘’Who We Be Preview: Post-Racial Or Post-Hope?:: Race In The Obama Era’’, Can`t Stop Won`t Stop, October 2010, <http://cantstopwontstop.com/reader/who-we-be-preview-post-racial-or-post-hope-race-in-the-obama-era/> (19.12.2014)

Chomsky. N. & Herman, S. E. (1988), Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. New York: Pantheon Books.

Jowett, S. G. & O`Donnell, V. (2012), Propaganda and Persuasion. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Lee, M. A. ‘’ The Analysis of Propaganda: A Clinical Summary’’, in American Journal of Sociology, Vol.51, No.2, (Sep., 1945): pp. 126- 135.

O`Shaughnessy, J. N. (2004), Politics and Propaganda: Weapons of Mass Seduction. UK: Manchester University Press.

Rieger, D. Frischlich, L. & Bente, G. (2013), Propaganda 2.0 Psychological Effects of Right-Wing and Islamic Extremist Internet Videos. Luxemburg: BKA Luchterhand Verlag.

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