Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion RANDAL MARLIN
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SECOND EDITION Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion RANDAL MARLIN broadview press © ioi? Randal Marlin All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, with- out prior written consent of the publisher—or in the case of photocopying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), One Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1E5—is an infringement of the copyright law. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION Marlin, Randal, 1938- author, writer of preface Propaganda and the ethics of persuasion / Randal Marlin,—Second edition. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-55481-091-8 (pbk.) To my wife Elaine, for so much help i. Propaganda, i. Persuasion (Psychology). 3, Propaganda—Canada. I. Title. in so many ways, over so many years 3. Business ethics. I. Title, II. Series: Broadview guides to business and professional ethics HMH3I.M37 1013 303,3 75 C2.OI3-9O567O-X BROADVIEW PRESS is an independent, international publishing house, incorporated in 1985. We welcome comments and suggestions regarding any aspect of our publications—please feel free to contact us at the addresses below or at [email protected]. NORTH AMERICA ziiS Kenmore Ave. Post Office Box 12.43 Buffalo, New York, USA 142,07 Peterborough, Ontario TEL: (705) 743-8990 Canada K9J7H5 FAX: (70$) 743-83S3 [email protected] UK, EUROPE, CENTRAL ASIA, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA, INDIA, AND SOUTHEAST ASIA Eurospan Group, 3 Henrietta St., London WCzE 8LU, United Kingdom TEL: 44 (o) 1767 604972. FAX: 44 (o) 1767 601640 [email protected] AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND NewSouth Books c/o TL Distribution, 15-13 Helles Ave., Moorebank, NSW, Australia 2,170 TEL: (01) 8778 9999 FAX: (02.) 8778 9944 [email protected] www.broadviewpress.com Broadview Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. Edited by Betsy Struthers Typesetting by Em Dash Design This book is printed on paper MIX containing 100% post-consumer fibre. Papeaperr frotm responsibllelble sourceBO s FSC*COQ4071 Printed in Canada Jacques Ellul frightening notion that technology has developed a pattern of "self-augmentation" (auto-croissance), which continues whether this growth benefits society or not. Ellul There is probably no other thinker who has thought as deeply about propaganda in is not concerned with science fiction but is looking at social realities, recognizing that all its dimensions and ramifications as Jacques Ellul. What sets him apart from other scientists and technicians have livelihoods to make and noting ordinary human pro- analysts is his rare if not unique combination of expertise in history, sociology, law, pensities, such as the desire to have influence and to turn a profit. His description of and political science, along with careful study of biblical and Marxist writings. He the scientist's dilemma in wanting to be cautious before allowing a new discovery to lived through some of the century's most pervasive propaganda periods, from the call be marketed, yet not wanting to thwart the companies funding his or her research, has to arms from Spain in the late 19305, to the phoney war, the years of Nazi occupation, contemporary relevance. The case of Dr. Nancy Olivier! in Toronto is a highly publi- the rise of liberation movements, and the Cold War. At the end of World War II, he cized example of a researcher refusing to be silent about possible dangers relating to had a brief experience as a holder of political power in the Bordeaux city administra- a particular drug use. When, in 1998, her research found unexpected risks associated tion. He came to have a profound distrust for the notion that political solutions can with a drug manufactured by her corporate sponsor, Apotex, Inc., the company threat- be found for human problems and wrote The Political Illusion*9 as a testament to the ened her with legal action should she disclose the risks to patients at the Hospital constraints he saw likely to confront an idealized approach to world betterment. His for Sick Children or publish her findings. The Canadian Association of University study of propaganda, Propaganda, translated as Propaganda, appeared originally in Teachers came to her defence, and in October xooi a Committee of Inquiry issued 1962, the year when French rule in Algeria ended. He wrote a special study of FLN a report on the case, warning that tougher measures were needed to protect patients' (front de Liberation Nationale) propaganda intended for a second edition of his book, rights and to ensure that clinical drug trials were free from the influence of drug but it never appeared in that form.50 manufacturers.52 Some have viewed Ellul as a Calvinist and a pessimist, but his works belie any What Ellul writes about technique is fundamentally connected to his thoughts attempt to categorize him as a fatalist. From printed interviews and by reading widely about propaganda: among his writings, it becomes clear that he is far from adopting a position of hope- lessness concerning political involvement. He does believe that human nature is thor- Technique has become autonomous; it has fashioned an omnivorous world which oughly flawed and that it is a pervasive human characteristic to be swayed by illusions. obeys its own laws and which has renounced tradition. Technique no longer rests on Opportunists can exploit this tendency; others may be as much dupes as dupers. tradition, but rather on previous technical procedures; and its evolution is too rapid, Ellul's message is not to remove oneself from political action and to "cultivate one's too upsetting, to integrate the older traditions.53 garden." It is, rather, to free oneself of illusions. These may be packaged by an official propaganda arm of a state, or of some movement, or by commercial interests. In every In other words, propaganda is itself a technique, resulting partly from the application case the illusions challenge an individual's search for, and affirmation of, his or her of the social sciences, including psychology, to technology. It is a technique used to unique identity. promote acceptance of other techniques. Viewing the technological system as a whole, Ellul's studies of the history of institutions gave him an extraordinarily rich back- we see that maximal efficiency—defined, for example, as maximal return on invest- ground for the understanding of today's power structures." When he writes about ment over a given period of time—may no longer involve adapting products to human technological society, he does so from a perspective incorporating many social changes wants, practices, and capacities. It may instead require adaptation of human beings to based on numerous scientific and technological advances over three millennia. For the requirements of the system. If the reader is involved with an institution of any size, instance, his study of recruitment by the French Army in the sixteenth and seven- he or she may be familiar with the scenario wherein perfectly workable routines, which teenth centuries gives him insights into the techniques of persuasion or control on have performed satisfactorily, are replaced by a new system that appears to accomplish matters of life-and-death significance. the same tasks more efficiently, but does not. Certain important things are lost in the With that background, Ellul sounds the alarm against one of the most threaten- process, such as continuity and the ability to make adequate comparisons with past ing illusions he sees facing the world since the 19505: the faith that human ingenuity, practice. Another common result is that the range of discretion is reduced, and equi- in the form of technology, is going to solve all our problems. This faith allows that table concerns are de-emphasized in favour of mechanistically arrived-at results. For new gadgetry may create problems, but these can be solved by more refined inven- instance, in the health care profession, more and more reliance is being placed on gad- tions. Against this faith and ahead of his time, Ellul warns in The Technological Society getry and monitoring rather than on human contact between patient and caregiver. (1964) that human beings are losing their control over technology. He presents the But if the frenetic pace of modern life is too upsetting to some individuals, the system 2.1 PROPAGANDA AND THE ETHICS OF PERSUASION CHAPTER I: WHY STUDY PROPAGANDA! 2-3 itself does not have to slow down. What we see is the development and marketing of locally." In order to act effectively, people must understand the influences operating mood-enhancing drugs to enable people to cope. As Ellul points out, one branch of on their consciousnesses, influences often generated from sources that seek to benefit technology makes up for deficiencies in another, but the technological system as a their own, private interests, which often have little to do with the public good. One whole keeps growing. might be tempted to dernonize external forces, but Ellul focuses not just on the pur- Propaganda plays a key role in all of this. At each stage various interests work to veyors of propaganda but on the willingness of the population generally to accept it. minimize the prospective harms and inconveniences and to maximize prospective Ellul sees the modern individual as hungry for a sense of meaning for his or her benefits appearing in the assessment of some new technique. Each specialized contri- existence. The decline of church, village, and family influences has tended to atomize bution to the technological system is promoted in connection with the narrow con- human existence, cutting people off from bonds that automatically provided a sense tribution it can make, without any overall assessment of where the system as a whole of identity.