Psychological WarfareLinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
Psychological Warfare
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Psychological warfare
In American practice, the forces which countered enemy propaganda were
those pertaining to troop information and education--morale or special
services. These did not concern themselves with propaganda to the
Germans and Japanese. In the German and Russian armies of World War II,
but not in the American, British, French or Japanese, there were
_political officers_ attached to the units under a variety of titles;
these often took charge of propaganda to the enemy (offensive) as well
as indoctrination of their own troops (defensive), but the unrelatedness
of these two functions let them split apart.
Even here, the parallel between combat operations and propaganda
operations breaks down. Rarely does it occur that there is a simple
juxtaposition of forces, thus:
_Enemy Propagandist_ ----> _Audience_ <---- _Own Propagandist_
(_Troops_)
The issue is more commonly one in which the propagandist on each side
attacks those troops which are retreating, cut off, suffering heavy
losses, politically disaffected, or otherwise psychologically promising
material for him. Of the factors which can affect troop or enemy morale,
the presence of friendly propaganda is a minor one. The result then
becomes complicated:
_Enemy Propagandist_ ----> _Exposed or Demoralized Units_
_Well Supplied and Well Informed Units_ <---- _Own Propagandist_
Troops who are starving or are subjected to inordinate losses will not
have their propaganda-resistance heightened by pep talks. A chopped-up
unit has no means of enjoying USO facilities.
Propaganda vulnerability depends most commonly on the objective
situation of the audience. If the objective situation is good or
neutral, one's own propaganda can supplement the good morale conditions,
but even here, it does not and should not meet enemy propaganda
frontally.
In so far as it can be tabulated, the visualizable propaganda situation
at any given time would be something like this.
----------------------
Own Propaganda | _Own Audience_ |<---- Friendly
To Enemy Audience | Actual Surroundings| Propaganda
\ ----------------------_ To Home Audience
\ |\
\ \
_\| \
---------------------
Enemy Propaganda ----> | _Enemy Audience_ | Enemy
To Enemy Audience |Actual Surroundings| Propaganda To
--------------------- One's Own Side
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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