Psychological WarfareLinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
Psychological Warfare
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Psychological warfare
[14] The late Huey Long is reported to have created a new word in the
language of rustic Louisiana, the word "damlyingnewspapers." By
instilling in his followers contempt for the "capitalist" press, he got
them to the point where they _disbelieved_ anything which they saw in
print, and _believed_ everything which "Ol' Huey, the Kingfish" himself
told them. This operation was technically competent, since one of the
most effective means of putting propaganda across is to draw alarmed
attention to unfriendly propaganda and then just "happening to mention"
the "truth" (that is, the promoted side). Long attributed to the
newspapers a large number of lies which they did not print, along with
the "lies" (which were in historical fact true) that they _did_ actually
print. Since most of his followers either boycotted the press or read it
in a hostile frame of mind, they never found out whether the newspapers
said what Huey said they said, or not. You can try this out on your
neighbors or friends by making up some idiotic "quotation" (such as,
"The Jewish _Vorwaerts_ says that pickled onions are a cause of
immorality" or "_Le Temps_ of Paris says that Alaska is preparing to
secede") and the listener will be so busy scoffing at _what_ the paper
allegedly said that he will take no time to find out whether the paper
_did_ say it or not. Such attributions occur in everyday life; the smart
propagandist attributes plenty of rich, ripe, silly quotations to his
opponent. How many people actually _know_ what the Communists have said
on any given topic? Or bother to check on the actual claims of the
Zionist organization? Or the statements of the Arabs in Palestine?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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