Psychological WarfareLinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
Psychological Warfare
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Psychological warfare
=Definition of the Enemy.= Another significant connection between
politics and propaganda is found in definition of _the nature of the
enemy_. For combat operations, it is easy (most of the time) to tell who
the enemy is; he is the man with the other uniform, the foreign
language, the funny color or physique. For psychological operations, it
is not that easy. The sound psychological warfare operator will try to
get enemy troops to believing that the enemy is not themselves but
somebody else--the King, the Führer, the élite troops, the capitalists.
He creates a situation in which he can say, "We're not fighting _you_."
(This should not be said too soon after extensive use of bombs or
mortars.) "We are fighting the So-and-so's who are misleading you." Some
of the handsomest propaganda of World War II was produced by the Soviet
experts along this line. Before the War was over, Soviet propaganda
created a whole gallery of heel-clicking reactionary German generals _on
the Russian side_, and made out that the unprofessional guttersnipe
Hitler was ruining the wonderful German Army in amateurish campaigns.
Joseph Stalin's ringing words, "The German State and the German _Volk_
remain!" gave the Russians a propaganda loophole by which they implied
that Germany was not the enemy--no, not Germany! just the Nazis. This
was superb psychological warfare, since the Russians had already built
up the propaganda thesis that the common people (workers and peasants)
were automatically--by virtue of their class loyalty--on the side of the
workers' country, Russia. That left very few Germans on the other side.
For psychological warfare purposes, it is useful to define the enemy as:
(1) the ruler;
(2) or the ruling group;
(3) or unspecified manipulators;
(4) or any definite minority.
It is thoroughly unsound to define the enemy too widely. On the other
hand, too narrow a definition will leave the enemy the opening for a
peace offensive if the ruler dies, or if the ruling group changes part
of its composition. It was fear of a peace move by the German generals,
plus the desire to maintain the precarious anti-German unity of the
occupied countries, which led the United States and Britain to adopt the
policy of defining the German Reich rather than Naziism as the enemy. In
the instance of Japan, we defined the enemy as the militarists and
"Fascists," with the capitalists a poor second, and left the Emperor and
people with whom to make peace.
If the psychological warfare campaign is operated for a definite
political purpose, it is possible for politics to be an aid rather than
a limitation. The operator can describe his own political system in its
most radiant light. He can say complimentary things about the enemy
leaders or groups who might come over (though he should avoid giving
them the kiss of death which the Nazis gave certain prominent American
isolationists, by praising them too much). He can promise his own brand
of Utopia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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