Psychological WarfareLinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
Psychological Warfare
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Psychological warfare
Furthermore, with the perfect speaker of the enemy language there is
always the question, "What is that guy doing over there?" A traitor is
less appealing than an open enemy spokesman; a traitor has to be
sensationally good in order to get across at all. Lord Haw Haw was one
of a kind, but he seems to have had genuine theatrical talent along with
a crazy zeal which persuaded his hearers that though he was on the wrong
side, he did believe his own line. The perfect speaker, whether enemy
renegade or friendly linguist, has an inglorious role at the beginning
of war, when enemy morale is high and the enemy population has not had
time to think over the problem of changing sides. Only toward the end of
the war, or in any morale downgrade, the man who says, "Come on over!
See? I'm here. It's fine," has a chance of being believed.
The propaganda administrator must use his personnel thoughtfully. It is
a waste of talent and--in advance field units, of life as well--to
impose tasks which operatives cannot handle. An American _nisei_ from
California should not be asked to talk slangy _Edokko_ Japanese; a
soldier detailed to psychological warfare, because of some special
linguistic qualification, should not be considered a great journalist,
radio commentator, or actor just because he speaks the right language.
If he is given a microphone, and the feeling of having an audience (one
that cannot write adverse fan mail), it will be easy for the average man
to overestimate the effect of his own talk. The intelligent officer
tries to see his staff as the enemy would see them; he keeps their
limitations in mind. If they speak the enemy language perfectly, they
fall under suspicion as traitors; if they speak it poorly, they may
sound like bunglers or jackasses. Nevertheless, propaganda must come
from men and through words written by men, and the flavor must be
fitted to the situation. Advance planning should therefore consider the
available personnel as an actual factor in estimating the situation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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