Propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.
That's basically what's going on now: Everything is propaganda.
Propaganda, to be effective, must be believed. To be believed, it must be credible. To be credible, it must be true.
Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.
Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?
Propaganda must appeal to mankind's better judgment and to the necessary belief in a better future. For this belief, the valley of the shadow of death is but a war station on the road to the blessed summit.
And, consequently, the art of propaganda or public information becomes one of the most powerful forms of directive statesmanship.
It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale.
Nevertheless, this type of propaganda has a special value, for it serves to convince those who sign the appeal, of the necessity for carrying on propaganda; so a corps of propagandists, if I may use the term, is thus trained.
Propaganda is a soft weapon; hold it in your hands too long, and it will move about like a snake, and strike the other way.