Painting with Propaganda – KSINSIGHTS AUG 2024
Published on 12 Aug 2024
“The term may be new – it was first used barely 80 years ago, at the beginning of World War II – but the actions it describes are as old as warfare itself, as old as humanity.”
The rise of propaganda and its current forms in technology, media, and politics, paint a wayward picture in society’s dysfunction and falsified lack of interest in subjects that were once considered the cornerstones of periods of time. When the art stream is defunded, when it becomes part of the normal to not put in any time, money, and effort into art, history, music, and literature, a conundrum is created. Art in various forms, plays a crucial part in thinking, fostering critical opinions, empathy, and cultural awareness, and most importantly, gives people the ability to not only question people’s motives and subjects but also look at different perspectives. A decline in these endeavors only endangers individuals, leaving them more susceptible to simplistic narratives and manipulative information.
While the relationship between the decline of the arts and the rise in susceptibility to propaganda is complex, the connection lies primarily in the role that arts play in fostering critical thinking, cultural awareness, and media literacy. Contrary to some sentiment, propaganda is not a Western myth, it does not have its origin in some Western philosophy that is now being exported through our screens after. Propaganda is a masterclass of fear. It preys on the irrational, which is wayward and taps into a deep subconscious of made-up worry by creating a problem with ill intention or furthering it; it does not matter if the facade is real or not. Anger is a very powerful thing, and it being channeled in a certain direction is not difficult, but masterful in its execution. Propaganda is a long-standing game that has roots in history, politics, psychology, sociology, and journalism.
Propaganda and persuasion often go hand in hand; you need persuasion in order for propaganda to work. We can see this in the example of an orange. Persuading someone means trying to convince them that oranges are delicious because of their natural sugars. You could be deterred by this however, and still think that the taste of oranges is something horrible, but persuasion gives a rational counterargument: that although you may not like them, they still hold good things that give you benefits. Propaganda then takes the methods of persuasion that are used and twists them. It can cite how oranges are a great source of nutrients but also will cure an incurable disease. This then starts a chain of diminishing the respectability of what the orange can actually do and showering it with an unattainable health benefit. When we look at these two examples, there is no concrete evidence that the one using propaganda will actually work. Propaganda takes normal, and often truthful talking points, warping them into something new and presenting it as fact.
Persuasion is a skill used in language, it is meant to inform the audience and give advice based on that information about whether or not there is any truth or semblance to a decision or matter. The two can be easily mistaken as one as Propaganda always employs the laws of persuasion to tally out information but persuasion is not always propaganda.
Propaganda is often laced with discrimination; and fictitious claims to promote an argument, in order to pedal or dissipate ideas roughly and thoroughly. There is habitually no sensible doubt or reason; where persuasion usually offers a counterargument.
Propaganda is extremely popular in politics, and there is no exception to the rule when it is used today. The historic Uncle Sam posters of World War 2 are gone, but the slight and prying world of social media and the new internet trove of vast information should come under careful inspection. In a new timeline, it is intersecting with propaganda to bring out different forms of media that are being easily absorbed. Traditional media has always been contentious; whether it be newspapers or television news, there is always an agenda and one that has been heavily scrutinized and argued by scholars, people, and journalists alike.
Countless American superhero films that employ the Department of Justice, CIA, and FBI in their semi-fictitious worlds to create, usually, a positive presence that hinges on doing good. Countless films around the world employ these same tactics – using government bodies and organizations as a stream for good that can only be overcome by the abominable human spirit, and will be the last stand against the bad. We could look at this as propaganda because it goes past our levels of persuasion. We know the adverse effects the rapid militarisation of armies is causing the planet and the escalating geopolitical tensions because of them. It fails to string the notes of persuasion together and instead becomes more invasive; propagating an us vs them mentality that exudes control as an attempt to maintain a power balance that is only advantageous to the propagandist.
It is getting worse. In India, in response to sexual assault charges against the president of the Wrestling Federation of India, far-right Hindu Nationalists are trying to discredit the claims of the wrestlers by using demonization and fake images. This is all because the president, Bhushan Singh, is a member of parliament from the ruling party. Using dirty methods to try and wipe the slate “clean” by having a smear campaign so that the regular people can do the bidding of one entity. This political propaganda is associated with a clear political figure – one from a party that many support. What we can see here is a heavy entity that associates the figure and the party together, instead of looking at them as separate entities.
Political propaganda is information, usually false, in an effort to be distributed to cause unrest and advance a political cause. When this is present, we fail to understand the mass influence these people and ideologies have. This stream can maintain power and even exceed it, becoming dominating and starting to dictate how only they see things. In this case, because they are now not a separate entity, which is the goal when it comes to political propaganda and pandering to further a political cause, it reflects the morals and values of many. An obstacle is then present as it becomes more difficult to believe that what they have been accused of or done, is viable in any way. When a figurehead and the party they associate with come together as an individual identity, an attack on the person, is an attack on the party, and an attack on the party, is an attack on someone’s moral principles. That itself is a trigger that many will deeply feel affects them, even though it has nothing to do with the figurehead they are avidly protecting.
In the United States, bots were used so heavily during the 2020 election that out of 240 million tweets that pertained to the presidential race, especially within the Democratic and Republican primaries, bot activity dwarfed humans, having dire consequences for the rise of misinformation. If a bot is honing in on the same “problem” over and over again, creating a disturbance in the algorithm to have certain objectives be pushed out, more people will be influenced because of the susceptible nature of some and the trusting minds of another. The effects are catastrophic with being used to try and sway an election, trick constituents with false promises or information, and create obvious dissent in the political community, making people confused. Propaganda thrives in that confusion and grabs onto anybody’s fringe ideals in the smallest way to help snowball a narrative that is beneficial to one, usually without a scientific backing of tangible theory. There is a deliberation to try and skew people’s understandings and take advantage of them by relying on an incapability to do mountains of research to debunk a certain theory. All share the same contentious aftermath; once these claims are debunked by the dedicated people who fact-check, they have already caused shockwaves of harm that are almost impossible to undo. Even mass messages of false tidings do not have the desired effect – they barely work because people have already formed opinions based on a cheap fallacy. This is a lesson in propaganda domino into media literacy; having the ability to evaluate, analyze, and critically think about various forms of media. An acute understanding of how the media works and the media messaging behind things. Being gullible is not just based on something as simple as knowing right from wrong – especially when something that is furthering an agenda – does not overtly present itself as nefarious.
Malaysia’s atmosphere cannot stray away from these difficult conversations. The country has a tattered history with the way that they use and manipulate certain offices to get what they want. The biggest scandal of them all was 1MDB – through throes of lying and political manipulation to keep funneling money to personal accounts. “Foreign investments” included funding the likes of the blockbuster movie The Wolf of Wall Street, and laundering money for Red Granite Pictures to produce further films. It becomes unbecoming to think that one, the Malaysian people would be okay with this endeavor and two, that funding Hollywood movies is in the interest of the country. Raising billions of dollars for investment in Hollywood movies, instead of projects to propel Malaysian society, people, and infrastructure into the future, sounds like make-believe. Our eyes were covered and we were left scampering around in the dark, whilst the parties in power banked on an oxymoron, abusing the blind trust of people’s support, in an untrue facade.
When propaganda is woven into the fabric of the laws, the lines are harder to color in, often becoming messy in the name of a political agenda. There is some luck here where independent organizations still exist, but it is still not enough under the guise of censorship laws. “Under the penal code of Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam allow for the criminalization of what authorities deemed to be false information or information that may disrupt public order or national security.” At a glance, this seems to make sense; to stop the malicious and unfair falsification of information. This becomes a black hole though, because there are not enough stipulations and regulations in place that actually define what this is, and it is quickly becoming a game of hurt feelings instead of facts and mishaps that people in high positions, responsible for certain facets of the country’s outcome, need to answer to. In Singapore for example, Amnesty International reported that lawyer M Ravi had to pay a fine of SGD 6,000, after the comments he made about his client, refused to be rescinded.
A specialization in death penalty cases, he had criticized the government for their overarching prosecution of his client and called for them to make an apology when he was taken off death row. The court responded by asking him to renounce his statements criticizing the government and when he didn’t, they stripped the human rights lawyer of his license for five years. This is intimidation. Asking the government to apologize for wrongdoing on their behalf, to only be bartered with an ultimatum that refutes what he has done in the first place.
The government’s tight control over artistic content further exacerbates the situation. The censorship laws in Malaysia are among the strictest in the world, often justified on the grounds of maintaining public order and national security. The Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) and the Film Censorship Act enable authorities to ban publications and films deemed sensitive or a threat to national security. Not only does this hinder artists themselves, but creates a dangerous dissuade into using this as an excuse, in order to justify the banning of media and perspectives that challenge the cultural and religious norms in the country. Bans on critically acclaimed authors such as Faisal Tehrani do not have a place in society when it reaches a normal of censorship based on sensitivity. With responses from 79 creators being faced with violations of their artistic freedom, multiple cases of censorship processes that include the expanded role of religious-based departments, and the policing of the Malay language, It cannot be denied that censorship is controversial. This then becomes justified under the guise of maintaining public order, national security, or moral values, leading to a suppression of works that address controversial topics.
Exposure to diverse artistic expressions encourages people to think critically, question established norms, and appreciate different perspectives. When funding for the arts is cut or when the arts are devalued in education and public life, there are fewer opportunities to develop these critical faculties. The exploration of complex social and political issues is seen as taboo then, not giving a space for reflection and discussion that is essential for a healthy democracy.
Malaysia’s education system needs to make more of an effort when it comes to funding these subjects. Through the trials and tribunals of the education system, and the clear backbone that it does not have when it comes to the toppling of the curriculum consistently, another problem of only promoting one pathway and one type of academic studying needs to be discussed. The arts are not funded in tandem compared to the sciences. Malaysian schools should prioritize the arts stream to challenge the stigma that it is inferior to the science stream. This perception pushes students away from their passions, perpetuating stereotypes about limited career prospects in the arts. A re-education is necessary when it comes to students and parents, as well as educators in the schools themselves to what they are consistently pushing out. There needs to be an active expansion in the subject selection process and promotion of arts subjects. The goal is always to inspire students and elevate the status of the arts education system, fostering creativity.
This then leads to a lack of overall funding for the arts, deeming it not as important when arts and culture are a vital part of this country and what it is made from. There is nothing short of Malaysian pride when looking at our architecture, literature, culture, and the multitude of heritages present in the country.
However, the constant propaganda in terms of censorship, over-policing, and defunding makes the appreciation for these factors harder to maintain and doesn’t allow people and spaces to grow. Our society will start to fall behind as the world progresses and connectivity is valued more than ever.
Instead of being used for good, it is again being used for something to control, manipulate, and create disarray. This is the birth of something new – bathing in advancement for the world but has become sullied and fatigued with the amount of information pumping out that does not care for media literacy, using shock value to make a point, and is ripe with agendas.
We as a population are more susceptible to false information, and an inability to analyze sources and recognize biased or false narratives. A decline in the arts can lead to a reduced public discourse on important issues, making it easier for propaganda to fill the void with oversimplified and often polarising messages; a frail veil of misinformation is spread to achieve a goal. There is a thin line where propaganda does not have ill intentions and arguably, can be used for good, but has lost neutrality because of the way it has been employed for purposes that have been less than savory. The word is associated with lying, psychological warfare, manipulation, deceit, and distortion. With how fast news spreads and the lack of critical thinking present when mindlessly processing and absorbing information – a recipe for disaster unfolds in the form of bite-sized information and a lack of social awareness as propaganda continues to influence our laws and our daily lives.