Blog 4 Humanities
By Carlos Fonte

I choose to write about propaganda and give modern examples of both legitimate political free speech and of propaganda.

First of all let’s define Propaganda: according to the Webster’s New World Collage Dictionary propaganda is defined as any systematic, widespread dissemination or promotion of a particular ideas, doctrines, practices, etc, to further one’s own cause or to damage an opposing one.

First I would like to talk about different techniques of propaganda. One technique is called assertion is often used by advertising executives all over the world. http://mason.gmu.edu/~amcdonal/Propaganda%20Techniques.html An assertion is statement presented with a lot of enthusiasm and energy that is not necessarily true. Another type of propaganda is the bandwagon technique. The bandwagon technique has been used since the beginning of time.
It has been used in both wartime and peace time. And also is used in modern advertising. The bandwagon technique works on the premise of following the crowd hey if he is joining in so will I. basically how it works is that you try to convince the person that one side is the right side because more people are joining that political party.
Another type of propaganda is card stacking it goes like this, you present information that shows your organization or entity or idea in a positive light while omitting info that could possibly cast a doubt or contradiction to your organization. Then there is the lesser of two evils involves convincing an individual or a group of an idea or proposal by making it seem as the least offensive of the two options.

Now the marching of Dr. Martin Luther king in Montgomery Alabama boycotting the bus transit system is a good example of free speech. http://www.africanaonline.com/montgomery.htm
In 1955 about 40,000 the black folks in Montgomery Alabama decided to start boycotting of the public transportation dept or the bus system in Montgomery. It all started by the women’s political council as a response to the arrest & pending trial of Rosa Parks. Rosa was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a peckerwood on a segregated bus in Montgomery. By the next morning after the incident Joann Robinson of the women’s council had printed up 52,000 flyers telling the black folks of Montgomery to stay off any public transportation or the bus system.
Dr. Martin Luther King & a white minister named Robert Graetz decided to start planning a massive rally in Montgomery the night of Rosa Parks’s trial. Also the local chapter of the NAACP got in on the act they were looking for a chance to take on the government of Montgomery and put them on trial for violating their civil rights.
The African American population of Montgomery had been subjected to the violation of their civil rights for decades and finally the bow broke that day with Rosa Parks’s refusal to pay her fare at the front of the bus and then have to give up her seat to some peckerwood because his skin was lighter than hers.
Rosa lost her case and was convicted of violating segregated seating laws. Dr King and his colleagues decided to continue the boycott; they organized carpools to help the residents of Montgomery get to and from their jobs. After much civil unrest in Montgomery finally in June 1956 the federal court ruled that segregated seating was unconstitutional the U.S. Supreme court up held the decision and finally public transportation was no longer segregated.

Now what the neo-Nazi party of this country does is propaganda. http://www.americannaziparty.com/about/index.php They are trying to disguise their hatred for the Jewish communities and other minority cultures in the United States and abroad. I looked on their website and all though they are proud of what their late leader George Lincoln Rockwell did for the party according to their web site their trying to change their image they talk about the fact that their actions in the past their hatred toward the Jews and African Americans served their purpose at the time. But that their behavior and past activities have given their cause little progress. And not much had been achieved. So they have taken on a new direction. According to their web site they will no longer ware uniforms wow the Gestapo never wore uniforms either but that could not disguise the evil that they represented.

But let’s keep moving also there are no more ranks in the party. They talk about that will not engage in publicly are exposing their cronies to public marches or rallies. So what they are stressing now is small one on one activism.
They talk about that they want Men & women that are willing to sacrifice for the good of the folk and not people who will cause mayhem or who are looking for aggrandizement. They talk about the struggle for their white nation. To end this blog I made two examples one of legitimate
Political speech and one of propaganda I hope I answered the questions posed to me correctly.