Editing Propaganda (section)

===Wartime===

{{More citations needed section|date=April 2021}}
[[File:Boston Massacre high-res.jpg|thumb|A famous example of propaganda, this poster made by [[Paul Revere]] portrays the [[Boston Massacre]] in a way that he hoped would make Americans angry and support the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].]]In the [[Peloponnesian War]], the Athenians exploited the figures from stories about [[Troy]] as well as other mythical images to incite feelings against [[Sparta]]. For example, [[Helen of Troy]] was even portrayed as an Athenian, whose mother [[Nemesis]] would avenge Troy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Magill |first1=Frank Northen |title=Dictionary of World Biography |date=23 January 2003 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-57958-040-7 |page=422 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wyKaVFZqbdUC&pg=PA422 |access-date=7 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rutter |first1=Keith |title=Word And Image In Ancient Greece |date=31 March 2020 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-7985-0 |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q28xEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |access-date=7 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref> During the [[Punic Wars]], extensive campaigns of propaganda were carried out by both sides. To dissolve the Roman system of [[socii]] and the Greek [[poleis]], [[Hannibal]] released without conditions Latin prisoners that he had treated generously to their native cities, where they helped to disseminate his propaganda.<ref name="Stepper">{{cite journal |last1=Stepper |first1=R. |title=Politische parolen und propaganda im Hannibalkrieg |journal=Klio |date=2006 |volume=88 |issue=2 |pages=397–407 |doi=10.1524/klio.2006.88.2.397 |s2cid=190002621 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298534203 |access-date=7 February 2022}}</ref> The Romans on the other hand tried to portray Hannibal as a person devoid of humanity and would soon lose the favour of gods. At the same time, led by [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus|Q.Fabius Maximus]], they organized elaborate religious rituals to protect Roman morale.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoyos |first1=Dexter |title=A Companion to the Punic Wars |date=26 May 2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-02550-4 |page=275 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UzJ3BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA275 |access-date=7 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Stepper" />

In the early sixteenth century, [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]] invented one kind of psychological warfare targeting the enemies. During his war against [[Venice]], he attached pamphlets to balloons that his archers would shoot down. The content spoke of freedom and equality and provoked the populace to rebel against the tyrants (their Signoria).{{sfn|Füssel|2020|pp=10–12}}

Post–World War II usage of the word "propaganda" more typically refers to political or nationalist uses of these techniques or to the promotion of a set of ideas.
[[File:Harry R. Hopps, Destroy this mad brute Enlist - U.S. Army, 03216u edit.jpg|alt=Propaganda poster shows a terrifying gorilla with a helmet labeled "militarism" holding a bloody club labeled "kultur" and a half-naked woman as he stomps onto the shore of America.|thumb|292x292px|''Destroy this Mad Brute: Enlist—'' propaganda poster encouraging men in the United States to enlist and fight Germany as part of [[World War I|WWI]], by [[Harry Ryle Hopps|Harry R. Hopps]], {{Circa|1917}}]] [[File:The Secret Soviet Bunker (14360593542).jpg|thumb|Soviet "Ne Boltai" poster. Translates to "Don't Chatter". Similar to American "[[Loose lips sink ships|Loose Lips Sink Ships]]" posters, this iconic piece of propaganda tries to warn citizens against giving out secrets.]]
Propaganda is a powerful weapon in war; in certain cases, it is used to [[Dehumanization|dehumanize]] and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external, by creating a false image in the mind of soldiers and citizens. This can be done by using derogatory or racist terms (e.g., the racist terms "[[Jap]]" and "[[gook]]" used during World War II and the Vietnam War, respectively), avoiding some words or language or by making allegations of enemy atrocities. The goal of this was to demoralize the opponent into thinking what was being projected was actually true.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Williamson|first1=Samuel R.|last2=Balfour|first2=Michael|date=Winter 1980|title=Propaganda in War, 1939–1945: Organisations, Policies and Publics in Britain and Germany.|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=95|issue=4|pages=715|doi=10.2307/2150639|jstor=2150639}}</ref> Most propaganda efforts in wartime require the home population to feel the enemy has inflicted an injustice, which may be fictitious or may be based on facts (e.g., the sinking of the passenger ship {{RMS|Lusitania}} by the German Navy in World War I). The home population must also believe that the cause of their nation in the war is just. In these efforts it was difficult to determine the accuracy of how propaganda truly impacted the war.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Eksteins|first1=Modris|last2=Balfour|first2=Michael|date=October 1980|title=Propaganda in War, 1939–1945: Organisations, Policies and Publics in Britain and Germany.|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=85|issue=4|pages=876|doi=10.2307/1868905|jstor=1868905}}</ref> In NATO doctrine, propaganda is defined as "Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view."<ref>North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO Standardization Agency AAP-6 – Glossary of terms and definitions, 2-P-9.</ref> Within this perspective, the information provided does not need to be necessarily false but must be instead relevant to specific goals of the "actor" or "system" that performs it.

Propaganda is also one of the methods used in [[psychological warfare]], which may also involve [[false flag]] operations in which the identity of the operatives is depicted as those of an enemy nation (e.g., The [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] used [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] planes painted in [[Cuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force|Cuban Air Force]] markings). The term propaganda may also refer to false information meant to reinforce the mindsets of people who already believe as the propagandist wishes (e.g., During the First World War, the main purpose of British propaganda was to encourage men to join the army, and women to work in the country's industry. Propaganda posters were used because regular general radio broadcasting was yet to commence and TV technology was still under development).<ref>Callanan, James D. The Evolution of The CIA's Covert Action Mission, 1947–1963. Durham University. 1999.</ref> The assumption is that, if people believe something false, they will constantly be assailed by doubts. Since these doubts are unpleasant (see [[cognitive dissonance]]), people will be eager to have them extinguished, and are therefore receptive to the reassurances of those in power. For this reason, propaganda is often addressed to people who are already sympathetic to the agenda or views being presented. This process of reinforcement uses an individual's predisposition to self-select "agreeable" information sources as a mechanism for maintaining control over populations.

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| footer            = Serbian propaganda from the [[Bosnian War]] (1992–95) presented as an actual photograph from the scene of, as stated in report below the image, a ''"Serbian boy whose whole family was killed by Bosnian Muslims"''. The image is derived from an 1879 "Orphan on mother's grave" painting by [[Uroš Predić]] (alongside).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.e-novine.com/entertainment/entertainment-tema/31106-Pravda-Uroa-Predia.html |publisher=e-novine.com |title=Pravda za Uroša Predića! |access-date=5 May 2015}}</ref>
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Propaganda may be administered in insidious ways. For instance, disparaging [[disinformation]] about the history of certain groups or foreign countries may be encouraged or tolerated in the educational system. Since few people actually [[Fact-checking|double-check]] what they learn at school, such disinformation will be repeated by journalists as well as parents, thus reinforcing the idea that the disinformation item is really a "well-known fact", even though no one repeating the myth is able to point to an authoritative source. The disinformation is then recycled in the media and in the educational system, without the need for direct governmental intervention on the media. Such permeating propaganda may be used for political goals: by giving citizens a false impression of the quality or policies of their country, they may be incited to reject certain proposals or certain remarks or ignore the experience of others.
[[File:Britannia.jpg|thumb|[[Britannia (emblem)|Britannia]] arm-in-arm with [[Uncle Sam]] symbolizes the British-American alliance in World War I.]]
[[File: English WW2 Propaganda poster depicting Winston Churchill as a bulldog with title Holding the line!.jpg|thumb|Poster depicting [[Winston Churchill]] as a "[[Bulldog|British Bulldog"]]]]
In the Soviet Union during the Second World War, the propaganda designed to encourage civilians was controlled by Stalin, who insisted on a heavy-handed style that educated audiences easily saw was inauthentic. On the other hand, the unofficial rumors about German atrocities were well founded and convincing.<ref>Karel C. Berkhoff, ''Motherland in Danger: Soviet Propaganda during World War II'' (2012) [https://www.amazon.com/Motherland-Danger-Soviet-Propaganda-during/dp/0674049241/ excerpt and text search]</ref> Stalin was a Georgian who spoke Russian with a heavy accent. That would not do for a national hero so starting in the 1930s all new visual portraits of Stalin were retouched to erase his {{clarify span|Georgian facial characteristics|date=April 2021}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2015/07/30/10-facts-you-didnt-know-about-stalin/ |title=10 Facts You Didn't Know About Stalin |last=Smithfield |first=Brad |date=30 July 2015 |website=The Vintage News |publisher=Timera Media |access-date=23 April 2021 |quote=had his likeness softened on propaganda posters to reduce his Georgian facial characteristics.}}</ref> and make him a more generalized Soviet hero. Only his eyes and famous moustache remained unaltered. [[Zhores Medvedev]] and [[Roy Medvedev]] say his "majestic new image was devised appropriately to depict the leader of all times and of all peoples."<ref>{{cite book|author=Zhores A. Medvedev and |title=The Unknown Stalin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3BrNF80AzUC&pg=PA248|year=2003|page=248|publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=9781860647680}}</ref>

Article 20 of the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] prohibits any propaganda for war as well as any advocacy of national or religious hatred that constitutes [[incitement]] to discrimination, hostility or violence by law.<ref>{{cite web|title=International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights|url=http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx|website=United Nations Human Rights: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights|publisher=United Nations|access-date=2 September 2015}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.|[[Hermann Göring]]<ref>[[Gustave Gilbert]]'s ''Nuremberg Diary''(1947). In an interview with Gilbert in Göring's jail cell during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (18 April 1946)</ref>}}Simply enough the covenant specifically is not defining the content of propaganda. In simplest terms, an act of propaganda if used in a reply to a wartime act is not prohibited.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Snow|first=Nacny|title=US Propaganda|journal=American Thought and Culture in the 21st Century|pages=97–98}}</ref>