Getting a message across
When American propoganda is more than meets the eye
Justin Thrift, Editorial Page Editor
Issue date: 1/27/10 Section: Editorials and Opinion
For almost 40 years now, the United
States has been involved in a lengthy propaganda war in Cuba. The Bush administration, for example, consistently dropped leaflets over the island in hopes of reversing anti-American sentiments and fallacies generated by longtime dictator Fidel Castro. In an article published shortly after President Bush's second inauguration, Gary Marx, who had been reporting from Havana since 2002 for the Chicago Tribune as a foreign correspondent, detailed the reaction of some local Cubans when they awoke one morning to find bright
leaflets scattered on their lawns containing
an image of George Bush and his second
inaugural address in print.
In that speech Bush vowed to "free
the world of tyranny," and a second accompanying leaflet contained the United
Nation's Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. As Marx explained, the pamphlets
were a "part of an escalating U.S.
government program to spur political
change in this one-party state."
Gary Marx was eventually ordered
out of the country by Cuban officials who
told him his work was "negative."
Historically, propaganda has been a
common part of military strategy, and governments such as the U.S. have employed
propaganda to combat fascism and dictatorship.
In the 60s and 70s during the Vietnam
War, U.S. aircrafts dumped leaflets
across the Vietnamese countryside in an
attempt to influence locals to support the
American effort and resist the Viet Cong.
The same was the case in Korea and during
WWII, where American propaganda
was even aimed at its own citizens, fl ooding
them with images of evil Nazis and
Uncle Sam's patriotic call to serve.
More recently, the United States has
started taking their propaganda campaign
to the Web. In May of 2008, USA Today
released an article detailing the launch of
a Pentagon run news Web site aimed at
communicating with people in the Arab
world. The site, www.mawtani.com, is
States has been involved in a lengthy propaganda war in Cuba. The Bush administration, for example, consistently dropped leaflets over the island in hopes of reversing anti-American sentiments and fallacies generated by longtime dictator Fidel Castro. In an article published shortly after President Bush's second inauguration, Gary Marx, who had been reporting from Havana since 2002 for the Chicago Tribune as a foreign correspondent, detailed the reaction of some local Cubans when they awoke one morning to find bright
leaflets scattered on their lawns containing
an image of George Bush and his second
inaugural address in print.
In that speech Bush vowed to "free
the world of tyranny," and a second accompanying leaflet contained the United
Nation's Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. As Marx explained, the pamphlets
were a "part of an escalating U.S.
government program to spur political
change in this one-party state."
Gary Marx was eventually ordered
out of the country by Cuban officials who
told him his work was "negative."
Historically, propaganda has been a
common part of military strategy, and governments such as the U.S. have employed
propaganda to combat fascism and dictatorship.
In the 60s and 70s during the Vietnam
War, U.S. aircrafts dumped leaflets
across the Vietnamese countryside in an
attempt to influence locals to support the
American effort and resist the Viet Cong.
The same was the case in Korea and during
WWII, where American propaganda
was even aimed at its own citizens, fl ooding
them with images of evil Nazis and
Uncle Sam's patriotic call to serve.
More recently, the United States has
started taking their propaganda campaign
to the Web. In May of 2008, USA Today
released an article detailing the launch of
a Pentagon run news Web site aimed at
communicating with people in the Arab
world. The site, www.mawtani.com, is
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