Rank: Elder Joined: 10/23/2009 Posts: 2,375
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Comment: Goebbels is often credited with having a sharp intelligence, but his was an intelligence malformed by the cunning, cynicism and opportunism of a master propagandist. The creation and promulgation of propaganda was turned into an " art" in Goebbels' hands. He would have been quite capable of arguing that black was white, and of convincing his audience that it really was so, or at least implanting a germ of doubt. Some say that Goebbels never actually lied, just exaggerated the truth. But Goebbels embraced Hitler's theory that a big lie was often more credible than a smaller one. The Third Reich has gone, but propaganda remains with us, influencing us daily in the press, on radio and television, and on the internet. The loaded messages from politicians, analysts, pundits, journalists, pollsters, economists, clerics, industry, commerce, unions, political parties, lobby groups, public relations firms - the whole propaganda diaspora - are not as integrated as in Goebbels' fascist state, but the effect is just as pernicious and misleading. But this is all just another message with a load. It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt...
-Mark Twain
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