Writing in 1936 about one group of purveyors of propaganda in our society, E. B. White said, “Like the movies, they infect the routine futility of our days with purposeful adventure. Their weapons are our weaknesses: fear, ambition, illness, pride, selfishness, desire, ignorance. And these weapons must be kept as bright as a sword.”
So that’s a little theory of the workings of propaganda. There must be many others out there in the world that would help us think clearly about our media and our politics. It’s not a black box, or doesn’t have to be. Name the parts of the mechanism, see what lubricates the gears, point out relentlessly where it’s in operation around us. Describe the alternatives and the practices that would support them.
The quotation comes from a brief note called “Truth in Advertising,” published July 11, 1936 in The New Yorker, but surely he’s sketching the workings of more than just advertising. By the way, Mr. White was just a few years away from writing Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web.