Propaganda

As a high school history teacher, I have the luxury of spending time thinking about things that the
average adult just doesn’t have time to think about. For example, I just spent several weeks looking
at how propaganda was used to divide Americans into “us” and “them” groups throughout our history.

It is clear from studying the primary sources that from the moment Columbus got off the boat, there
was a concentrated effort to create an “us” group (Europeans) and a “them” (everyone else) group in
North America. At first, the targets were the Natives and Africans slaves. As time passed, Catholics,
Jews and the Chinese were added to the “them” group. Over time, Catholics had two advantages that
allowed them to claw out of the “them” group. 1. Skin color 2. Sheer numbers. However, to this day
Non-Whites and Jews are still the “other” in America.    

The narrative since World War II has tried to tell a different story. America supported the development
of Israel and welcomed scores of Jewish refugees from Europe after the Holocaust. The Civil Rights
Movement solidified equal rights to all non-Whites in this country. We became a country of equality.
A beacon of hope to the world.

This was the narrative that was sold to all of us. Our education system pushed this narrative.
Hollywood packaged the message. Politicians from the Left and Right spewed it every election cycle.
Even though we all knew that minorities in this country were not yet equal, many of us believed and
hoped that if we stayed on track, one day they would be. Just like the Catholics.   

And then came Donald Trump. He did not invent xenophobia. However, he did rebrand it (MAGA).
Clearly, it was there, hiding right under the table this whole time. He reached down with his tiny, little
hands and slammed it back onto the table. Sadly, many Americans have been foolish enough to bite
right into it.

His methods are tried and true. Textbook propaganda. Historians will look back at his work and compare
them to other propaganda wielding demagogues. High school students will analyze his twitter feed and
mumble stuff like “That ain’t right! and Why would anybody believe that?” much like my students did
when looking at historical political cartoons.

His push these past few weeks before the midterm elections has been some of his best work yet. For
example, last week should have been terrible for him. One of his supporters sent pipe bombs to people
that have criticized Trump and another man walked into a synagogue and killed eleven people,
apparently believing an unsubstantiated claim that Jews were funding the “caravan” of Honduran
migrants heading to the US border. A claim that the president said “he wouldn't be surprised if it was true.”

But are Americans afraid of bomb making, heavily armed, middle aged White men right now? Nope.
We are afraid of poverty stricken Honduran migrants that are about 1000 miles from the US border.
Think about that. How stupid are we?

Do we want historians to study the ways that Donald Trump was able to manipulate the masses and
bring out our worst qualities?

Do we want future high school students to snicker and laugh at our stupidity?

Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.   

- Eric Hoffer          

Let’s stop deceiving ourselves. Vote.