Mao's Use of Propaganda

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I figured I might as well watch something that tied into my lesson unit, which was the use of propaganda.
The lecture was entitled: Chinese Cultural Revolution Propaganda by Victoria White, a Georgia Perimeter College social science award winner, with the aid of Dr. Thomas Crane. She was part of a small group project who took it upon herself to research propaganda during 21st century totalitarian regimes and decided to focus on the propaganda of [font=Symbol][/font]Mao Zedong. With the use of Galileo, her local and school libraries, and Ebay, she was able to find ample research and actual artifacts of propaganda during this time. Below are some of the key concepts and themes discussed in her lecture.

[font=Symbol][/font]
[font=Symbol][/font]istory of propaganda
[font=Symbol][/font]Badges, Mao's red book, Chinese rituals
[font=Symbol][/font]Development of propaganda/posters/badges
Effectiveness of Mao's propaganda due to accessibility and the way in which the propaganda required participation of the people[font=Symbol][/font]100s of dialects spoken in China, but Mao managed to unify it under one leader
[font=Symbol][/font]Communist party 1921
[font=Symbol][/font]1949 People's Republic of China under Mao's control until his death in 1976
[font=Symbol][/font]Millions of deaths during Mao's reign, still deified
[font=Symbol]P[/font]ropaganda used to lead control and indoctrinate people of China

[font=Symbol][/font]Confucius believed persuasion and education were more effective means of control than force
[font=Symbol][/font]Propaganda reading materials were popular

[font=Symbol][/font]Cultural Revolution: 2.2 billion portraits of Mao produced
[font=Symbol][/font]Mao badges created by university students in 1930s
[font=Symbol][/font]Highest production of badges during 1966-1969
[font=Symbol][/font]Incorporated short slogans or quotes
[font=Symbol][/font]Became excessive, ordered by govt to stop producing “unnecessary badges”
[font=Symbol][/font]Undermining Mao’s stance on overindulgence
[font=Symbol][/font]China running out of aluminum
[font=Symbol][/font]Badges became so popular that the people who wore them became “instruments of Mao’s propaganda campaign”

The use of propaganda, regardless of what country or leader is using it, simply fascinates me. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are all influenced by some sort of propaganda. Maybe it is political propaganda, maybe it is propaganda from the advertising industry trying to get us to buy the latest energy drink or athletic shoe. The power of the mind is tremendous, and we should never underestimate the lengths that people go to in order to control the thoughts and actions of others.

"None are more helplessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
- Johann W. Von Goethe

edited by efowler on 6/16/2012
edited by efowler on 6/16/2012
edited by efowler on 6/16/2012

[Anonymous]

Your posting reminded a recent CNN story about Mao being back in popularity in China. They were quoting a New York Times story published last week about how the Chinese youth are going crazy about anything to do with Mao. They include shirts with Mao's picture and quotations.

[Author]

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