Some attitude change propaganda is easy to spot for those who are vigilant, but those who create such propaganda know that all too many people simply “want to believe“….

Every graphic below creates a false narrative and is yet believed by many people.

This graphic, like most well executed propaganda is largely true, but a lie is inserted and a key truth is omitted to create a false narrative.

In 1890 the US Government did kill 290 civilians including women and children who were asked to surrender their arms and did so, when they were slaughtered.

What does the graphic omit? It was called the “Battle of Wounded Knee” in some older history books. Of course, since the winner usually writes the history, that explains why this event was called a “Battle” and not a “slaughter” which is much closer to the truth.

What is the lie? This event did not happen at a school.

Below is yet another example of out of context selective editing:

What President Obama actually said is quite different as he was talking about standing by Pakistani Americans should they face persecution because of Al-Qaeda.

Actual quote from “The Audacity of Hope” [pg. 261]:

Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

In today’s examples we see propaganda that is designed to target the sensibilities of traditionalists and conservatives. Propaganda from “the right” is usually far less sophisticated and of lower production value than examples from the progressive left. There are several reasons for this.

The “right” just aren’t very good liars. To most traditionalists, Christians, Conservatives and Libertarians lying is held in disdain. Conversely, when one reads most any major  leftist/progressive thinker be it Hegel, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Weber, Gramsci, Alinsky, Lippmann, etc they all endorse deception as a legitimate political tactic going so far to say that “rationality must be imposed from above”, “the ends justifies the means”, “the truth is anything that advances class struggle”, “all morality is secondary to the class struggle polemic”, “those who oppose the advance toward a leviathan state should be painted as rubes”, etc.

A great deal of this propaganda comes from outlandish conspiracy sites and/or from small bloggers who are trying to drive up traffic by coming up with something to grab attention.

Some of this type of misinformation is created by leftist sites and pressure groups so they can out “conservative lies” and thus bring attention to themselves. Creating controversy for the purpose of playing the hero is hardly a new tactic in political activism.

Political candidates from both parties have been known to put up fake “patriot” web sites that propagate disinformation and smears on rival candidates designed to target the sensitivities of conservatives. Social Media often picks up this misinformation and runs with it. The elite media often refers to such tactics as “campaign dirty tricks“. Mitt Romney employed this tactic against Fred Thompson and got caught. Ron Paul supporters have been caught doing this as well.