Today's people are bombarded with information, and when trying to understand world events, it is often challenging to discern what the truth is. Time and again, there are good people trying to shed light on terrible situations, and doing their best to counter them are propagandists, issuing one falsehood and obfuscation after another.
For more than six years, my wife and I have been volunteering our time with human rights projects. During this journey, I have encountered much propaganda, and I have become familiar with many of the methods that are used. Of course, the goal of the propagandist is to completely hide the truth, or at least to disguise it.
There are obvious tactics, such as simply denying the truth or fabricating a story. Those methods can often be dispelled by carefully examining facts, including using reputable third-party sources when conducting research. This can be time consuming, but the research is necessary.
However, there are many subtler tactics used. For instance, propagandists will search for any detail that can be exploited. They will attack minor details of a solid body of evidence, trying to cast doubt on all of the evidence. However, what they are really trying to do is draw people's attention away from the broad picture and to narrow the focus of people's examination. They try to define the parameters of people's search for truth and control the argument.
Propagandists also often portray the oppressors as victims. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, peaceful protestors were portrayed as attacking the very foundation and wellbeing of our country. It is much easier to attack peaceful people with fire hoses, batons, German shepherds and teargas once the people are marginalized and portrayed as the enemy.
A more recent example of the same dynamic: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) portrays itself as somehow being victimized by spiritual and religious believers, such as Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners and Christians.
Is this at all rational to believe? A heavily armed, brutal regime with the world's largest army and police force is somehow being attacked by people who embrace compassion and nonviolence? The examples of regimes portraying themselves as the victim are too numerous to count.
The statement I just made is in no way a jibe against China or its culture. I mention this because often if someone criticizes the CCP, many people from or in the Mainland react as if they or their entire country was being attacked. Unfortunately, amidst terrorizing the people of China for decades, the CCP has intertwined its own identity with the identity of China, down to the individual level.
The propagandist will also try to attack the credibility of those who report the truth. A classic example: During the days of Nazi Germany, a German man made his way out of his country and reported that the Nazi's were pulling the gold teeth out of Jews, who were murdered or being tortured, and melting the gold teeth, and creating gold bars.
The Nazi propaganda machine tried to portray him as a lunatic and succeeded. Of course, the truth was later exposed, and the story about the gold was verified.
So, how does one discern the truth? Careful examination of facts is essential. To use a personal example, in 2001, I began to practice Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that is persecuted by the CCP, although the CCP denies doing so. When, I began practicing, I examined various perspectives about the persecution circulating in the media.
What I discovered was that Falun Gong was practiced in dozens of countries, but the source for all the negative coverage was only from the CCP. And I examined the horrific human rights record of the CCP. It was obvious that the persecution was real. As part of careful examination, I suggest reputable third-party resources. One I used was Amnesty International.
Also, those who are trying to expose tyranny often disclose much about themselves. Their lives are often open books. Oppressors seldom reveal much about themselves. However, please note: many good people must keep their identities secret to protect their own safety.
In addition, those trying to hide the truth, when confronted with facts they cannot refute, frequently just ignore the facts and switch to a different angle of attack. If you watch and listen closely, they deftly distort other's words, shifting the direction of a discussion
I also suggest paying close attention to who is trying to narrow the focus and who is trying to maintain a broad focus. The people trying to distract people from the broad perspective…those are usually the people to be wary of. And please do not use who is the most sophisticated as a criterion. Often, those issuing propaganda have enormous resources and much training.
Most of all, to understand the truth of situations, we have to listen and see with our minds and our hearts.
Feeds