This is\u00a0a poster for the classic 1935 Nazi propaganda film \u201cTriumph des Willens\u201d (\u201cTriumph of the Will\u201d) by Leni Riefenstahl. \u00a0Adolf\u00a0Hitler personally chose the title.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve already shared a few items from\u00a0Rolf Dobelli\u2019s\u00a0Die Kunst des klugen Handelns: 52 Irrwege, die Sie besser anderen \u00fcberlassen<\/em>\u00a0(Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2014) \u2014 \u201cThe Art of Smart Action: 52 Wrong Paths that Would Be Better Left to Others\u201d \u2014 and may well share at least two or three more after today. \u00a0All of Dobelli\u2019s chapters are very brief, because they were all originally newspaper columns. \u00a0Here\u2019s something closely paraphrased from part of a chapter entitled \u201cWarum Propaganda funktioniert: Schl\u00e4fereffekt\u201d (\u201cWhy propaganda works: \u00a0The \u2018Sleeper Effect'\u201d), on pages 81-83:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the Second World War, every country produced propaganda films. \u00a0Their populations, and especially their soldiers, were supposed to fight enthusiastically for the Fatherland and, when necessary, die for it. \u00a0The United States expended so much money for propaganda that the American War Department (which essentially became the Department of Defense in 1949) wanted to find out in the Forties whether the expensive films were really worth their cost. \u00a0A number of studies were undertaken to determine how much the attitudes of regular soldiers had been changed at the end of watching a propaganda film.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The results were disappointing. \u00a0The films didn\u2019t strengthen enthusiasm for the war even slightly.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t because the movies were badly made. \u00a0It was, simply, that the audience knew in advance that these were propaganda films, so, no matter how logically they were argued and no matter how emotionally powerful they were, they were dismissed in advance.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, nine weeks later something quite unexpected occurred. \u00a0Psychologists measured the attitudes of the soldiers toward the war a second time. \u00a0Soldiers who had seen the film nine weeks earlier now had a markedly higher commitment to fighting than did those who hadn\u2019t seen the film. \u00a0Plainly, the propaganda had<\/em> worked, after all<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this was puzzling, because it was well known that, typically, the persuasive power of arguments faded with the passage of time. \u00a0It\u2019s a bit like the decay of a radioactive substance. \u00a0Having heard a powerful argument, one might immediately be all on fire about it. \u00a0After a few weeks, though, one can\u2019t quite remember why. \u00a0And several weeks after that<\/em>, essentially nothing is left.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
With propaganda, though, the effect is pretty much the reverse. \u00a0If one is influenced by propaganda, the effect actually gains strength with time. \u00a0Why? \u00a0The psychological term is sleeper effect<\/em> \u2014 named, I guess, after a \u201csleeper cell\u201d in espionage and related matters.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
How does it work? \u00a0With the passage of time, those who have been propagandized forget the source of the propaganda, where the information came from. \u00a0So the natural dismissal of propaganda weakens. \u00a0But the well-crafted propaganda point endures. \u00a0So information or points conveyed by a questionable source actually gain trust or believability with time. \u00a0The content of the propaganda message lingers, while the remembrance that it was propaganda melts away.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is much to ponder in this, for both good and ill.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of the reasons, alas, that negative attack ads in political campaigns\u00a0can actually be quite effective, however ham handed they may appear. \u00a0It\u2019s also among the reasons that advertising in general works, even though most of us would never consciously take guidance from commercials.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019ve already shared a few items from\u00a0Rolf Dobelli\u2019s\u00a0Die Kunst des klugen Handelns: 52 Irrwege, die Sie besser anderen \u00fcberlassen\u00a0(Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2014) \u2014 \u201cThe Art of Smart Action: 52 Wrong Paths that Would Be Better Left to Others\u201d \u2014 and may well share at least two or three more after today. \u00a0All […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Triumph of the Will\" poster](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/06\/Triumph_des_Willens_poster.jpg\")
<\/a>