History Main / PropagandaMachine

At least, that's what they say. In fact, a Propaganda Machine is only employed by TheEmpire and used to [[BrainWashed brainwash]] people into GullibleLemmings who believe that everything is all right when, in fact, it isn't, and that the very people who could help them are their enemies. Vigorously hated by LaResistance because it turns the very people they are trying to do good for against them.

[[folder:Machinima]]
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue''. Apparently Command convinces the Reds to fight the Blue based on the information that "the Blues suck."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
** First we have Marzipan's kindergarten, named L.ifeblossoms U.ndergoing R.e-education N.aturally. Her children (i.e. grown men Homsar, Homestar, and Strong Mad) are referred to as "lifeblossoms", and the point of the lessons is parodically hyper-vegan (one of her blackboards reads "soy is also murder," as she says, [[OrphanedPunchline "and that way you always feel guilty"]]).
** In the short "Career Day" it's revealed Strong Bad treats his space program's promotional films as such - the vanity plate reads "SBASAF [[strike: propaganda indoctrination mind control]] edumacational films presents".
* ''WebAnimation/LuckyDayForever'' has the Whites pulling the wool over the eyes of the Proles via artificial culture aimed at them.

* ''Literature/{{Wasp}}'': The Sirian empire covers up their military failures and regularly claims spectacular victories over the [[PlanetTerra Terran]] fleet. Hilariously, this includes things like showing old photos of Mongolian bandits and claiming them to be captured Terran marines. The Sirian citizens find the propaganda rather hard to believe, though, especially thanks to the Terran agents undermining their morale.

* In 2022, the United States Department of Homeland Security attempted to launch a "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation_Governance_Board Disinformation Governance Board]]" which many across the political spectrum argued would potentially evolve into one of these. As a result, [[DefiedTrope the project was suspended less than a month after it was announced]].

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--> '''Hiccup:''' There's more in those texts! Roman history and Greek philosophy! We have a responsibility to spread knowledge and understanding! Even if you don't care about the people, at least save the books.\\

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''

* Yellow journalism has been prone to this. In particular, William Randolph Hearst exploited hot-button issues to sell more newspapers, such as the Spanish-American War, Graf Zepplin and cannabis.
* Perhaps the father of the propaganda or public relations machine Austrian-American Edward L. Bernays. Responsible for selling cigarettes to women, World War 1 to the U.S. public, the bacon and eggs All-American breakfast, and the Guatemalan coup. His published book Propaganda in 1922 inspired Goebbels.
* UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and Joseph Goebbels in particular. Goebbels has become so synonymous with propaganda that [[GodwinsLaw he's the go-to name]] when casting aspersions on someone for perceived propaganda tactics.

--> [[FalseUtopia Everything we've been told about communism]] [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny turned out to be a lie.]]
--> [[CapitalismIsBad Everything we've been told about capitalism]] [[CrapsackWorld turned out to be the truth]].

* UsefulNotes/FascistItaly had an extremely effective one, as it could be expected by UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini having been a rather influential journalist before World War I. One example among many is that, to this day, we don't know if the [[SecretPolice O.V.R.A.]] actually ''existed'' or was just an acronym (that sounds suspiciously like "piovra", Italian for "octopus") used to distract everyone from the normal police doing the job, as ''that was the kind of manipulations they pulled all the time''. They however lost their influence and credibility in early 1943, when the survivors of the Italian force on the Eastern Front of World War II came back and revealed the ''many'' lies told about that front.

* If you believe Noam Chomsky, then all media is part of a propaganda machine. The argument goes that all media is profit-motivated, and as such, they are not particularly interested in defending freedom; they are interested in protecting their profit. The only reliable source of stories about governments comes from the governments themselves, and the little access they do get is revocable if they do bad things. Also, the owners of almost all media groups are rich men who have a a certain social agenda, and a personal relationship with the government, and they can dictate who gets employed and what they write (or at least fire them if they do it the wrong way). So yeah. Add all of that up and it means that we only hear about what our various governments want us to hear about. Sure, people complain about those stories, but that just helps to create the illusion. The idea is that in the end, you can't even imagine that other bad things could be happening. Well, that's the theory, anyways. Decide for yourself if it's true or not.
* Going back even earlier, yellow journalism has been prone to this. In particular, William Randolph Hearst exploited hot-button issues to sell more newspapers, such as the Spanish-American War, Graf Zepplin and cannabis.
* Perhaps the father of the propaganda or public relations machine Austrian-American Edward L. Bernays. Responsible for selling cigarettes to women, ww1 to the U.S. public, the bacon and eggs All-American breakfast, and the Guatemalan coup. His published book Propaganda in 1922 inspired Goebbels.

* If you believe Noam Chomsky, then all media is part of a propaganda machine. The argument goes that all media is profit-motivated, and as such, they are not particularly interested in defending freedom; they are interested in protecting their profit. The only reliable source of stories about governments comes from the governments themselves, and the little access they do get is revocable if they do bad things. Also, the owners of almost all media groups are rich, white men who have a a certain social agenda, and a personal relationship with the government, and they can dictate who gets employed and what they write (or at least fire them if they do it the wrong way). So yeah. Add all of that up and it means that we only hear about what our various governments want us to hear about. Sure, people complain about those stories, but that just helps to create the illusion. The idea is that in the end, you can't even imagine that other bad things could be happening. Well, that's the theory, anyways. Decide for yourself if it's true or not.
* Going back even earlier, yellow journalism has been prone to this. In particular, William Randolph Hearst exploited hot-button issues to sell more newspapers, such as the Spanish-American War and cannabis.

* One of the rare examples of this trope being used for good was the Abolitionist movement in 19th-century America. They mobilized a truly massive Propaganda Machine made up of everything from newspapers to novels (''Literature/UncleTomsCabin'') to public speaking in order to wake white America up to the horrors of slavery.

** Something similar to this has taken place in the United States a few times. Many people with expertise in China and Southeast Asia were drummed out of the State Department, the Pentagon, and other government agencies in the 1950s because they were suspected of too much sympathy with the locals, who were increasingly supporting communists, and the US was dangerously uninformed about goings on in East Asia until the 1970s at least. Even now, the US government is dangerously bereft of expertise in the Middle East since those with expertise in the region have trouble gaining positions of responsibility. The consequence of these is that some US propaganda, eh, public diplomacy, targeted at these regions (and presumably elsewhere) have been singularly misinformed and misguided, reflecting American prejudices that were occasionally even offensive to the targeted audiences more than the realities on the ground.

* And in the People's Republic of China, we have a group literally called the Central Propaganda Department. Yes, the group meant to lie to people named itself with a truth, and didn't think that through. It's important to note that in Mandarin, "propaganda" is a neutral term; nevertheless, to outsiders and Chinese who know about the connotations of the term to non-Chinese audiences (an increasing number these days), the significance is not lost.

* And in the People's Republic of China, we have a group literally called the Central Propaganda Department. Yes, the group meant to lie to people named itself with a truth, and [[WhatAnIdiot didn't think that through]]. It's important to note that in Mandarin, "propaganda" is a neutral term; nevertheless, to outsiders and Chinese who know about the connotations of the term to non-Chinese audiences (an increasing number these days), the significance is not lost.

* ''VideoGame/ReVOLUTION'': The Corporation makes use of this. You'll see more than one poster saying "Power And Control," as well as "The Corporation Is The Sun Of Your New Life!"
* ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft II}}'': Mengsk's Dominion has one of these up and running, making [[TheHero Raynor]] and his buddies out to be terrorists. [[spoiler:When Raynor & co. find damning evidence that confirms that Mengsk threw Tarsonis' population to the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Zerg]], they hack in and broadcast it sector-wide. The media quickly turns against Mengsk.]]

** Also, he wrote that journalists... well, suck. How much? Don't read if you're a journalist and easily offended: [[spoiler:Spengler wrote that journalists are intellectual whores, who will sell their intellectual abilities to whoever needs them, and support whatever cause he wants.]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

--> '''Panay:''' Listen most carefully, people of Panau. President Panay, your glorious and humble leader, must speak. Free photographs of the president and his staff are now available in all government buildings. REJOICE.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsDoctorAphra'' introduces the Coalition for Progress, the Empire's Public Relations department, which is in charge of projecting the image of the Empire as being the greatest thing ever and blindly obeying it being the right thing to do. They're also a branch of the Imperial StateSec mechanism, spying on the civilian population and having access to warships that can deliver an OrbitalBombardment on any trouble spots.

* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'': In the backstory, this was the purpose of Rarity's Ministry of Image. They were the "invisible Ministry," in charge of making all the other Ministries look good, inspiring patriotism, and demonizing the enemy.

* ''VideoGames/Halo3ODST'': During Sadie's Story arc, an NMPD Propaganda Officer constants announces [[BlatantLies false propaganda in a half-assed attempt to raise citizen's hope]] during the [[AliensAreBastards Covenant's invasion of New Mombasa.]] Mike is quite understandably pissed off at hearing said false horseshit and enters his office to give him a piece of his mind, the Propaganda Officer Stephen doesn't deny what Mike says at him.

* ''Film/HotelRwanda'': The RTLM radio station which broadcasts anti-Tutsi propaganda and hate speech and ultimately signals the Rwandan Genocide with [[DeadlyEuphemism "Cut the tall trees!"]] is very hauntingly TruthInTelevision. You can listen to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNbUeLnxQEI excerpts of the real radio station]] on YouTube from the time of the genocide, [[NightmareFuel and it is even more disturbing than the film]].

-->-- '''The Director''', '''''Literature/ThatHideousStrength''''' -- '''Creator/CSLewis'''