Propaganda In World War II

In World War II, many soldiers on both sides of the confrontation were taken captive. These incarcerated warriors were known as POWs, or prisoners of war, and were seldom ever treated with even an inkling of humanity. The Japanese were known to have been notoriously ruthless, and one in particular, Corporal Mutsuhiro Watanabe, was ordered to the islands where former United States Olympian turned U.S bombardier Louis Zamperini was being held captive. Mutsuhiro was ordered to break Zamperini in order to make him more useful as a tool of propaganda. Yet, it is necessary to ask why such a well-known American would be a high value POW, what propaganda really is, and what value it held and still holds in war today if we are to understand what effect

What makes one useful as a tool for the manipulation of billions worldwide? The answers to these questions lie in what propaganda really is. Propaganda is information used in a biased or misinformative nature that is used to promote a specific political institution or cause, and is focused on making the actions of one nation seem correct and moral, while the actions of the opposing nation(s) are viewed as savage and immoral. Censorship, or the restriction of information, is just as important as propaganda, which is the distribution of information, and both contribute toward the development of the national opinion that is to be shaped. In World War II, the German Joseph Goebbels was the head of propaganda for the Nazi German state, and managed to convince millions of people that mass genocide of Jews, Gypsies, gays, and millions of others was perfectly acceptable, and even divinely

Media, and its inherent manipulation, is the face of today’s propaganda. Instead of radio broadcasts, there are wartime journalists that travel to places like Syria and Iraq to document war. In a sense, there is more honesty in journalism, but media still controls and manipulates people’s opinions, and is therefore just another iteration of World War II propaganda.

Propaganda has been used throughout centuries and millennia to turn social opinions. It has changed the outcome of battles, wars, and life itself. To say we see no more propaganda today would be a poorly naïve statement, and would show how effective it really is. Louis was used as a tool in previous years, but since then, we have many officials such as presidents, generals, and athletes used as propaganda for various purposes. Propaganda shapes our world, whether it is to the desired effect or