Atrocity propaganda
Atrocity propaganda is the spreading of information about the crimes committed by an enemy, which can be factual, but often includes or features deliberate fabrications or exaggerations. This can involve photographs, videos, illustrations, interviews, and other forms of information presentation or reporting.
The inherently violent nature of war means that exaggeration and invention of atrocities often becomes the main staple of propaganda.[1] Patriotism is often not enough to make people hate the enemy, and propaganda is also necessary.[2] "So great are the psychological resistances to war in modern nations", wrote Harold Lasswell, "that every war must appear to be a war of defense against a menacing, murderous aggressor. There must be no ambiguity about who the public is to hate."[3] Human testimony may be unreliable even in ordinary circumstances, but in wartime, it can be further muddled by bias, sentiment, and misguided patriotism.[4]
According to
Like propaganda, atrocity
Techniques
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By establishing a baseline lie and painting the enemy as a monster, atrocity propaganda serves as an intelligence function, since it wastes the time and resources of the enemy's counterintelligence services to defend itself. The propagandists' goal is to influence perceptions, attitudes, opinions, and policies; often targeting officials at all levels of government. Atrocity propaganda is violent, gloomy, and portrays doom to help rile up and get the public excited. It dehumanizes the enemy, making them easier to kill. Wars have become more serious, and less gentlemanly; the enemy must now be taken into account not merely as a man, but as a fanatic.[8] So, "falsehood is a recognized and extremely useful weapon in warfare, and every country uses it quite deliberately to deceive its own people, attract neutrals, and to mislead the enemy."[9] Harold Lasswell saw it as a handy rule for arousing hate, and that "if at first they do not enrage, use an atrocity. It has been employed with unvarying success in every conflict known to man."[3]
The extent and devastation of World War I required nations to keep morale high. Propaganda was used here to mobilize hatred against the enemy, convince the population of the justness of one's own cause, enlist the active support and cooperation of neutral countries, and strengthen the support of one's allies.[10] The goal was to make the enemy appear savage, barbaric, and inhumane.
Atrocity propaganda in history
Before the 20th century
In a sermon at
Lurid tales purporting to unveil Jewish atrocities against Christians were widespread during the Middle Ages.[13] The charge against Jews of kidnapping and murdering Christian children to consume their blood during Passover became known as blood libel.[14]
In the 17th century, the English press fabricated graphic descriptions of atrocities allegedly committed by Irish Catholics against English Protestants, including the torture of civilians and the raping of women. The English public reacted to these stories with calls for stern reprisals.
In 1782, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published an article purporting to reveal a letter between a British agent and the governor of Canada, listing atrocities supposedly perpetrated by Native American allies of Britain against colonists, including detailed accounts of the scalping of women and children. The account was a fabrication, published in the expectation that it would be reprinted by British newspapers and therefore sway British public opinion in favor of peace with the United States.[16]
After the 1857
In the lead up to the Spanish–American War, Pulitzer and Hearst published stories of Spanish atrocities against Cubans. While occasionally true, the majority of these stories were fabrications meant to boost sales.[18]
20th century
World War I
It was reported that some thirty to thirty-five German soldiers entered the house of David Tordens, a carter, in Sempst; they bound him, and then five or six of them assaulted and ravished in his presence his thirteen-year-old daughter, and afterwards fixed her on bayonets. After this horrible deed, they bayoneted his nine-year-old boy and then shot his wife.
Atrocity propaganda was widespread during World War I, when it was used by all belligerents, playing a major role in creating the wave of patriotism that characterised the early stages of the war.[21] British propaganda is regarded as having made the most extensive use of fictitious atrocities to promote the war effort.[21]
One such story was that German soldiers were deliberately mutilating Belgian babies by cutting off their hands, in some versions even eating them. Eyewitness accounts told of having seen a similarly mutilated baby. As Arthur Ponsonby later pointed out, in reality a baby would be very unlikely to survive similar wounds without immediate medical attention.[22]
Another atrocity story involved a Canadian soldier, who had supposedly been crucified with bayonets by the Germans (see The Crucified Soldier). Many Canadians claimed to have witnessed the event, yet they all provided different version of how it had happened. The Canadian high command investigated the matter, concluding that it was untrue.[23]
Other reports circulated of Belgian women, often nuns, who had their breasts cut off by the Germans.
In 1915, the British government asked
German newspapers published allegations that Armenians were murdering Muslims in Turkey. Several newspapers reported that 150,000 Muslims had been murdered by Armenians in Van province. An article about the
World War II
During World War II, atrocity propaganda was not used on the same scale as in World War I, as by then it had long been discredited by its use during the previous conflict.[28] There were exceptions in some propaganda films, such as Hitler's Children, Women in Bondage, and Enemy of Women, which portrayed the Germans (as opposed to just Nazis) as enemies of civilization, abusing women and the innocent.[29] Hitler's Children is now spoken of as "lurid", while Women in Bondage is described as a low-budget exploitation film; the latter carries a disclaimer that "everything in the film is true", but facts are often distorted or sensationalized.[30]
However, the Germans often claimed that largely accurate descriptions of German atrocities were just "atrocity propaganda" and a few Western leaders were thus hesitant to believe early reports of Nazi atrocities, especially the existence of
The Germans themselves made heavy use of atrocity propaganda, both before the war and during it. Violence between
Soviet–Afghan War
According to a 1985 UN report backed by Western countries, the KGB had deliberately designed mines to look like toys, and deployed them against Afghan children during the Soviet–Afghan War.[36]
Newspapers such as the New York Times ran stories denouncing the "ghastly, deliberate crippling of children" and noting that while the stories had been met with skepticism by the public, they had been proven by the "incontrovertible testimony" of a UN official testifying the existence of booby-trap toys in the shape of harmonicas, radios, or birds.[37]
The story likely originated from the
Yugoslav Wars
In November 1991, a Serbian photographer claimed to have seen the corpses of 41 children, which had allegedly been killed by Croatian soldiers. The story was published by media outlets worldwide, but the photographer later admitted to fabricating his account. The story of this atrocity was blamed for inciting a desire for vengeance in Serbian rebels, who
Gulf War
21st century
Iraq War
In the runup to the 2003
In 2004, former Marine Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey claimed that he and other Marines intentionally killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians, including a 4-year-old girl. His allegations were published by news organizations worldwide, but none of the five journalists – embedded with the troops and approved by the Pentagon – who covered his battalion said they saw reckless or indiscriminate shooting of civilians. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch dismissed his claim as "either demonstrably false or exaggerated".[44]
In July 2003 an Iraqi woman,
Other cases
During the Battle of Jenin, Palestinian officials claimed there was a massacre of civilians in the refugee camp, which was proven false by subsequent international investigations.[46]
During the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes, a rumor spread among ethnic Kyrgyz that Uzbek men had broken into a local women's dormitory and raped several Kyrgyz women. Local police never provided any confirmation that such an assault occurred.[47]
During the
In July 2014, the Russian public broadcaster Channel One aired a report claiming that Ukrainian soldiers in Sloviansk had crucified a three-year-old boy to a board, and later dragged his mother with a tank, causing her death.[50] The account of the only witness interviewed for the report was not corroborated by anyone else,[51] and other media have been unable to confirm the story,[52] despite claims in the testimony that many of the city's inhabitants had been forced to watch the killings.[51] A reporter for Novaya Gazeta similarly failed to find any other witnesses in the city.[53]
In the aftermath of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israel spread atrocity propaganda to justify its invasion of the Gaza Strip. The propaganda included claims of systematic rape and of babies being beheaded and burned.[54][55][56]
See also
- Crucified boy
- Deviancy amplification spiral
- Falsehood in War-Time
- False flag
- Fear mongering
- Holocaust trivialization
- Holocaust inversion
- Media coverage of North Korea
- Moral panic
- The Politics of Religious Apostasy
- Yellow journalism
- Sensationalism
- Pallywood
- Manufacturing Consent
Notes
- ^ MacDougall, Curtis D., Understanding Public Opinion: A Guide for Newspapermen and Newspaper Readers (New York: Macmillan, 1952) pp. 101–102
- ^ Rogerson, Sidney (1938). Propaganda in the Next War. Great Britain: MacKays Limited. p. 27.
- ^ a b Delwiche, Aaron. "Domestic Propaganda During the First World War". Retrieved 12 November 2012.
- ^ Ponsonby, p.128
- ^ Linebarger, Paul M.A. 1954. Psychological Warfare (2nd ed.) New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, as cited in: Budge, Kent. "Propaganda". The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
- ^ "Inventing Atrocities". National Review Online. 10 August 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
- ISBN 978-1478610953.
- ISBN 1616460555.
- ^ "Falsehood in Wartime". Retrieved 11 November 2012.
- ^ Cull, Culbert, Welch, p.24
- ^ a b "How lies about Irish 'barbarism' in 1641 paved way for Cromwell's atrocities". The Guardian. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
- ^ Cull, Culbert, Welch, p. 23–4
- ISBN 978-1433520808.
- ISBN 978-0814764367.
- ISBN 1558492240.
- ^ "The Atrocity Propaganda Ben Franklin Circulated to Sway Public Opinion in America's Favor". Slate. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
- ISBN 978-1136618413.
- ISBN 978-1438100135.
- ^ Ponsonby, p.129
- ^ "Alleged German atrocities: Bryce report". The National Archives. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-1576078204.
- ISBN 978-0803228320.
- ISBN 978-9004191822.
- ISBN 978-0786478910.
- ISBN 978-0803228320.
- ^ "The Historian Who Sold Out". History News Network. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- ISBN 9780674504790.
- ISBN 978-0719067679.
- ISBN 978-0719067679.
- ISBN 0813128218.
- ISBN 978-0141925813.
- ISBN 0060006765.
- ISBN 1578064821.
- OCLC 50315054
- ^ "Führer Order, 15 Apr 1945".
- ^ ISBN 978-0199832668.
- ^ "Soviet Toys of Death". The New York Times. 10 December 1985. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
- ^ "Media : Truth Is Again a Casualty of War : Fabricated accounts of atrocities in Yugoslavia have often led to fierce reprisals". Los Angeles Times. 17 December 1991.
- ^ "When contemplating war, beware of babies in incubators". Christian Science Monitor. CSMonitor.com. 6 September 2002. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- ^ "Saddam Executed; An Era Comes to an End". ABC News.
- ^ "News Archive". U.S. Department of Defense.
- ^ Clwyd, Ann (March 18, 2003). "See men shredded, then say you don't back war". Times Online. Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Brendan O'Neill: The missing people-shredder". The Guardian. 25 February 2004. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- ^ "Is Jimmy Massey telling the truth about Iraq?". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Archived from the original on December 5, 2005. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ Wyatt, Edward (21 January 2005). "Iraqi Refugee's Tale of Abuse Dissolves Upon Later Scrutiny". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- ^ Dickey, Christopher (14 January 2009). "The Crying Game". Newsweek. – "histrionic claims by Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat that 1,000 civilians had been killed. (In fact, about 50 Palestinians had fought and died in a ferocious battle that also cost the lives of 23 Israeli soldiers.)"
- ^ Levy, Clifford J. (20 June 2010). "Barriers Removed in Kyrgyzstan Despite Uzbek Protests". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- ^ MacAskill, Ewen (29 April 2011). "Gaddafi 'supplies troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape', claims diplomat". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
- ^ "Amnesty questions claim that Gaddafi ordered rape as weapon of war". The Independent. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ Farchy, Jack (18 July 2014). "Malaysia Airlines crash: Russian media blame Kiev". Financial Times. FT.com.
- ^ a b "Russians Hear News About Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 That's Good for Kremlin". Wall Street Journal. WSJ. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
- ^ "Russian TV sparks outrage with Ukraine child 'crucifixion' claim". Yahoo News. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
- ^ Nemtsova, Anna (15 July 2014). "There's No Evidence the Ukrainian Army Crucified a Child in Slovyansk". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
- ^ Abdel-Fattah, Randa (2024-01-30). "How the NYT weaponised rape in service of Israeli propaganda". The New Arab. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
- ^ Litvin, Yoav. "The anatomy of Zionist genocide". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
- ^ Scahill, Jeremy (7 February 2024). "Netanyahu's War on Truth: Israel's Ruthless Propaganda to Dehumanize the Palestinians". The Intercept. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
References
- Ponsonby, Arthur (1928). Falsehood in Wartime. Containing an Assortment of Lies Circulated Throughout the Nations during the Great War. New York: E.P. Dutton & co., p. 128.
- Nicholas Cull; David Culbert; David Welch (2003). Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present. ABC-CLIO. pp. 23–25. ISBN 1576078205.
Further reading
- Gullace, Nicoletta F. "Allied Propaganda and World War I: Interwar Legacies, Media Studies, and the Politics of War Guilt" History Compass (Sept 2011) 9#9 pp 686–700
- Gordon, Gregory S. Atrocity Speech Law: Foundation, Fragmentation, Fruition, Oxford University Press, 2019. ISBN 978-0190612689
- Bromley, David G., ISBN 0275955087
- Shupe, A.D. and D.G. Bromley 1981 New Religious MovementsBarrytown NY Rose of Sharon Press 179–215
- Julien Théry, "Atrocitas/enormitas. Esquisse pour une histoire de la catégorie de 'crime énorme' du Moyen Âge à l'époque moderne", Clio@Themis, Revue électronique d'histoire du droit, n. 4, march 2011 Archived 2015-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Bruendel, Steffen: Othering/Atrocity Propaganda, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Lies, damn lies, and reports of battlefield atrocities – The Independent
- Atrocity propaganda – The British Library