Diplomacy vs Propaganda (John H Brown)

Xah Lee, 2011-02-28

My blog entry What is Al Jazeera? and What's Al Hurra?, is quoted by ex US diplomat John H. Brown at his blog at Source publicdiplomacypressandblogreview.blogspot.com.

Here's a quote from Wikipedia about John H Brown:

Brown, who received a Ph.D. in Russian History from Princeton University in 1977, was a member of the U.S. Foreign Service from 1981 until March 10, 2003 where he resigned over the war in Iraq;

Here's a video linked from his blog site, about the issue of diplomacy vs propaganda:

In the video, he lists 4 things about propaganda:

• ① Simplification of the issues.
• ② Constant repetition of slogans that's often unconnected. (e.g. weapons of mass destruction, regime change)
• ③ Demonization of the “other”. (e.g. the “evil”, the “other”)
• ④ Stretching the truth, to unacceptable limits.