Seminar 1 (History of Propaganda and Information Warfare)

Questions:

1. What is information war?

Information war comprises two aspects:

1. One is technical (destruction and sabotage of your enemy’s information systems,

electronics, logistics and protection of your own nation’s communication systems). It is
often called cyber war.

2. The second aspect of information war relates to psychology and means an influence on
your enemy’s consciousness and sub-consciousness and at the same time protection of
your own population in this sphere.

2. What is propaganda?
Propaganda can be understood as an activity aimed at influencing people’s thinking and behavior
in the direction chosen by a propagandist.

3. What questions should we ask ourselves when listening to propaganda?

We should apply the Lenin formula: why it happened? Who benefits from that? You should try
to identify the message, the sender or author, and recipient of the message.

4. What civilization waves do scientists distinguish?

- Agrarian civilization (after the epoch of gathering and hunting, when people learned how
to produce food – the agrarian revolution, division of labor, creation of hierarchical
structures, wars to get new territories)

- Industrial civilization (300 years ago, wars to get new resources)

- Postindustrial (informational) civilization (technological civilization or the information

society after the 1950s, dominant role of information and knowledge, wars for control
over knowledge, information wars)

5. Communication revolutions in the 20th century

- Transformation of the press (newspapers, magazines) into the means of mass
information. Spread of literacy contributed to those processes.

- The advent of radio and its transformation into a media.

- TV – 1950s – 1960s

- The development of satellite and cable telecommunications and the creation of computer
networks.
 6. Features of modern media
- Demasification (dispersion, stratification) of traditional media. Cable and satellite TV
offer different channels to different groups (sports, wars, animals, art, etc). The
advertising business is interested in reaching the target audience, which can be defined by
certain criteria. For example, teenagers, young adults, overweight women, etc.

- Globalization of the media. The 1990s saw the rapid development of the World Wide
Web. In 2005 there were 600 million internet users; in 2012 - already 2.27 billion.

- Quick and cheap transfer of information.

- Constant updating of information resources.

7. Information society
In the information society time becomes the most valuable and rare resource. The service sector
plays a dominant role in the economy. It prevails over industry and agriculture. The basis of the
sphere of services is mainly the processing of information (electronic banking operations,
booking of tickets and hotels, buying and selling online, etc.)

In the information society, information plays a key role in the functioning of public and state
institutions and in the life of every person. Information is used as an economic resource (to
stimulate innovations, strengthening of competitiveness). In the information society the
economic power is based on high technologies, primarily in the information sphere.

The information society is a society in which everyone could create information and knowledge,
have access to, use and share them (for example on YouTube, Facebook, etc)

The transformation of information into a product has led to a sharp escalation of international
competition for the possession of information markets, technologies and resources, and the
information sphere largely determines the state of economic, defense, social, political and other
components of the country's national security.

Today, in the information society, the information resource is becoming as important for the
country as its minerals, production and human resources. Personal has become public, such as in
the case of pop stars or politicians. The sphere of politics has become much more public and new
opportunities have emerged for manipulating public opinion through social networks.

8. Major forms of propaganda

- White propaganda – the source is open

- Grey propaganda – the source is vague or obscure

- Black propaganda – the source is distorted

9. Who are immune to propaganda? Why is propaganda such successful?

Scientists calculated that there are only 5 percent of people who are immune to propaganda, but
they are usually members of some religious sects which try to isolate their members from
external information, or people with real mental problems. Because it attacks your emotions,
your values.

10.Tasks of information wars

- Discrediting public authorities and triggering strikes, riots, other protests and
disobedience.

- Provoking social, political, national-ethnic and religious clashes.

- Destabilization of political relations between parties, unions and movements for the
purpose of fomenting conflicts, stimulating mistrust, suspicion, aggravation of hostility

- Undermining the morale of the population and, consequently, reducing the country's
defense capability

11.Explain why ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and other peoples

created monumental structures
They were first created for propagandistic purposes. Their tasks were to impress people and to
show the power of their rulers.

12.What was the purpose of the Hammurabi stele?

That the God gives the power directly to the King. His power is given by God.

13.Tell about the propaganda messages of Assyrians

The Assyrians leveled the rebellious cities to the ground and then sprinkled the soil with salt.
The propaganda of the brutality of the Assyrian army was aimed at subjugating other peoples.
The aims of the pictures on the walls and pottery were first propagandistic.

14.The Ancient Greek Theatre as a propaganda tool

Greek theater was a great tool for socialization as it was regularly visited by most of the city's
population. The Greek theatre played an important role in propagating patriotism and cultural
values which kept the Greek society together.

15.The pottery of Ancient Greece as a propaganda tool. Why was mythology so

important for ancient Greeks?
Ceramic in Ancient Greece was also used for spreading (propagating) the mythology which
consolidated society. Pictures of Greek mythology on pottery can also be considered
propaganda. People looked at paintings and studied mythology, which was important for the
dissemination and preservation of Greek values.
 16.Why did Alexander the Great order to mint coins with his portrait in the
image of Zeus’ son?
Propaganda depicted Alexander the Great as the son of Zeus. Thus, people were to believe that
Alexander’s power had a divine origin.

17.How did Octavian use coins in his information war against his political
opponents?
Octavian ordered to issue coins where Antony was mocked as drunkard, womanizer and
Cleopatra’s puppet. The idea of that information warfare was to discredit Antony, his main
enemy in the civil war.

18. What was typical of statues of Roman emperors? What message did they
have to convey?
Statues of emperors and famous generals were placed throughout the empire to demonstrate the
invincibility of Rome.

19.Tell about the purpose of Roman triumphal arches, columns, and eagles.
What effects did they have on other nations?
Triumphal arches were designed to propagate the power of the Roman emperor and his
invincible army. The pictures on the column were to propagate the success of the Roman army in
military campaigns. The Roman eagle was adopted by many countries and was used to propagate
power.

Literature:

Power point materials

Philip M. Taylor. A History of Propaganda from the Ancient World to the Present
Day (appropriate pages)

Materials from online encyclopedias (Britannica, Encarta, Wikipedia)