Public diplomacy

Public diplomacy.

"THE MOST POTENT WEAPON IN THE HANDS OF THE OPPRESSOR IS THE MIND OF THE OPPRESSED" Steven Biko
Human mind is susceptible to any message transmitted with a lot of passion, however the truth it is not important, public diplomacy has been always used with the sole purpose to influence ideas, perceptions and actions. Either positive or negative, propaganda is a weapon most efficient when it comes to influencing the public opinion.
Having said that i am using this cited in order to accentuate the proportions that a subliminal message can have on human minds.

In his book"The twenty years'crisis", E.H.Carr speaks about propaganda(public diplomacy), as being:"the organized use of power over opinion as a regular instrument of foreign policy is a modern development".(Carr,2001.p121).
However i think that propaganda has been used in the past by many rulers and states. Once its power has been discovered it has become an indispensable tool for the governments that were trying to promote their wars, interests, and future trade interests.
Hitler has used propaganda as a way of communicating with the people (masses), not with the intellectuals. Hitler thought of propaganda as a weapon to manipulate the public.In his book "Mein Kampf", he has dedicated an entire chapter to this aspect of diplomacy and public influence.
States to this present days is using public diplomacy as a non violent way in which countries can be conquered.
I would like to clarify that for me; public diplomacy, is the synonym of propaganda. Having said that i am not implying only a negative side, under contrary it can have and it can be used both ways. As the public does not have a power of decision on the matters concerned with public diplomacy, nor does it have the power to vote against something or for something, is only reduced to watch, analyze and interpret events, political or any other.
In history means of persuasion have always been used, who can deny that, if we look at the history of religion and the way it has been promoted over the years we would clearly see that influencing the public opinion has been always present, perhaps at a lower or a less developed level, nevertheless it has been used.

The question is not whether propaganda should be used, the question is why and how it is used. The very concept of propaganda is seen as being negative,however how is one to promote their interest and their ideas if not by conveying them to the public and by promoting them in order to achieve followers, so the problem stems from the reason that propaganda has been used so far and the purposes that are hidden behind this concept. It is the negative way in which the concept is put into practice, is as if the public is being used and not informed in a manner that would lead to a truthful conclusion. Public diplomacy is as if is void of any traces of veracity and substantial meaning. Is the public to be treated as objects in order to achieve justification for the unjust acts or power abuses that a government or a political leader is to commit?, is the public to be mislead by the so called national interests, peace and security ideas or ideals? The reason why the public reacts strongly against propaganda is this; the mass manipulation with the intention of negative suppressing and diminishing of the truth and of public meaningful contribution.

A good example would be the way in which the media has handled the case of Milosevic and his trial in Hague. In this matter the way that Milosevic was presented by the media as a major and sole responsible for war crimes have influenced the way in which he is perceived by the public. No one can deny that Milosevic was responsible for many miss deeds, however he was not alone in this matter. The intervention made by USA in his country had the same effect and the ultimately lead to the same damaging and distractions. In the article written by Edward S. Herman he elaborates on the way in which public diplomacy/ propaganda was used in this case:"feature of the U.S. system is that this propaganda service is provided without government censorship or coercion, by self- censorship alone, with the truth of the propaganda line internalized by the numerous media participants. This internalization of belief makes it possible for media personnel to be enthusiastic spokespersons in pushing the party line, thereby giving it a naturalness that is lacking in crude systems of government-enforced propaganda."(www.globalresearch.ca/index. accessed 18/01/2011).


In general it is believed that public diplomacy it is often used by governments in order to promote the needs and the views of the respective government and all this in the name of national interest or even at a larger scale(globally).

The concept of public diplomacy is very convoluted and often the subliminal messages that are hidden behind it are so strong that it is very difficult to distinguish among the reality of a fact or the implication that it has entirely.
The concept of public diplomacy in our time has become a system, and often USA(great powers) is accused of using it because it is believed that it appeals to a large portion of the public. It is believed that the majority of the public " doesn't recognize the media's propaganda role, and accepts the media's own self-image as independent, adversary, truth-seeking, and helping the public to "assert meaningful control over the political process".(www.human-nature.com/reason).


Public diplomacy has been recently used to clarify and to help improve the image of the USA trough the recent elected President Obama. He has been awarded the peace Nobel price before he had made any concrete foreign policy achievement.(news.bbc.co.uk).
The award that has been given to President Obama it is believed to have been in order to improve the unpleasant image that the previous presidency have had, in other words:a positive image is created for USA trough the means of the Peace Nobel Prize. President Obama has been offered this distinction based solely on the promise that he will change the foreign policies of USA and that he is to promote peace and not war. The fact that he is awarded is part of the subterfuge that is used here to create and to promote the concept of a better state of affairs universally and not only at a national level(not only to improve USA s image).
The public(people) generally likes symbolism's, that fore the award is like a catharsis for the USA and also creates the impression that there will be something positive,that there will be a radical change at all levels:cultural, economic and so on. The abuses of power that have been taking place so far are to take an end with the election of the new President.
Super powers and generally speaking the countries have often recurred to such subterfuges in order to gain the good opinion of the people.



E.H.CARR(2001)"The twenty years'crisis".New York,Palgrave.

Hitler A(1999)Mein Kampf.Boston: Houghton.

http//news.bbc.co.uk

www.human-nature.com/reason/01/herman.

www.globalresearch.ca/index.