Sadam and 9\11 - The Manipulation of the Masses

Propaganda must always address itself to the broad masses of the people. For the intellectual classes, or what are called the
intellectual classes to-day, propaganda is not suited, but only scientific exposition. Propaganda has as little to do with Science as
an advertisement poster has to do with art, as far as concerns the form in which it presents its message. The art of the
advertisement poster consists in the ability of the designer to attract the attention of the crowd through the form and colours he
chooses. The advertisement poster announcing an exhibition of art has no other aim than to convince the public of the
importance of the exhibition. The better it does that, the better is the art of the poster as such. Being meant accordingly to
impress upon the public the meaning of the exposition, the poster can never take the place of the artistic objects displayed in the
exposition hall. They are something entirely different. Therefore. those who wish to study the artistic display must study
something that is quite different from the poster; indeed for that purpose a mere wandering through the exhibition galleries is of
no use. The student of art must carefully and thoroughly study each exhibit in order slowly to form a judicious opinion about it.

The situation is the same in regard to what we understand by the word, propaganda. The purpose of propaganda is not the
personal instruction of the individual, but rather to attract public attention to certain things, the importance of which can be
brought home to the masses only by this means.

Here the art of propaganda consists in putting a matter so clearly and forcibly before the minds of the people as to create a
general conviction regarding the reality of a certain fact, the necessity of certain things and the just character of something that is
essential. But as this art is not an end in itself and because its purpose must be exactly that of the advertisement poster, to
attract the attention of the masses and not by any means to dispense individual instructions to those who already have an
educated opinion on things or who wish to form such an opinion on grounds of objective study – because that is not the
purpose of propaganda, it must appeal to the feelings of the public rather than to their reasoning powers.

"All propaganda must be presented in a popular form and must fix its intellectual level so as not to be above the heads of the
least intellectual of those to whom it is directed. Thus its purely intellectual level will have to be that of the lowest mental
common denominator among the public it is desired to reach. When there is question of bringing a whole nation within the circle
of its influence, as happens in the case of war propaganda, then too much attention cannot be paid to the necessity of avoiding a
high level, which presupposes a relatively high degree of intelligence among the public.

The more modest the scientific tenor of this propaganda and the more it is addressed exclusively to public sentiment, the more
decisive will be its success. This is the best test of the value of a propaganda, and not the approbation of a small group of
intellectuals or artistic people.

The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their
feelings, in finding the appropriate psychological form that will arrest the attention and appeal to the hearts of the national
masses. That this is not understood by those among us whose wits are supposed to have been sharpened to the highest pitch is
only another proof of their vanity or mental inertia."

Adolph Hitler
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