As Team Trump Stokes Dangerous Hate for Haitians, It's a Good Time to Spread Propaganda Literacy
If you like what I’m trying to do with Sustain What, hit the ♡ button. Even as Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine has defended the vast majority of the state’s Haitian population, while recognizing serious issues related to the surge of newcomers, Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, has double downed on his calls to “fellow patriots” to “keep the cat memes flowing” - stoking sufficient fear and hatred in pursuit of the White House that bomb threats continue and racist Proud Boys have reportedly showed up in Springfield. And Haitian residents are living in fear. With all of this in mind, I thought it worth highlighting a Sustain What conversation I had in December 2020, as then-President Trump pushed his “stop the steal” election lies and laid the foundation for the January 6 insurrection. My guest was University of Rhode Island communications professor Renee Hobbs, who teaches propaganda literacy, is the author of a fantastic guide book, Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education in a Digital Age, and has built a priceless suite of online learning tools to explore and share. Here’s a book excerpt! She provides a fantastic overview of the range of propaganda strategies, tactics and tools, noting the word should be seen as neutral. There is “good” propaganda. But, boy, there is dangerous propaganda, as well. Emergency mode A key section of our conversation dealt with the kind of dangerous political propaganda that is in overdrive right now. I told Hobbs about a conversation I had earlier in 2020 with New York University journalism professort Jay Rosen, when he was warning newsrooms that democracy was in danger in the face of Trump’s nonstop lies and this required new approaches to reporting and presenting the news. Here’s that snippet from Jay, in which he said, “I think we’re facing the biggest propaganda moment in modern U.S. history.” Keeping in mind what transpired amid the pandemic, and even more so the following January, he was surely right. And here we are again. In December 2020, Hobbs wholeheartedly concurred with his perspective: I have a sure sense of urgency. The fire hose of falsehood…actually goes way, way back. That's not a new technique either…. Actually throughout the 20th century, we have faced crises where propagandists had ascendency, where their ideas gained traction, and where only with a relentless pursuit of truth, only with the public activation of moral indignation, only over time can can truly dangerous propaganda be be countered. So we're in that place right now. And we're very vulnerable. And, yes, here we are yet again. So please listen up and share this converastion. There’s a (very) rough searchable transcript here. Transcripts can be smoothed out if more of my subscribers chip in financially. I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber to help sustain my work and keep this content open for those who can’t afford to pay. And please explore Hobbs’s fantastic array of open learning resources! There’s a whole section on “meme politics.” There’s a crowd-sourced “rate this propaganda” gallery. Here’s my full April 2020 conversation with Jay Rosen: The Press, the Pandemic and Presidential Propaganda This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit revkin.substack.com/subscribe
