Propaganda In The 1950s, Guatemala

Any society that shares a common knowledge and universal interest make use of propaganda. Look at social media for example. Arguably, social networks are the perfect environment for propaganda to thrive. There are millions of online people pushing their own opinions and agendas. An easy example of modern propaganda is any caricature of President Trump shown as an overweight, orange slob. While this is how some view Trump, it is biased. On the other side of that, Trump is well practiced in his constant criticism of the media spouting about, “fake news.” Both the media and Trump push their biased through propaganda.

In her essay, “Propaganda: How Not to Be Bamboozled”, author Donna Woolfolk Cross explains the different types of propaganda and how it is used in the United States. The essay was first published in Speaking of Words: A Language Reader (1977). Cross defines propaganda as “simply a means of persuasion and so it can be put to work for good causes as well as bad” (247). In her article she discusses how propaganda works and explains how propaganda is used with thirteen different devices to manipulate people’s thoughts, opinions, and ideas. She uses this essay as an informative piece, giving advice on how not to be manipulated by propaganda.

A very important element which influenced the shift in Guatemala's inflexible stance was the fact that Britain, backed by the 1960 U.N. Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples, has made it clear that whether or not Guatemala was ready to recognize Belize, Belize would become independent.  Belize gained independence from Britain and joined the UN under protests from Guatemala.” (Sylvestre, 1997)

Guatemala in 1960 would begin a civil war that would last for decades and since the Guatemalan civil war is very long only the initial years of the civil war will be discussed. According to John A., Booth, Wade, Christine J., Walker and Thomas W, “Colonel Castillo Armas, head of the National Liberation Movement (Movimiento de Liberación Nacional— MLN), assumed the presidency with the backing of the United States.” In 1954, Colonel Castillo Armas was a leader, that was backed up by the United States was pro-capitalism, and as the MLN dominated Guatemalan politics it had only favored the rich and upper middle class. According to John A., Booth, Wade, Christine J., Walker and Thomas W. “The MLN became a political party during the late 1950s, drawing together coffee plantation owners, municipal politicians and bureaucrats, owners of midsized farms.” Eventually Armas was assassinated, and General Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes became president. According to John A., Booth, Wade, Christine J., Walker and Thomas W. “Continued violence and corruption in the Ydígoras government prompted an abortive coup by

Propaganda is hard to define as most definitions do not cover the full meaning of the word. The Webster's Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary defines propaganda as " the systematic propagation or discrediting of a given doctrine or cause by circulation of polemical material, such as posters and leaflets" (1353). However, this definition does not cover the full scope of the of the word. Terence Qualter also feels the definition for propaganda needs to be more refined for its new usage. The definition that he gives is "the deliberate attempt...(to) form, control, or alter the attitudes of other groups...(with) the use of the instruments of communication" (27-28). He goes on to say that the propaganda must be aimed at the group in general because that is the basic nature of the word, in that the most effective propaganda is the propaganda which has a large audience. Qualter does mention, however, that there need be no difference in the propaganda to persuade one and the propaganda to persuade the many (28). Germany did this by controlling the flow of information into the country.

Political scientist Harold Lasswell defines propaganda as "the management of opinions and attitudes by the direct manipulation of social suggestion rather than by altering other conditions in the environment or in the organism" (Finch). A propagandist manipulates a situation in the mind of the subject instead of manipulating the situation itself. The propagandist is a spin doctor, who takes an idea and makes it appear

Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea.”

The 20th century was wrought with tragedy, corruption, and destruction of the small country of Guatemala. At the beginning of the century, the country was plagued by the rule of dictators and their oppressive regimes. Revolution brought about relative peace for a decade but then the country was subjected to decades of horror. The most notable and influential event in Guatemalan history is the infamous coup d’état Operation Success. This paper aims to examine the CIA overthrow along with the Guatemalan Spring along with President Jacobo Árbenz’s reforms that would eventually lead to the infamous coup d’état, as well as the role of the United States and the United Fruit Company played in the demise of the Guatemalan government.

As Hoffer explains, “...[propaganda] merely helps them to deceive themselves.” It gives people the liability to either change one’s opinion or bring attention towards a situation or subject. Moreover, manipulating people can also have a reverse effect. When one uses propaganda, their prime goal is to congregate a group of people and grab their attention while bringing awareness or expressing various opinions to different subjects for benefits. In other words, people cast their own viewpoints and outlooks to receive the benefits from others who may follow along to those beliefs.

at appropriation, breaking the deadlock of ladino monopoly of the state apparatus. Menchu states that poor and middle class lanidos had “more channels of access” when compared to Indians, the only differing factor being the ability to speak Spanish.

The public uses propaganda every day to form opinions of events. There are so many examples of propaganda that we see daily that it is hard to find the perfect example of how the public and propaganda form a relationship. After, thinking about it I realized that throughout my day I had fallen into propaganda many times throughout the day. For example, as I was grocery shopping I argued with my sister over what the best option was for the bread. We argued that the wheat was better because it was 70 calories a slice, gluten-free, along with multiple other advertisements on the front that suggested it was the best option. Of course, I fell into propaganda through these advertisements I began to form my opinion and believe this bread was best because

First, one must define propaganda and since many have done so already, I shall use the Sheryl Ross model. Her model defines propaganda as “an epistemically defective message designed with the intention to persuade a socially significant group of people on behalf of a political institution, organization, or cause.”

There are countless definitions of what propaganda is, and what it entails, and conversely what it is not, and what it does not entail. As Jacques Ellul covers in the preface of his book Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, even expert theorists on propaganda disagree on what propaganda is. Thus, it would not be possible to simply present a single definition. Thus, Ellul chooses to not give a particular definition of propaganda, instead focusing on analyzing the characteristics of propaganda of the time period of when he wrote the book . For the purposes of this paper, I will choose to define propaganda as the deliberate manipulation of information to create a narrative that aims to influence its audience to think about, or act on, a political issue that serves the interests of the propagandist. However, this paper is not aimed at proving this particular definition correct; like Ellul, I am more interested in analyzing the particular nature of Israeli propaganda, and how it appeals to diverse audiences simultaneously, yet

In a time where the United States was guarding against the spread of Communism to Latin America, the workers of Guatemala faced a difficult time organizing to demand benefits and rights from their employers. Among others that struggled to form organized labor through the various repressive governments, the union at the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in the capital city was one of the most successful. This success can be attributed to the favorable rulings of Guatemalan labor courts, the tenacity of the union’s members, international support and the cooperation of the transnational corporation of Coca-Cola, headquartered in the United States.

The United Fruit Company was chiefly concerned with their own personal profit of land, which led to the massacres of the Mayan people. Jacobo Arbenz, the president of Guatemala, “tried to institute agrarian reforms that would hand over fallow land to dispossessed peasants... but unfortunately for him, most of that territory belonged to the largest landowner and most powerful body in the state: the American-owned United Fruit Company”(Schlesinger). The United Fruit Company’s ambitions to keep their land motivated them to convince the United States that Guatemala was being subdued to communism; propelling the United States to become actively involved in Guatemala. Their greed and selfishness resulted in a civil war and