Telling untrue facts often doesn’t work effectively as a propaganda technique, because it’s relatively easy for people to fact-check you (especially in these crazy times of smartphones & Google.) However, strategically omitting inconvenient facts from your narrative can be much harder to detect, especially if the recipient has no idea what facts were left out — you can’t easily look for those ‘unknown unknowns.’
Join Prof CJ as he discusses:
- What he means by ‘historical lies by omission,’ and how these are frequently the most effective ways to manipulate history for one’s own ends
- How ignoring the histories of marginalized groups was for a long time an example of this, but is less of one today (at least among academic historians)
- Some examples of historical lies by omission still commonly present in popularly believed historical narratives, including the supposed necessity of the ‘Civil War’ to end slavery in America, the sinking of the Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, the atomic bombing of Japan, and more recent instances of blowback
External Links
- Howard Zinn interview mentioned in this episode (the part referred to in the episode is at approximately 56:50, though of course I recommend watching the whole thing, as he has some great things to say on many other topics)
- A great Robert Higgs lecture on how the Pearl Harbor attack was clearly and purposefully provoked
- Bill Richardson & Madeleine Albright talking about killing half a million Iraqi children with sanctions in the 1990s, and how that was ‘worth it’ to harm Saddam Hussein’s regime
Prof CJ’s Picks (buy anything from Amazon via these links to help support the show at no additional cost to you)
