The illusion of freedom: propaganda and the informational swamp

Abstract

Having found myself in Tallin as a school boy, I eagerly awaited a chance to watch TV. For those of us residing in Riga, Estonia was a place where you could catch a glimpse of the TV programing from Finland. Or so the rumor had it. My persistence paid off eventually, and when I had my wish granted I was treated to an excruciatingly boring concert of Finnish folk singing. Not a bit discouraged, I assumed that this first encounter with Europe was a programing fluke and that my curiosity would be rewarded next time. Never did I stop envying those lucky enough to watch broadcasts from the West. The luckiest folks naturally lived in East Berlin. Unable to cope with the competition, the communist authorities built the tallest transmitting tower in Germany that still disfigures Berlin. This trick failed to block the competitor, however. Once that became clear, the Eastern rulers settled on point-by-point rebutting the news reaching its citizens from the West, offering instead a steady diet of Marxist propaganda. The whole operation was as futile as it was expensive – only the news coming from the West was deemed to be trustworthy. It is easy to infer from this that inhabitants of the East German capital were best informed about the Western world. After all, TV is the face of a nation, its national character and ideals splashed all over the TV screen. Sitcoms and advertisements do much better job than sermons and constitutions in getting across a nation’s ethos and etiquette, its unwritten yet pervasive laws. I learned that much when I made my way to the United States where I encountered a language of mass culture unfamiliar to me. Such language is essential when it comes to reading subtle cues and hidden citations, understanding jokes and punch lines, and what is equally important – distinguishing kindred people from those of a different kind. Surely, those watching a TV show like ‘Rosanne’ will vote for different candidates than those favoring ‘Seinfeld’ or M*A*S*H. This has nothing to do with a political message that the show producers might want to impart – viewers are the ones who attribute meaning to what they observe on the screen. Producers merely tap into their audience’s fickle moods. As any market phenomenon, mass culture is a risky investment. Even when pitched to a target audience, its product’s impact is hard to calculate. Ever so tentatively, mass culture