Why do totalitarian propagandas such as those created in Nazi Germany and the former German Democratic Republic initially succeed, and why do they ultimately fail? Outside observers often make two serious mistakes when they interpret the propaganda spawned by these authoritarian regimes. First, they assume their propagandas worked largely because they were supported by a police state, that people cheered Hitler and Honecker because they feared the consequences of not doing so. Second, they assume that propaganda really succeeded in persuading most of the citizenry, that the Nuremberg rallies were a reflection of how most Germans thought, or that most East Germans were convinced Marxist-Leninists. World War II Allies feared that rooting out Nazism would be a very difficult task.
No leading scholar or politician in the West expected East Germany to collapse nearly rapidly as it did. Effective propaganda depends on a full range of persuasive methods, from the gentlest suggestion to overt violence, which the dictatorship of the 20th century understood well. In many ways, modern totalitarian movements rest upon worldviews that are religious in nature. Nazism and Marxism-Leninism presented themselves as explanations for all of life - culture, morality, science, history, recreation. They provided people with reasons for accepting the status quo. Bending Spines examines the full range of persuasive techniques used by Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic, and concludes that both systems failed in part because they expected more of their propaganda than it was able to deliver.
- ISBN10 0870137107
- ISBN13 9780870137105
- Publish Date 31 July 2004
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 16 April 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Michigan State University Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 228
- Language English