Poll: is that propaganda?

[idodo35]

so im in the 11th grade and i live in israel that means that in 2 years i have to join the army for 3 years (yes have to its mandatory in israel...) so today we had a pre first order day to get us ready for the first round of tests to see where you are going to serve.
as part of the day we were shown a movie that should show us what we will go through in our first order (first order=the first round of tests freely translated) so in the video a boy our age named dani who is our age is called for the tests. he says how exited he is and how he cant wait to get into the "action" (which is followed by shots of planes tanks and soliders that looks like they were brought from a batellfield playthrough) then he goes off and is told with slight humor about all the phases of the tests and is given tips and what not...
so i ask you isnt that propaganda? i dont mean the whole thing (that would be silly) but the part when the boy (who we are supossed to reflect on) says how exited he is about going to battle and then we are being shown how "awsome" it will be and how exited we are supposed to be as well...
what do you think then?

EDIT: btw the kid was an actor...
also im not claiming all propaganda is bad (this one is for difrent reasons that i wont get into now) the argument with my friend was IS it propaganda not is it bad...
ive seen on many of the commets that "it doesnt show the bad stuff" argument and i must say that my buddy (whom im having this argument with) said that it doesnt show what happens but what the kid wants/expects it to be! so thats thats...


*DISCLAIMER*: i am not trying to insult anyone or disrespect millitary men i just had an argument with a classmate who says this isnt propaganda...

 

[idodo35]

Of course it's propaganda, otherwise the kid would've been mentally disturbed in some way.

probably should have noted he was an actor...

 

[Hugga_Bear]

More or less but it's worth noting that it's no different to anything else. We have adverts for the army over here which flat out lie about what's going to happen and the soldiers are always represented by extremely handsome but rugged men who are doing brave but do-able things and having a jolly good time doing it too while pretty tanks and choppers go past. We never see anything bad, it's always the good and we're meant to want to emulate the badassery of what we see.

Such is advertising really, it's no different anywhere you go. I would say it's propoganda yeah but it's not terrible for it.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Ofcourse it's propaganda, every military will spoon feed you heroic patriotism till your ears bleed so you wont hesitate even for a second when they tell you to kill people for them.

 

[Spectral Dragon]

Of course it's propaganda. Objective info would pull out the negative stuff too. It's propaganda, but... What do you expect? Obviously you want people enthusiastic for whatever cause you want them excited for.

 

[rutger5000]

Well the tanks and airplanes doe hint to propoganda. But I the description you gave sound mostly like a commercial for the army. I suppose you can't help those being propaganda.
In short I kind of need to side with Sober Thai.

 

[sarttan]

Yep. Anything that declares something like that with such enthusiasm about something they were unsure about at first is clearly propoganda in my book.

I don't mind it though since you're having to do this anyway. Its like a commercial promoting reporting to the pollice or fire department should trouble arise.

 

[LordFisheh]

Pretty much everything is propaganda, I guess. Everyone has a message after all. The only thing to do is to encourage people to decide for themselves, since it't hard to ban some pieces of propaganda but not others. Where is the line drawn, who gets to decide where, and so on.

 

[random980]

Ok, go watch tv, and tell me the first add you see that doesnt use propaganda to sell itself.
Have fun never coming back.
Almost everything that tries to sell itself or plant an idea into someones head via a type of media will use or is propaganda. Including that army video you just watched.
Unless its brutally honest and doesnt try to persuade you, its got propaganda in it.

If you want some reasons why, to tell to your friend, that it is propaganda, tell him.
1. The misrepresentation of the army men make you feel like you can look all buffed up and cool if you serve in the army. Which is false, you are you, not some buffed up video model. Also the shots of the planes and tanks are probably meant to get some sort of 'hey thats cool' reaction, but do realize what they are being using for? War, and warfare isnt that 'cool' now is it?

2. The 'excited' kid. Trying to persuade you military service is all fun and awesome and full of action. Full of 'action' sure, but i hardly doubt it will be the fun or awesome kind. If that kind even exists...

3. The slight humour used about the phases of tests? Persuading you to think the upcoming phases will be easy and you will be able to shrug them off. Reality, they might be tough, stressful and a pain in the ass. Although this IS trying to encourage and reassure you positively, its still propaganda.

So 3 obvious reasons why the video was propaganda. Also you say it would be silly if the whole thing was propaganda... well it kinda is. (unless there was more to the video that you didnt mention).
3 obvious reasons why that video was propaganda. (and the fact that it wasnt realistically honest)

 

[Gianni Carlo]

It's a worthwhile question but I don't think it's as clear cut the current poll results suggest. Ironically the word propaganda itself has only gained its derogatory connotation during the second world war and in the ensuing cold war, but as we must recognize this change it is worth asking what exactly propaganda implies. If you are relying on the modern denotation it's an open and shut case as any video that claims mandatory service in an active military is an awesome thing to celebrate is obviously biased and strongly misleading for the purpose of promoting a political cause. It is possible to have a different take on it however. Since your service will be mandatory the video obviously doesn't serve as a recruitment tool. In the end effect whether you think the military is awesome and the tests you'll have to do are fun is entirely irrelevant as to whether you will join the military and do the test, after all you must. Given that, it isn't necessarily true that the video deserves to be described with a derogatory term as the only purpose it really serves it you give you some information and attempt to make you a little more excited for something you're going to have to do no matter what.

Interestingly enough I was wondering the very same thing a short while ago. I'm Swiss, and while this may surprise some of you we also have mandatory military service. In contrast to Israel where the army is unattractive because combat is a likely matter the reasons the Swiss army is unpopular is obviously the utter superfluousness of it. The only thing service does here is interrupt your education or work without imparting any valuable skills to you at all or making you feel like you've actually done something to help out your people and/or your country. So similarly to how I must assume it to be in Israel the military and the fact that service is mandatory is distinctly unpopular. Now, a short while ago I was called to an information evening about the army. After explaining the various bureaucratic procedures the officer conducting the session showed us a video showing, just like you described, a guy meant to represent "one of us" watching soldiers from the various divisions of our army in Battlefield like situations, combat training, etc with the clear message: "This is really cool."

So that's what set me off on thinking about this question. Take it as you will, and perhaps with this thought it ming: If only that video were the only propaganda coming your way the next few years...

 

[Something Amyss]

More or less but it's worth noting that it's no different to anything else. We have adverts for the army over here which flat out lie about what's going to happen and the soldiers are always represented by extremely handsome but rugged men who are doing brave but do-able things and having a jolly good time doing it too while pretty tanks and choppers go past. We never see anything bad, it's always the good and we're meant to want to emulate the badassery of what we see.

Such is advertising really, it's no different anywhere you go. I would say it's propoganda yeah but it's not terrible for it.

You mean I'm not gonna slay dragons if I join the marines????

 

[Simon Pettersson]

"Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group.

As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda is often biased, with facts selectively presented (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political, or other type of agenda. Propaganda can be used as a form of political warfare."

Sorry taken from Wikipedia.

If it is aimed at inluencing you it is propaganda.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

They are just trying to get you excited about your service. Its not like you have a choice in the matter, as its mandatory, so they figure it`ll go easier if you are actually looking forward to it, or at least aren`t dreading it. Imagine if the video was realistic? "Welcome to the military! For the next three years, your life will be one long stretch of boredom and intense regulation, with the occassional bout of pants wetting terror. Enjoy!"