Verified Document

Moral Man And Immoral Society Book Review

Niebuhr The reaction that I had to Reinhold Niebuhr's Moral Man and Immoral Society was extremely complicated, but I ultimately found the implications that Niebuhr's beliefs would have for the American political system to be exceptionally troubling. The problem here comes when Niebhr endorses the necessity of propaganda in a civilized society. Since Niebuhr believes in "the stupidity of the average man" (21) and believes these people must be persuaded by means of "dogmas, symbols, and emotionally potent oversimplifications" which build "morale" (xxvii) this fundamentally believes that propaganda is the most useful tool for social control, even acknowledging that "there is an element of propaganda in all education" (245).

For me, this seems to describe perfectly a troubling trend in American politics which has been brewing for some time. What is propaganda? Well, look at the sort of stuff that Hollywood churned out during World War Two. It was part of the mobilization effort in America, which was not threatened by the war. America was mobilized purely through mass-media propaganda. This is presumably what Niebuhr had in mind when he wrote about the necessity of propaganda. But this is a German theologian, ultimately, writing about the crude means that were required to get America to invade Germany, and how it presumably shall be necessary to employ these sort of "emotionally potent oversimplifications."...

Obviously "emotionally potent oversimplifications" -- especially those guaranteed to catch on memetically with the ornery elderly viewers of Fox News -- are the stock in trade of most Fox News coverage. However, there is also an astonishing amount of outright lying, of deliberately partisan skewing of facts, and a craven willingness to do the dirty work of a political party. This is not "the stupidity of the average man" because, in this case, the average man is actually being made more stupid by the actual propaganda being broadcast. Fox News is like educational television, except it offers not education but a form of indoctrination to an agreed-upon partisan ideology which is by no means uncontroversial: in some sense, therefore, it is basically educating its watchers into an increased stupidity.
Now why did Reinhold Niebuhr endorse nonstop propaganda? Because his most immediate example would have been the propaganda campaign that was required to get America into World War Two. Presumably Niebuhr believed, as most Americans do to this day, that World War Two was a righteous war. Therefore the ends justify the means. But in the case of something like Fox News, which represents the routinization of propaganda, the goals are a lot more questionable. Stopping a belligerent genocidal fascist regime is…

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Morality and Ethics in Henry Fielding's Novel
Words: 2872 Length: 9 Document Type: Term Paper

Morality and Ethics in Henry Fielding's Novel Joseph Andrews This paper looks into the subject of morality and ethics as depicted by Henry Fielding in his novel 'Joseph Andrews'. The book seeks to discard the notions held by 18th century English society in connection with morality and thus offers a better and 'more active' definition of the term. According to Fielding, morality was not solely connected with chastity and thus he

Morality Then and Now the
Words: 7400 Length: 17 Document Type: Essay

This is the perfect way to end this poem. The ending is in fact effective and consistent. The entire time, the duke speaks about how it was to have his wife besides him and how much he did not agree with her behavior. He then makes an insinuation that it was him in fact that had her killed. The ending leaves the reader in a sort of shock. The lines,

Moral Development
Words: 1083 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Moral Development & Gender Bias The influence of moral development on the perpetuation of gender bias among males and females in the school setting In analyzing the moral development that humans undergo from childhood to adulthood, it is important to look into the models and theories in psychology that served as the foundation of this field. Moral development among humans can be categorized into different stages, in the same way that human

Moral Impermissibility of Abortion Albert
Words: 1428 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

The pro-life arguments state that a fetus is in fact a real-life person in the making. Is true there's no supporting scientific evidence for the beginning of personhood, but what if an unborn child has a soul and can actually feel pain? Isn't then artificial abortion a crime? Just because we are not sure, we should take the most radical solution that we can and are allowed to by

Morality in Literature Journey As Pursuit for
Words: 1789 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Morality in Literature Journey as pursuit for 'true' morality: Literary analysis of works from William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Moliere, Dante, and Samuel Coleridge More than depicting the nature of humanity, literature has also seen the preponderance of artistic works that delve into the morality of humans. Society has been exposed to the dichotomy and conflict between goodness and evil, or, more concretely, between what is considered as right or wrong. The standard

Moral and Not Belief in God Humanity
Words: 2170 Length: 7 Document Type: Thesis

moral and not belief in God? Humanity encompasses all aspects about exemplification of life and the utmost being. The origin of man is detrimental to the subsequent behaviours and codes of living among these human beings. In most cases, many researchers have shown that human existence is based on the origin and existence of God. God is regarded as a supreme being who gives and takes life. Nonetheless, human behaviour

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now