This is a blog about my teaching, research and service with some occasional personal comments thrown in. These are my notes on a variety of topics. If you want to follow my blog posts on a specific topic, then see the Table of Contents in the right-hand column. While I try to work in the realm of facts, logic and moral absolutes, if there are any opinions expressed here, they are my own. -WilliamHartPhD
So, dehumanization of the enemy was done in the past all over the world. Does it still happen in the 21st century? That's the question that my co-author and I asked in our study of editorial cartoons of bin Laden and the Taliban after the events of 9/11.
In short, our study found that people (U.S. leaders and editorial cartoonist, in this case) continued to use the dehumanizing visual metaphors identified by Keen -- enemy-as-animal, enemy-as-barbarian, enemy-as-criminal, etc.
We closed our book chapter with the following important note.
Does this process of dehumanization continue today? Let's check the news.
Why is it that during times of war people see the enemy of as animals, as monsters, as barbarians, as devil or death? Put differently, why do people dehumanize the enemy? What purpose does it serve?
Social psychologist Sam Keen offers some answers in his book and a doc based on the book. Here's the beginning of the doc. I'd encourage you to see the rest.
How do we dehumanize? Why do we dehumanize? Why do we make the enemy less than human?
According to Keen, there are a dozen or so common ways that the enemy is seen.
Enemy-as-Animal,
Enemy-as-Barbarian,
Enemy-as-Death,
Enemy-as-Enemy-of-God,
Enemy-as-Criminal,
Enemy-as-All-the-Same
etc.
Keen argues that the enemy is dehumanized because it justifies the killing of the enemy. If the enemy is not a civilized human like us, then, according to Keen, the guilt associated with killing then enemy is greatly lessened and killing is easier.
During World War II the Nazis dehumanized Jewish people. Notice the dehumanization of Jewish people in the Nazi propaganda film called the "Eternal Jews". Watch at least the first five minutes of the film. What was the purpose of this dehumanization of Jewish people?
Just in a 5 minute clip from about 13:45 to 18:37, what dehumanizing metaphors are used?
If you are interested, for more a detailed study of the dehumanizing metaphors used in The Eternal Jew, see:
Hassencahl F. & Hart, W. B. (March, 2013).A fantasy-theme analysis of Der Ewige Jude(The Eternal Jew): From WWII Nazi propaganda to YouTube today.A paper presented at the national Popular Culture Association convention, Washington, DC.
Note: See in relationship between dehumanizing an enemy in war time andracism?
Spot any dehumanization in the following U.S. training film from World War II?
The following is a 1945 World War II propaganda film released by the U.S. War Department entitled "Know Your Enemy: Japan" Who watched this film? What was the purpose of the film?
Title: "Reflections" Photographer: William Hart, Ph.D. http://bit.ly/1meoMVj Description: "via Instagram bit.ly/2p3YoHE" Taken: April 22, 2017 at 02:44PM (C) William Hart
What does Friedman mean when he says the world is flat?
What are the 3 eras of globalization according to Friedman?
How does this connect with our earlier coverage of globalization?
Is Friedman right? Pankaj Ghemawat: Actually, the world isn't flat.
Key terms: globalization, social media, anti-globalization movement, What is globaloney? How is Ghemawat using the term?
In the past this term referred to an unrealistic foreign policy or global outlook. That fits Ghemawat's usage, but Ghemawat is more specific. How? See 'globaloney' definitions below.
Other than helping individuals to communicate, what grander social role does the Internet play?
For example, the Internet can be used to speak to power and cause social change. In the quote below McPhail notes the role blogs played in challenging power in 2002.
Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.
So, in the United States the Internet can be used to speak to power, but what about in other countries. For the Internet to play a strong role, there would need to be a substantial amount of Internet users in a country. What sort of growth is there for Internet use around the world? According to McPhail (2nd edition),
Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.
The 3rd edition of McPhail has some interesting, updated numbers. What changes do you note?
So, Internet use is certainly on the rise around the world, more so in some countries than in others.
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On the world stage, the Internet, specifically social media, has been credited with building revolutions in countries and bringing down dictators.
Take for example, protests in the former-Soviet republic of Moldova in 2009. It was called "Moldova’s Twitter Revolution."
More recently though, when one thinks of social media and revolution, one thinks of the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring is "a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010."
A Map of Arab Spring Countries
(Image used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, image created by Kwamikagami)
Countries highlighted in black are countries in which the government was overthrown. From left to right the countries are Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. Countries highlighted in other colors are countries in which some protesting occurred.
For a sense of the role social media played in Tunisia, see the following news clip.
What exactly did social media do Tunisia? What was the role of social media?
Let's move from a specific example to a broader discussion about the role of social media has played in the Arab Spring. Some say that social media is insignificant and others say social media play a few important roles in revolution. What are both sides of the argument and what are the arguments on both sides. Why, for example, would some say "no, social media doesn't play a role"? To help answer these questions see the Zuckerman video below.
See specifically the presentation from 4:45 to 8:45 and the remainder if interested.
Note: Zuckerman is co-founded international blogging community Global Voices. Check it out of you are interested.
Think of the Internet as the hardware and the World Wide Web as the software that runs on the Internet. The Web is not the hardware. It is collection of interconnected web pages that exist on the Internet.
Now, how did the Internet evolve as a medium of communication from email in the late '60 and early '70s to the web-based communication tools that we have today?
Update to Zuckerman video:
If we can think of the 1990s as the decade of the World Wide Web (web pages, blogs, etc.), we can think of 2000-2010 as the decade of social media. The decade got off to a slow start, but by...
2004: Facebook founded.
2005: YouTube founded. Note the strong social/sharing aspect of YT.
A case study is a method of teaching in which students are presented with a problematic scenario or case. A case is an example or illustration of a problem or challenge.
Case studies are some times used in law classes and some times in public relations classes, for example.
After an international case is presented there is a common method used in PR courses.
Define/describe the PR problem.
Give ways for addressing or solving this problem.
List resources needed for implementing solution(s).
Give a timetable for implementation.
State expected impact of solution.
How did you use intercultural skills?
Intercultural skills to keep in mind when working through the international P.R. case
Be mindful
Be thoughtful, aware of differences
Be patience
It may be difficult at first
Be open-minded
Consider other ways of doing things, other views
Be tolerance of ambiguity
Things may not make sense. Be comfortable with uncertainty
Now, let's do a case or three.
Check out the following news videos about three back-to-back incidents between the U.S. military and the people of Afghanistan in early 2012. As you are watching these, starting thinking about the above info. What would you do to build a better relationship between the U.S. military and the people of Afghanistan?
Afghan Massacre: Video From Shooting Scene (ABC Evening News - Mar. 2012)
What would you do to build a better relationship between the U.S. military and the people of Afghanistan?
Also, now go through the method given above (i.e., 1. Define/describe the P.R. problem, etc.). Also don't forget to think about how you'd use your intercultural skills in doing this P.R. work.
Let's pretend that we are doing some public relations/advertising work for the U.S. State Department. They want us to (1) promote a good image of the U.S. abroad and (2) promote tourism to the U.S.
What could we do? How would we do that?
Where would we do that? Let's say we focus on places where people first have contact with the U.S., in airports and in U.S embassies abroad.
As for the what, how about we put together a short video to be shown in the airports and embassies.
Think very carefully about what you would be in that video and why.
No, no. Don't read on. Seriously, think about what you'd put in the video and why.
O.K., now read on.
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This above scenario actually played out few years back. It actually happened. Let's see how your ideas match up with those actually carried out. Let's look at a series of videos.
A CNN News Report
The Actual Video Shown in Airports and Embassies
(See at least the first minute and the last minute to get a good feel for the video.)
The Making of the Portraits of America Video
Do you think this "Portraits of America" video was effective, based upon what you've see above?
A campaign is “an operation or series of operations energetically pursued to accomplish a purpose: an advertising campaign for a new product; a candidate's political campaign” (American Heritage Dictionary)
An advertising campaign for a certain new product could contain a "series of operations" like
putting out press releases to the news media,
putting ads in newspapers and
posting a viral video on YouTube about the new product.
The purpose of all these "operations" is to encourage purchase of the product.
Now, what about going global?
According to McPhail,
"There are three strategic models for planning global campaigns: standardized, adaptive, and country-specific. In the standardized model, strategy is formed at the global headquarters and implemented in all operating areas [same or very similar in all countries]. In the adaptive model, a basic strategy [given from head-quarters] is adapted appropriately for each country where it will be implemented. In a country-specific model, the strategic planning is shaped to fit one country [,more grass-roots]" (Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends)
Let's say we are doing advertising for the multinational corporation, McDonald's. As part of the campaign that we are managing, they want 30 second TV ads for their new salads. They want to sell salads (or localized versions of salads) around the world in many different countries. Using each of the above models, how would this be done? See any benefits or drawbacks to each approach? What about in terms of costs and effectiveness?
Advertising and public relations are playing an increasing role in international communication. They've certainly gone global.
Let's start with some basic dictionary definitions.
Advertising: “The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media” (The American Heritage Dictionary).
Public Relations (P.R.): “The methods and activities employed to establish and promote a favorable relationship with the public” (The American Heritage Dictionary).
The basic dictionary definitions need a little modifying.
Add to the advertising definition, the key purpose of advertising: to persuade people to purchase. "Attraction public attention" is a good first step, but not the ultimate goal.
Add to the P.R. definition, the idea of establishing, promoting and maintaining a relationship. Secondly, add an "s" to the end of public. What are the key publics that a company needs to have a good relationship with? Externally: the government/law makers, other companies, customers, the media, etc. Internally: investors, employees, etc.
With some basics out of the way, let's go global with advertising and P.R.
In his book, Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends, Thomas McPhail offers three key reasons why there has been a growth in international advertising and P.R. Why has advertising and public relations gone global?
"1. Corporations themselves are going increasingly global and taking their advertising agencies with them. This includes communication corporations as well as other sectors such as transportation, food, beverages, natural resources, credit cards, etc.
2. As multimedia outlets -- from privatized radio and television networks in Europe to new media and print outlets in Latin America -- expand, they require successful advertising campaigns in order to generate the revenues and attract new customers necessary to succeed as viable commercial enterprises.
3. The growth of satellite-delivered broadcasting channels, along with a rapid expansion of cable systems and networks, have in turn generated demand for increased use of advertising agencies in order to develop a sufficient customer base for either the new services themselves, or the problems they advertise."
Note that the first reason focuses on general companies, the second reason focuses on media companies that provide content and the third reason focuses on the media hardware companies.
So, dehumanization of the enemy was done in the past all over the world. Does it still happen in the 21st century? That's the question that my co-author and I asked in our study of editorial cartoons of bin Laden and the Taliban after the events of 9/11.
(pp. 137-155). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
by Sam Keen
)
by Ghemawat
offer their own explanation for the expansion of international advertising and public relations.