Propaganda Dance Guide for Media Dummies
this guide will help the media perform their propaganda duties efficiently and effectively
Nodeep kaur and Shiv Kumar just got bail. Them getting out is a failure of the media and government propaganda dance school as they have failed to defeat the powerless through their propaganda performance. Such slip-ups, no matter how small, can set a dangerous precedent of infusing a fighting attitude and hopeful courage into the powerless population. Empower them to criticize the government and law and order, giving rise to leaders to speak on behalf of many who do not have power or courage to speak.
Taking feedback from this setback and getting guidance from a few prior success stories, we have created a Propaganda Dance Guide for Media Dummies.
This guide heavily references past successful cases of Umar Khalid, Sudha Bhardwaj, Varvara Rao, Anand Teltumbde and many others who are still in jail and it also takes into consideration the media performances during movements like Shaheen Bagh, CAA and NRC etc. to enhance the quality of the instructions and ensure that the best propaganda dance techniques are documented.
It has also taken into account the ongoing show of “Farmers’ Protest” media coverage as a case study and it hopes to contribute to the success of this show in the coming future.
The idea of using the mainstream media houses to follow the tune of government propaganda is hardly a new concept but the method of ‘Propaganda Dance’ to the diminishing voice of the powerless is fairly new.
These are some of the basic techniques to improve your propaganda dance.
Select the song, choreograph some moves.
A movement holding the power to question the government, is starting to gain social media attention. The basic strategy to deal with such movements is ignorance. Classic songs like “Sun Neta sun, pyar ki dhun” or “Main news tere propaganda ki” would be the best choice for dance performance of the early days. Try to cover government events or religious outings of government leaders instead of the movement activities for a few days. If it comes to the point where one cannot ignore it then first try to muddy the waters about it. For this situation, songs like “Chura liya Commie ne movement ko”, “Jaana hai!!! liberal se door” or “We don’t need no, journalism”, are verified choices. If you want to choose some other song, use your best judgement. Ridicule the participants of the movement as illiterate, stupid, or ignorant. If that doesn’t work, find the most irrelevant or objectionable thing and magnify it. For instance, if you find one person in the group wearing the Che Guevara t-shirt then you should declare the whole movement communist funded conspiracy and allege that Rs. 10000 are given to every participant of the movement to sit at the venue. Check the response to these moves. Do they stir the pot? Do they get some eyeballs? Are those talking points getting some Retweets? Answers to these questions will help finalize the propaganda choreography.
Finalize the steps.
After trying some of the talking points which seem to work, add the obvious ones. Greatest hits such as: How these movements are a great inconvenience to locals or How the lives of the people located around the movement site have severely been affected or How the events held by the movement is causing traffic jams and delays, can be a great addition to your narrative
If government officials or party leaders are trying to spread misinformation about the movement, give space to it and support it as it was true. Give validity to whatever accounts coming from sources like WhatsApp, Facebook, or Twitter without verifying them.
Add some X-factor!
Finding ways to undermine the leaders of the movement gives the extra boost to the effort. That adds a certain oomph to the performance. If you don’t mind being xenophobic, islamophobic, casteist, or racist, then world is your oyster. Leaders can be called terrorists or terrorist sympathizers, buddies with Naxals, Religion destroyers, Anti-National, Tukde-Tukde Gang, Gang with headquarters in Khan Market, New Delhi. Allegations of them getting money from outside countries or private organizations who want to harm India, should be smartly infused into the performance. They are to be blamed for misleading poor people and giving uninformed opinions about government actions. George Soros can become their grandpa. References of relation to Babar or indication of beef eating habits can be made. And If nothing works then leaders should be labelled as adulterers.
Any other dog whistle you can think about is fair and it should be used efficiently.
Give the final push in practice, work hard, you can do it.
Once you have finalized your moves, song and added x-factor then it comes down to practice. Unrelenting, dogged, and unforgiving practice should happen until the performance is perfected. Media machine should work 24x7 till the desired effect is realized. By this stage, the government will probably have the leaders of the movement, arrested. Call them ‘deserving criminals’ with complete disregard to the “Innocent till proven guilty” court process. That process is for suckers. Celebrate their arrests. Police and government will provide a helping hand by making sure that leaders spend days and months in jail without any proper charges or solid physical evidence or proper hearing. It might also charge them under difficult acts and use loopholes of the law to make their bail hearings difficult. This is the dress rehearsal of the final showdown. Don’t make the mistake of asking questions about any of the government moves, rather double down on it by taking credit for the arrest of the movement leaders.
Final performance. Everybody should move and clap to the beat.
Run the ‘super exclusive’ show, claiming that you were the first one to report and you are the real beacon of light amongst all other sell-out channels. Keep going with the practiced dance moves and what you know, you would have achieved it. Every person with access to TV and skill to handle the remote, is dancing to your tune and They are not thinking about the movement and the leaders. Those things are now a footnote of a stupid commie book.
This guide has been inspired by the core tenets of the vast array of comedy shows that exist on television media and tried to take it to the next level. Making fun of someone less attractive than you, or less powerful gender than you. Someone carrying more pounds than you or less popular than you. Basically, you keep punching down. This is how Indian comedy on television works. The jokes on these shows are made for the least common denominator of the audience. This has helped authors to gauge the level intelligence expected out of the Indian TV viewer. These shows have helped the authors of the guide to realize that there is no need to use your creativity to make people understand anything complex.
Propaganda Dance Guide encourages Indian news media to follow this template and understand the fact that it will help them immensely as they do not have to worry about the backlash of the powerful. They should always ask themselves, why should they ask any difficult questions? Why should they put an effort to make people understand any of the complex scams of the government or their dictatorial tendencies? Why should the media do a long report of the police delays, ignorance, bullying or brutalities? Authors of the guide find no merit in taking journalism in anti-government directions.
Hopefully, this guide will help the media perform their propaganda duties efficiently and effectively. Authors hope that media outlets will achieve pinnacle of success for their acts of “Propaganda Dance” after following these guidelines.
News media intelligence and creativity works best when a viral hashtag is created. Delivering sustained propaganda of leader worship and cult creation is an extremely difficult art. Everyday the anchors have to shout till they break the TV screen and lie on behalf of the powerful till they get to do an interview. The expectation of the anti-nationals to keep leaders accountable through these interviews is beyond unreasonable and malicious. With this small effort, authors of the guide want to honor the hardship of a small section of the upper caste, rich, influential and powerful media. They are the true heroes who have risen to the occasion and are helping the current government execute their agenda efficiently. Let’s join forces and sing the real freedom song with real gusto and pride
“Azadi,
Free media se… Azadi,
Liberandu se… Azadi,
Tukde gang se… Azadi,
Khan market Gang se .. Azadi,
Urban Naxal se … Azadi,
Anti-hindu se… Azadi,
Love-jihadio se.. Azadi,
Mandir banane ki… Azadi,
Riot karne ki… Azadi,
Mob lynching ki… Azadi,
Western Influence se.. Azadi,
Anti-national se… Azadi,
Anti-leader se.. Azadi,
Tum kuch bhi karlo… Azadi,
Hum hi jeetenge… Azadi”
Originally published in Medium on March 12 2021