Throughout history, today and in the Ancient world, lies and propaganda have been used to validate and spread the word of organizations and politicians. In the Ancient world, specifically leaders used mass propaganda campaigns to spread and validate their rulings. In the modern world, lies have been told and easily spread through the internet to gain support and validate their actions and beliefs.
Ancient
In the Ancient world, embellishing history was not uncommon and did not invalidate a historian or ruler. Throughout history, Greek rulers and city-states would create legacies for themselves to show their power and validate their rule. To them, propaganda was an important tool to leave a lasting impact of their power.
First, a commonly constructed claim in the Ancient world concerned the line of succession to validate a ruler. This is seen when Darius of Persia comes into power. The Behistun Inscription, which is carved into a cliff in Western Iran, tells the story of how Darius the Great came to power. When the previous ruler, Cambyses died, the inscription claims an imposter of his younger brother, Bardiya came into power. However, according to Darius, Cambyses had already killed his brother, and this man must have been an imposter. Darius took it upon himself to kill the “imposter” and claim the throne. He was able to use the idea of killing Persian enemies as a way to legitimize his throne.[1] Darius also claimed to be a distant relative of Cambyses,
creating a blood-right to help assist him in taking the throne. Although it is impossible to know the truth, there are a number of interpretations about the inscription that claim the narrative was fabricated to make Darius the Great seem like the rightful ruler. One scholar, A.T. Olmstead theorized that Bardiya who Darius claimed was an imposter was not, as there was no political unrest in Persia until Darius came into power.[2] The Behistun Inscription shows how leaders were able to write and create their own histories to benefit their honour and legacy. Part of the inscription reads:
“By the grace of Auramaza I became king; Auramazda granted me the kingdom. Thus saith Darius the king: The kingdom that had been wrested from our line I brought back (and) I established it in its place as it was of old.”[3]
By claiming that he was related to Cambyses, killed a Persian enemy and had divine assistance, Darius was able to legitimize his rule in Persia. Overall, the inscription is a piece of propaganda created by Darius to help validate his position of power.
Next, another tool the used for spreading propaganda was coinage. After the death of Alexander the Great, many Greek states began to adopt the image of Alexander on their coinage, during the 3rd-1st centuries BC .[4] Specifically, rulers also used Alexander’s portrait on their coins in an attempt to show their legitimacy and power. For example, Ptolemy of Egypt prints Alexander’s portrait on coins
in an attempt to use his legacy to legitimize his rule, and when the coins are replaced, it is with the head of Ptolemy.[5] In addition to Ptolemy using coins to spread his connection to Alexander, there was also a long standing rumour that the two were related, as some believed that he was the son of Phillip II of Macedon, making him Alexander the Great's half-brother. [6] This would have been important because being a relative of Phillip II and Alexander the Great had a large propaganda value, helping to "to strengthen support for his role as satrap of Egypt or as Egypt's first Macedonian king."[7] Although this has not been confirmed to have been spread by Ptolemy, it would have significantly helped to validate his rule in Egypt. [8] This shows both his need to show his support and admiration of Alexander while also showing that he is the rightful new ruler. Coinage was especially important in spreading propaganda and messages about power because it was able to be easily spread throughout the empire, reaching vast distances.
Modern
In the modern day, there are a number of famous lies in history that have been put into the media to send a specific message. Like Ancient Greece, many of these include politics and war.
First, let us look at the anti-vac movement. In the age of the internet, the use of user-generated content has taken over and fills online search results. This is extremely detrimental to people online researching vaccines who stumble upon these articles written by anti-vac leaders who post information lacking scientific support.[9] Common misinformation put out by these groups includes trying to raise the risk perception of vaccines, telling emotional stories about illnesses caused by vaccines. While these stories are true, it is important for the readers to remember that these are rare cases being used to make it seem like vaccines are riskier than they are. Additionally, these people that are at high risks of getting sick after vaccines are actually the people who rely on crowd immunity the most.[10] Sometimes, science has to side with one position over the other, if everyone stopped getting vaccines, it would simply cause a public health disaster; the idea of science agreeing with only one side of a debate also relates to things like disbelief in climate change. [11] This movement and other organizations often use misinformation and spread it through the internet to gain traction and followers. The anti-vac movement focuses on creating lies about vaccines or twisting facts to benefit their cause. Often the media itself is involved in this spread of misinformation and it is important to catch things before they become widespread. This is similar to the idea of using coins in the Ancient world, as both currency and the internet spread these messages far rapidly.
Next, let’s look at America’s involvement in the Iraq war. The use of propaganda has always been relevant to war, in America and elsewhere. Whether it be the use of political cartoons or lying about what has happened and how troops are performing, twisting the truth to benefit the state has always been, and perhaps always will be relevant. To get Americans to agree to the Iraq war, the use of manipulation in politics and general lies were
involved.[12] The manipulation of intelligence
helped to spark the Iraq war. The biggest example of this was the American government telling their people that Iraq had access to weapons of mass destruction, weapons that were and have never been found.[13] Although this point could be argued against, it is important to remember that this was sold as a fact to the American public to begin the war and intensify the idea of an Iraqi threat.[14] President Bush said in his speech announcing the Iraq War:
“My fellow citizens, at this hour American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger.”[15]
Here, Bush uses the threat of nuclear weapons to validate starting a war against Iraq. Overall, the government used this point to convince their people that a war with Iraq needed to happen in order to protect themselves and the world. This is similar to the point on Darius the Great creating a story to authenticate his rule, while the US government used speculation to validate starting a war.
Concluding Thoughts
To conclude, the editing of history and the media has been used to promote specific agendas, even when the information has not been entirely or even remotely true. In the Ancient world, political leaders were known for editing facts about themselves and creating legends to spread and validate their rules. Ptolemy of Egypt does something similar when he prints Alexander the Great on his coins, in doing this he is able to validate his rule and gain support in Egypt. The usage of coinage was especially ingenious because he was able to spread them throughout the empire. This is similar to the use of the internet today as it makes spreading false information across the world extremely easy. For example, the anti-vaccine movement twists facts to push a specific agenda by posting multitudes of false information online, making it is easy to flood search results to make their information seem true. Next, lying by the government is also a very prominent tactic that has always been useful. An example of this is the beginning of the Iraq War when Bush and other government officials claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, starting the war on false pretenses. Similarly, Darius uses power of hereditary succession to manipulate Persia into thinking he is the rightful ruler. Overall, the manipulation of information given to the public has always occurred throughout history and continues to this day, benefitting the people spreading it.
Bibliography
British Museum. Dept. of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, Leonard W. King, and Campbell R. Thompson. The Sculptures and Inscription of Darius the Great on the Rock of Behistûn in Persia. London: Longmans, 1907.
Bush, George W. "President Bush Announces Start of Iraq War." Speech, The Oval Office, March 19, 2003.
Dahmen, Karsten. The Legend of Alexander the Great on Greek and Roman Coins. Florence: Taylor & Francis Group, 2007.
Decosse, David E. "Authority, Lies, and War: Democracy and the Development of Just War Theory." Theological Studies 67, no. 2 (2006): 378-94.
Jackson, Trevor. "When balance is bias: Sometimes the science is strong enough for the media to come down on one side of a debate" BMJ: British Medical Journal, 343, no. 7837 (2011): 1278-1279.
Kata, Anna. "Anti-Vaccine Activists, Web 2.0, and the Postmodern Paradigm – An Overview of Tactics and Tropes Used Online by the Anti-vaccination Movement." Vaccine 30, no. 25 (2012): 3778-89.
Mark, Joshua J. "Behistun Inscription." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified 2019. https://www.ancient.eu/Behistun_Inscription/
Olmstead, A.T. "Darius and His Behistun Inscription," The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, 55, No. 4 (1938): 392-412.
Endnotes [1] Olmstead, "Darius and His Behistun Inscription," 394. [2] Mark, "Behistun Inscription," Ancient History Encyclopedia. [3] British Museum. Dept. of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, King, and Thompson, The Sculptures, 13. [4] Dahmen, The Legend of Alexander the Great on Greek and Roman Coins, 20. [5] Ibid., 48.
[6] Collins, "The Various Fathers of Ptolemy I," 436.
[7] Ibid., 437.
Bình luận