Propaganda: Power and Persuasion

Interesting exhibition at the British Library investigating propaganda in all its forms.

This was an amazingly varied exhibition but managed to hold together by picking themes and pulling historic events which demonstrated that theme rather than attempting anything chronological. For example there was a fascinating section on the London Olympics in the section on how nations use propaganda to build identify.

It did strongly point out that not all propaganda is bad but does depend on your view point. It was interested in sections where both side in a dispute had used propaganda to get their ideas across such as the display on Northern Ireland.

There were some wonderful Second World War objects such as scarves, the super Norman Rockwell posters and a display of leaflets dropped into Germany.

I also liked the idea that the last two sections looked at propaganda on health issues and then propaganda in cyberspace.

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