propaganda

propaganda | noun

1 chiefly derogatory information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view : he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda.

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I checked cantwell.com to see what it was all about, and found a very thorough and interesting web site. The art was crisp, and the ideas were well represented.

This reminded me of my experiences watching Prescott College’s senior projects and various artistic presentations. Never underestimate the persuasive power of quality media – especially creative media. Genuine and well-organized art stands out and draws the audience in, where the under-prepared boilerplate stuff does not. PC’s artistic projects, namely slide-shows and paintings, were my first experience with that great kind of artistic media. Persuading well is all about teaching, and teaching well is all about giving someone the tools and opertunity to learn , then stepping aside and allowing the to walk the path. The learner’s willingness and capacity is directly proportional to their repect of (and possibly fondness for…) the subject learned.

All too often our attention and interests are dimmed by propaganda – and so the activist’s effort is spent in vain.

teach | verb

1 encourage someone to accept (something) as a fact or principle : the philosophy teaches self-control.

2 cause (someone) to learn or understand something : she’d been taught that it paid to be passive.

BUT BE CAREFUL:

3 induce (someone) by example or punishment to do or not to do something : my upbringing taught me never to be disrespectful to elders.

4 informal make (someone) less inclined to do something : “I’ll teach you to mess with young girls!”