Propaganda has been used for as long as people have been around. Mankind uses propaganda to make it easier to kill one's enemy. When you convince your people that the enemy is subhuman and a threat, a threat that must be stopped, then it is very easy to kill your enemy because you are doing the right thing. This method of dehumanizing your enemy is as old as time.

There are many examples of this in American history. American propaganda against the Japanese in World War II and the communists in the Korean War, Vietnam, and the cold war are examples of this. In World War II we told American that the Japanese are a mindless evil and told Americans that every gun made kills a Jap and every tank made kills a Jap and so on. Propaganda doesn't just happen between two enemy nations, but also between different cultures, races, and religions. The Klan and other White Power Aryan Nations used propaganda against blacks, hispanics, Jews, homosexuals, and communists.

They try to portray African-Americans and criminals and white-woman rapists. They constantly bombard people with the idea that Afriacn-Americans are sub-human both through art and racial slurs.

Part of propaganda are stereotypes that come with it. Adolph Hitler used stereotypes and propaganda to convice the German people that Jews were nothing but rats and thieves. Then after he turned the Germans into anti-semites, he used them as Jew-killing machines.

I also believe that the Bush administration is using propaganda to confuse Americans on the difference between Iraq and Al-Quada. They want you to believe that there is no difference between Iraqis, Al-Quada, Muslims, and other middle eastern Arabs. So they tell you that the pro-Islamic Osama Bin Ladin and the pro-Arab Hussein are working together and people will believe it not knowing the difference.

I believe that if we get rid of propaganda then we would get rid of a lot of human conflict. If human beings saw their enemies as people and not as a threat, then it would be harder to kill someone for whatever reason. Propaganda blinds human beings to the fact that we all want the same thing, happiness. If we realize that we all want the same thing, then we are all on the same side and there would be very little conflict. The overall quality of life would be better, and human beings will realize that all propaganda is just a way for human beings to manifest their ignorance. Corey Washer