Episode 7, propaganda

The Nazis didn't corner the market on biased information, but they utilized it in every facet of German life to foster their own aims. Watch and learn. And share this with others.

Berlin resident turns propaganda into expressions of love

Berlin resident Irmela Schramm is a septugenerian on a mission. Armed with a scraper, nail polish remover, and a can of red spray paint in her 'Anti-Nazi' bag, Schramm has turned hate-filled propaganda into words of love and support for more than 30 years. 


It all started for her one morning decades ago. A poster supporting convicted Nazi war criminal Rudolph Hess was plastered to a wall at her neighborhood bus stop. When it was still there on her return trip that evening, she was moved to act. She scraped it off with her house keys. She reports feeling fantastic afterward, knowing that she removed the 'mind pollution.' 

Since then she has single-handedly removed over 130,000 expressions of hate. She uses spray paint to turn swastikas into hearts. She changes the wording of posters and graffiti to include expressions of support and kindness. 

Her efforts has met with mixed support. She has been hugged by strangers and received threats from neo-Nazi groups. Police have at times been bemused and have at other times threatened charges for defacement of property. Some community members have decried her activities as destruction of free speech. 

Schramm doesn't see it that way. She told CNN, "Freedom of speech has limits. It ends where hatred and contempt for humanity begins."

A respite from the chaos

During the last few weeks, I've been a bit frazzled. We have a brand-new beautiful grandson who, along with his parents and two sisters, has stolen our hearts and planted them three hours away. We've started renting a place closer to them and listed our home on the market. We're downsizing like crazy, cleaning out closets, cupboards, the garage, the shed and giving away what we no longer need. We place unwanted items out by the road where they're scooped up for free, sometimes before we even walk down the driveway. Oodles of books have ended up at the Tunkhannock Library. Clothing and household donations went to the Salvation Army or Interfaith Friends, as did many of the vinyl records I couldn't sell on eBay. It's a long, tedious process, this downsizing. Each day brings its chore list. I dutifully check off finished tasks, but I'll admit I don't take much satisfaction in it. There's always more to be done, and it leaves little time to write or even think about writing. 

In the midst of this, I gladly set aside chunks of time to plan, prepare, and thoroughly enjoy the Readers Meeting Writers program at Tunkhannock Middle School. I'm ever so glad I did.

Thanks to Erica Rogler, Margie Young, Hildy Morgan, Sara Ergott, and the good folks at the Wyoming Cultural Center at the Dietrich Theater, the debut of the three-week long program was well-received by students, faculty, and administration alike. 

But let's talk about those students! They were enthusiastic and engaged for all three two-hour after school sessions. They asked questions galore and offered opinions and ideas about topics ranging from bullying to being a hero. They spoke fondly of the story line and the characters in Risking Exposure, and voiced the same need for a sequel that I've heard from many other readers. All our activities, whether doing jumping jacks or making propaganda posters, were well-received. When asked how they thought the program might be improved for next year, they unanimously voted for more - more days, more chance to write their own work, more activities, more discussion, more, more, more! Wow. 

Such impressive young people. They treated one another with respect, listening, encouraging, waiting their turn with hands raised. There was none of the eye rolling and snide remarks often associated with kids that age. They showed sensitivity when discussing difficult topics, and remarkable insights into human nature's darkness and light. Those kids are a credit to their families, their school, and their community. They give me great hope for the future. 

I thank them for giving me those hours of respite in the midst of the endless chore lists and chaos of our upcoming move. I'll get back to work on the sequel soon, I promise.

Media frenzy, again

Ah, the media loves a sensation - a once rosy political career shot down by lewd behavior, a superstar athlete with steroids in his blood, the diva who is in and out of rehab, the car chase/overturned train/mudslide/worst-winter-in-decades Armageddon story-to-end-all-stories. Viewers tune in. Ratings go up. The execs are happy.
The media spoon feeds the American people sensationalism, and we gobble it up. Office workers spread it at the cafeteria. Soccer moms talk it up while the kids practice. The constant input of bad news and impending disaster weighs us down and pulls our focus away from reality. Away from facts. That's called propaganda.

Here are some facts. There are over 319 million people in the US today. About 1.5 million will have a heart attack or stroke this year and 600,000 will die from heart disease. An average of 20,000 will die from complications of various flus. Over 10,000 will die as a result of drunk driving and another 3000 will die from accidents caused by distracted driving such as texting while driving. Obviously, prevention of these public health threats deserves whatever light the media can shine on them. And the media does a basic job covering those.

Then there are those odd occurrences which seem to capture the media's and the public's imagination.
Like the six or seven people in the US who have been infected with ebola. One has died.

Does ebola need the kind of US media-blitz coverage it is getting? Of course not.
Reminds me of the hype surrounding HIV in the 1980s. Know how many people were infected with HIV just by being near someone with AIDS? None. Thank God for informed adults like the late Princess Diana, shown here shaking hands with an AIDS patient.

Get a grip, America. Stop the frenzy. Turn off the TV/radio/computer/iphone and go for a walk. Live an informed life. Don't let the media propaganda turn you into a quivering mass, unable to see the truth for yourself.

Use your common sense. You'll be fine.

Propaganda disguised as curriculum

The Jeffco Public Schools in Golden, Colorado made national headlines this week when students and teachers staged a protest over proposed curriculum changes in AP American History. It seems that a school board member asked for more instructional material presenting "positive aspects" of U.S. heritage, emphasizing perspectives that "promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights." This board member felt that covered material should not "encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law." Full text of the proposed changes can be found here Board Committee for Curriculum Review .

The school district's Mission Statement is: To provide a quality education that prepares all children for a successful future. So the question before the school boils down to this - is it a quality education if we emphasize the positives and by default downplay the role of civil disobedience?

Bravo to these students and teachers. We Americans ought to cheer them, and their ultimate right to be able to stage the protest in the first place.I'm a believer in the power of some righteous disobedience. America was founded by rebels and upstarts who wanted to break away from the motherland, and I smile as I write that.
If we take the school board member's proposal for 'positive aspects' to its logical conclusion, the Boston Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence, and the American Revolution would have to be cut from the curriculum. So too the Constitution and the Bill of Rights because of their unprecedented and inflammatory statements - all men are created equal and other such novel concepts. Likewise, if all history had to be fed through a 'positive aspects' filter it would be impossible to discuss the Wild West, issues of slavery, voting rights, Civil Rights, or American involvement in any war. 




Colorado is not alone. Texas has voted to limit AP US History to its state-approved curriculum, and not use the national curriculum and exam administered by the New Jersey-based College Board.


The College Board, the overseer of Advanced Placement courses which students can take for college credit, has said revisions are planned to its national AP US History curriculum. In the meantime, they have come out in support of the student protests.

A biased approach to historical facts results in a spoon-feeding of a particular viewpoint. That is propaganda. And propaganda is not acceptable in the America that we ought to be.

76 years ago today...

...the huge annual meeting of the Nazi Party known as the Nuremberg Rally was underway in the beautiful medieval city of Nuremberg, Germany.The scale of the undertaking was unbelievable, similar to modern cities hosting Olympic games - building huge stadiums, figuring out logistics of feeding, housing, and moving tens of thousands of people in a short period of time. I've been researching that week-long Rally for the scene I'm writing. Here's just a few things I've learned -

-first and foremost- the entire event was propaganda designed to awe participants. Its massive scale, its high energy, its show of unity and strength gave people the sense that they were witnesses to something grand and glorious. Brainwashing at its finest.

- upwards of a million people descended on the city for part or all of the Rally

- local hotels and pensions (guesthouses) filled up quickly with Nazi Party officials and SS. Many local citizens offered Rally participants a place to sleep in their homes

- barracks-style housing and a 'tent city' were created adjacent to the Rally grounds for about 200,000 SA and Hitler Youth participants and spectators

-the Rally began with a five-hour long parade through the city


-the Rally grounds occupied an 11 square km area. An existing soccer stadium, community hall, and war memorial were re-purposed by the Nazis. Construction of several new stadiums and parade grounds began almost immediately after the Nazis came into power in 1933 and continued until halted by the war.

-one completed structure known as the Zeppelin field had a grandstand that held 50,000 people. The spectator stands and parade grounds below held another 150,000 people.

-a favorite event at the Zeppelin field was the nighttime torchlight parade. Over 100 searchlights at the stadium's perimeter pointed skyward, creating an effect that American journalist William Shirer called 'a cathedral of light.'

-the Great Street was built to act as a central axis to the grounds.This 60 meter wide, 2000 meter long walkway created a parade route between key sites. Photo ops abounded.


Not hard for me to see how my character, a 14-year-old girl, would be caught up.





Read more about the Nuremberg Rallies.
The Third Rech in Ruins
Nuremberg Museum and Documentation Centre
US Memorial Holocaust Museum

How we confront our fears

The other day, one of those black, hairy spiders, the ones that are over an inch long and look like a child of Shelob from Lord of the Rings, crawled past my co-worker's feet. She screamed and jumped back, and the now-frightened spider tried to hide in a corner. Startled, I hollered too, then grabbed a tissue box and chased the bugger until he was history. When I was done flushing his remnants down the toilet, I scrubbed my hands and shuddered. But my poor co-worker had barely moved from her frozen terror.

I'm not fond of spiders, and ones longer than my thumb and hairier than a chihuahua give me the creeps. But the incident made me think - why do we each react so differently to what we're afraid of? Some of us are temporarily paralyzed by our fear. Unable to react to or gain control over the object of our fear, it controls us and leaves us vulnerable. Thieves who use the victim's own fear as a weapon against them take advantage of this very human reaction.


Then there are people who fight against the object of their fear. This may be a positive fight, as I hope mine was, ridding my workplace of a totally gross critter. But others may exhibit their fight against the object of their fear in a negative, harmful way. In a recent op-ed in the NY Times, Nicholas Kristof says that Boko Haram, the terrorist group responsible for kidnapping over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls, is reacting to their own fears.

He says that they are afraid of the societal changes bound to take place when girls and women are educated. The result of education for girls is a society in which women are more able to provide for themselves and their families. This means a more robust economy which in turn strengthens the tax base. Educated women are less likely to be dependent on a male provider, and may not be willing to remain in a more traditional subservient role.

So maybe that's why Boko Haram is lashing out at the Nigerian schoolgirls. They are afraid that intelligent, educated women will not put up with their bullying and will not go along with their propaganda.

Image from Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn