Quote Originally Posted by Wikipedia
Propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience.
I don't see propaganda as a bad thing, as long as it's used for a good cause. Propaganda is simply getting people to feel strongly about some issue. Shit, 90% of the driving force behind the capitalistic economy is corporate propaganda, trying to get everyone to think their products are the best thing since sliced bread. Propaganda is also used in nationalism. I'd rather everyone be proud to be an American than for everyone to be thinking, 'eh, we're alright.. but nowhere near as good as China.' If that were the case, we wouldn't be the world power right now. (Whether or not that's the best thing for the world, well that's a different story) It's best for us to think that we're the top dogs. If the entire country was always divided, we'd never get shit done, and we'd spend most of our time arguing. Just take a look at Congress.

However, I don't think that propaganda should be used in advocating wars or violence, among other things which I'll discuss later. I think that wars should be approached from an entirely objective state of mind, so that as a country we can make the best decision as opposed being falsely led to believe that we're not just fulfilling the government's private agenda concerning war efforts.