There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
Noam ChomskyRead
The point of public relations slogans like "Support Our Troops" is that they don't mean anything ... that's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody is going to be against and I suppose everybody will be for, because nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. But its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something, do you support our policy? And that's the one you're not allowed to talk about.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Public relations slogans can obscure real issues by being vague yet universally palatable.
The quote by Noam Chomsky highlights how certain slogans in public relations, like 'Support Our Troops,' are crafted to be ambiguous enough that they evade critical discussion. Such slogans are designed to unite people under a common banner while simultaneously diverting attention from substantive questions about policies, thereby serving as a tool for control and distraction in public discourse.
Themes
Public RelationsPropagandaSlogansPolicyDistraction
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the role of media in shaping public opinion.
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