Teaching the ethics of spin

by Nicole Findlay

Randal Marlin recently returned from the mountains of Costa Rica, where he taught a three-week course at the UN-mandated University for Peace.

Part of the university’s M.A program in Media, Peace and Conflict Studies examines the use of propaganda. Marlin, an adjunct professor of philosophy, wrote the book on the subject – literally.

When the program’s director, Alvero Sierra read Marlin’s book, Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion, he extended an invitation to participate in the course delivery.

Situated on a mountain, amidst coffee-plantations, the campus could not seem more remote. Yet, Marlin arrived to find a microcosm of internationalism with 23 students representing diverse countries and cultures including India, Colombia, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Jordan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Iraq, Bangladesh, the U.S. and Canada.
Marlin began the course by defining and presenting a history of propaganda. The class then analyzed techniques and examined the ethical issues connected with their use.

“The students’ essays revealed to me to an extent I hadn’t realized, how very pervasive in the western world is the use of xenophobia as a propaganda tool to boost the political fortunes of the party making use of this propaganda,” said Marlin. He cites examples in the Netherlands, Norway, and France, in which aspiring politicians or even leaders, campaigned on anti-immigration policies or singled out immigrant populations with derisive language.

Examples of the misuse of propaganda were not limited to the present or to the west. One student described how the Congress Party of India silently dismantled Gandhi’s policies following his death, all the while, praising his leadership.
The experience has led Marlin to develop an interest in the impact the Cold War and current political leadership has had in dividing and maintaining the Korean culture into north and south.

“I am specifically interested in uncovering the deceptions used by political leaders to maintain their power.”