topic 2 week 1 part A

Goebbels, seems to be a man, so intent and passionate that the Nazi regime was good for Germany that he saw the radio as a positive way to keep the masses “up to date” (Goebbels, 1993) which you can’t help wondering is a euphemism for “converted”. Although he does say “That does not mean we want to turn the radio into a spineless servant of our partisan political interests” (Goebbels, 1933) I see hints of his plans for the overhaul of German radio to be for blatant propaganda of the Nazi way of life. I can see that I may have extrapolated from the text with stereotypes and prejudices of the Nazi government. It is true that Goebbels may see the radio as a fresh and interesting way to keep Germany up-to-date with what is happening through a time of crisis, but his constant distinctions between "them" and "us" (Germany and German Government) and the line, “It would not have been possible for us to take power or to use it in the ways we have without the radio” (Goebbels, 1993) demonstrates his thoughts linking the media and power. On an unrelated website, I have found this quote from Goebbels, “The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never again escape from it.” (Goebbels, date unknown)
He expresses annoyance that the radio was not before used for political purposes and was used for entertainment and games, pass times which he alludes to being redundant in the morale of the nation in times of “particular domestic crisis” (Goebbels, 1933). He see’s the potential of radio to reach the masses.

Refs
Goebbels, J (1933) Calvin, minds in the making The Radio as the Eight Great Power http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb56.htm [28/01/09]
Goebbels, J (Date Unknown) History learning site http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/joseph_goebbels.htm [28/01/09]