YouTube: The 21st century political pamphlet

CNET News.com has an insightful story about how players on all sides of the Iraq conflict are using Internet video sites like YouTube to spread propaganda:

Propaganda, the practice of tailoring a message to sway opinion rather than to present impartial information, is not new to the Web. Sending e-mails to promote one political philosophy or another is as old as the Net. But when it comes to influencing opinions, video packs a greater emotional punch than text or photographs, said Snow, a former staffer at the U.S. Information Agency, which was once responsible for explaining U.S. foreign policy to the world.

The power of video to communicate ideas to large audiences has not been lost on politicians, corporations or the clergy in this country. Many have begun posting commercials or sermons on user-submitted sites.

...

Bush administration officials have noticed. In a speech last February, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said al-Qaida and other extremist groups have adapted faster than the U.S. to fighting information wars on the Web.

"There's never been a war fought in this environment before," Rumsfeld told the Council on Foreign Relations, according to a transcript of the speech. "Today we are fighting the first war in the era of e-mail, blogs, BlackBerries, instant messaging, digital cameras, the Internet...The U.S. government still functions as a five-and-dime store in an eBay world."

To do my part in spreading Wayfaring Stranger-friendly propaganda, I plan to post more links to YouTube clips in the future.