POWER OF THE PEN

Opunake Times, 21 February 1939, Page 1

POWER OF THE PEN

DISCUSSION BY NOVELIST

MIGHTIER THAN SWORD

The power of propaganda was discussed by Miss Dorothy Sayers, the. writer of detective stories, in an address at the annual conference of Educational Associations at University .College, London.

"The soldier may not agree that tht; pen is mightier than the sword," she said, "but nowadays it is the pen that draws or sheathes the sword. It is. a sinister fact that it is officially recognised by the Government of every major Power, including our own, that there are now four arms in the national armoury—the Navy, the Arniy, the Air Force and propaganda. "During the late war British propaganda was known to be the most ruthless, bold and unscruplous of any combatant, and the factor which finally helped to break the enemy's morale. "It has been propaganda which has made possible Germany's bloodless conquests in Austria

aud the Sudetenland. German propagandists have "been told to use the same kind of propaganda as Britain used during the war." There were two reasons why propaganda was. so powerful today ; firstly, the enormous speed or communication; secondly, the enormous and heterogeneous body of public opinion which could be reached in this way. This body of opinion, in England, was made up of a population all ot whom could road and practically all of whom could vote.

"The political power in live hands ot the average mar. today is very greatly in advance of his education. To ho literate is not the same thing as being educated," said Miss Sayers. "Inflammatory and unsound rhetoric, broadcast among people untrained in analysis and argument, is the most powerful weapon ever placed in the hands of the unscrupulous."