164-404: Fear, uncertainty, and doubt ( FUD ) is a manipulative propaganda tactic used in sales, marketing , public relations , politics, polling , and cults . FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information , and is a manifestation of the appeal to fear . The term "fear, uncertainty, and doubt" appeared as far back as the 1920s, whereas
328-539: A 501(c)(4) organization supporting Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign . In response to the report, he did not explicitly address the donation or endorse Harris, but said "this election is different." In 1998, Gates rejected the need for regulation of the software industry in testimony before the United States Senate. During the Federal Trade Commission 's (FTC) investigation of Microsoft in
492-467: A biased approach. Richard Alan Nelson provides a definition of the term: "Propaganda is neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological , political or commercial purposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels." The definition focuses on
656-892: A congressional page in the House of Representatives. He was a national merit scholar when he graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973. He did not stay at Harvard long enough to choose a concentration, but took mathematics (including Math 55 ) and graduate level computer science courses. While at Harvard, he met fellow student and future Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer . Gates left Harvard after two years while Ballmer stayed and graduated magna cum laude . Years later, Ballmer succeeded Gates as Microsoft's CEO and maintained that position from 2000 until his resignation in 2014. Gates devised an algorithm for pancake sorting as
820-773: A Microsoft employee, which an external law firm had begun probing in late 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates has widely been looked at by media outlets as an expert on the issue, despite him not being a public official or having any prior medical training . His foundation did, however, establish the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator in 2020 to hasten the development and evaluation of new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat patients for COVID-19 , and, as of February 2021, Gates expressed that he and Anthony Fauci frequently talk and collaborate on matters including vaccines and other medical innovations to fight
984-526: A November 2020 interview, he said: "What are these, like, nudists? I mean, you know, we ask you to wear pants, and no American says, or very few Americans say, that that's, like, some terrible thing." Melinda Gates suggested that people should emulate the philanthropic efforts of the Salwen family, who sold their home and gave away half of its value, as detailed in their book, The Power of Half . Gates and his wife invited Joan Salwen to Seattle to speak about what
1148-426: A breakthrough innovation in sustainable energy technology could drive down both greenhouse gas emissions and poverty, and bring economic benefits by stabilizing energy prices. In 2011, he said: "If you gave me the choice between picking the next 10 presidents or ensuring that energy is environmentally friendly and a quarter as costly, I'd pick the energy thing." In 2015, he wrote about the challenge of transitioning
1312-417: A broad definition of the term propaganda, writing it as: "the expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individuals or groups with a view to influencing the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends and through psychological manipulations." Garth Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell theorize that propaganda and persuasion are linked as humans use communication as
1476-487: A career in law. During his childhood, his family regularly attended a church of the Congregational Christian Churches , a Protestant Reformed denomination. Gates was small for his age and was bullied as a child. The family encouraged competition; one visitor reported that "it didn't matter whether it was hearts or pickleball or swimming to the dock; there was always a reward for winning and there
1640-583: A combination of "microcomputer" and "software", and their first office was in Albuquerque. The first employee Gates and Allen hired was their high school collaborator Ric Weiland . They dropped the hyphen within a year and officially registered the trade name " Microsoft " with the Secretary of the State of New Mexico on November 26, 1976. Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies. Microsoft's Altair BASIC
1804-435: A commercial product or shapes the perception of an organization, person, or brand. For example, after claiming victory in the 2006 Lebanon War , Hezbollah campaigned for broader popularity among Arabs by organizing mass rallies where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah combined elements of the local dialect with classical Arabic to reach audiences outside Lebanon. Banners and billboards were commissioned in commemoration of
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#17328519071881968-403: A company that services emissions-intensive private jets. In 2019, he began to divest from fossil fuels . He does not expect divestment itself to have much practical impact, but says that if his efforts to provide alternatives were to fail, he would not want to personally benefit from an increase in fossil fuel stock prices. After he published his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster , parts of
2132-429: A danger especially for smaller investors who could not survive the potentially high losses. Gates also does not own any cryptocurrencies himself. Gates studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller , and donated some of his Microsoft stock in 1994 to create the "William H. Gates Foundation". In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations and donated stock valued at $ 5 billion to create
2296-626: A demonstration, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration was held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico ; it was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC . MITS hired Allen, and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with him at MITS in November 1975. Allen named their partnership "Micro-Soft",
2460-600: A fireside chat moderated by journalist and news anchor Shereen Bhan virtually at the Singapore FinTech Festival on December 8, 2020, on the topic, "Building Infrastructure for Resilience: What the COVID-19 Response Can Teach Us About How to Scale Financial Inclusion". Governments are there to think ahead to bad things that might happen. In the case of (the COVID-19) pandemic, not enough
2624-469: A form of soft power through the development and cultivation of propaganda materials. In a 1929 literary debate with Edward Bernays , Everett Dean Martin argues that, "Propaganda is making puppets of us. We are moved by hidden strings which the propagandist manipulates." In the 1920s and 1930s, propaganda was sometimes described as all-powerful. For example, Bernays acknowledged in his book Propaganda that "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of
2788-541: A further $ 1 billion to Breakthrough Energy. In December 2020, he called for the U.S. federal government to create institutes for clean energy research, analogous to the National Institutes of Health . Gates has also urged rich nations to shift to 100% synthetic beef industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food production. Gates has been criticized for holding a large stake in Signature Aviation ,
2952-461: A great effort in justifying, revising or denying mass war crimes committed by Serb forces during these wars. In the early 20th century the term propaganda was used by the founders of the nascent public relations industry to refer to their people. Literally translated from the Latin gerundive as "things that must be disseminated", in some cultures the term is neutral or even positive, while in others
3116-538: A major player in the industry. The press quickly identified Microsoft as being very influential on the IBM PC. PC Magazine asked if Gates was "the man behind the machine?". Gates oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made Gates the president and chairman of the board, with Paul Allen as vice president and vice chairman. In early 1983, Allen left
3280-526: A million people that you didn't expect to die from a pandemic , or nuclear or bioterrorism ." Gates also identified innovation as the "real driver of progress" and pronounced that "America's way better today than it's ever been." Gates has often expressed concern about the potential harms of superintelligence ; in a Reddit "ask me anything", he stated that: First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though
3444-554: A more generalized Soviet hero. Only his eyes and famous moustache remained unaltered. Zhores Medvedev and Roy Medvedev say his "majestic new image was devised appropriately to depict the leader of all times and of all peoples." Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits any propaganda for war as well as any advocacy of national or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence by law. Naturally,
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#17328519071883608-716: A new administrative body ( congregation ) of the Catholic Church created in 1622 as part of the Counter-Reformation , called the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide ( Congregation for Propagating the Faith ), or informally simply Propaganda . Its activity was aimed at "propagating" the Catholic faith in non-Catholic countries. From the 1790s, the term began being used also to refer to propaganda in secular activities. In English,
3772-626: A primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918 (see also: Dolchstoßlegende ). In Mein Kampf (1925) Hitler expounded his theory of propaganda, which provided a powerful base for his rise to power in 1933. Historian Robert Ensor explains that "Hitler...puts no limit on what can be done by propaganda; people will believe anything, provided they are told it often enough and emphatically enough, and that contradicters are either silenced or smothered in calumny." This
3936-472: A result of the 2020 United States presidential election which led to the January 6 United States Capitol attack , Gates said a permanent ban of Trump "would be a shame" and would be an "extreme measure". He warned that it would cause "polarization" if users with different political views divide up among various social networks, and said: "I don't think banning somebody who actually did get a fair number of votes (in
4100-788: A simple transmission, such as a leaflet or advertisement dropped from a plane or an advertisement. Generally, these messages will contain directions on how to obtain more information, via a website, hotline, radio program, etc. (as it is seen also for selling purposes among other goals). The strategy intends to initiate the individual from information recipient to information seeker through reinforcement, and then from information seeker to opinion leader through indoctrination. A number of techniques based in social psychological research are used to generate propaganda. Many of these same techniques can be found under logical fallacies , since propagandists use arguments that, while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid. Some time has been spent analyzing
4264-489: A society of mass information, people are forced to make decisions quickly and often superficially, as opposed to logically. Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist best known for his roles at Microsoft Corporation . He co-founded the software company with his childhood friend Paul Allen and later held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president, and chief software architect . He
4428-430: A solution to one of a series of unsolved problems presented in a combinatorics class by professor Harry Lewis . His solution held the record as the fastest version for over 30 years, and its successor is faster by only 2%. His solution was formalized and published in collaboration with Harvard computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou . Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen and joined him at Honeywell during
4592-684: A variety of peoples worked together against the Axis menace: Stage Door Canteen (1943) features one segment meant to dispel Americans' mistrust of the Soviets, and another to dispel their bigotry against the Chinese. Polish filmmakers in Great Britain created the anti-Nazi color film Calling Mr. Smith (1943) about Nazi crimes in German-occupied Europe and about lies of Nazi propaganda. The West and
4756-495: A very subjective and often misleading light, primarily meant to persuade rather than inform. Normally they use only subtle propaganda techniques and not the more obvious ones used in traditional commercial advertisements. If the reader believes that a paid advertisement is in fact a news item, the message the advertiser is trying to communicate will be more easily "believed" or "internalized". Such advertisements are considered obvious examples of "covert" propaganda because they take on
4920-565: A water, sanitation and hygiene program to provide sustainable sanitation services in poor countries. Its agriculture division supports the International Rice Research Institute in developing Golden Rice , a genetically modified rice variant used to combat vitamin A deficiency . The foundation aims to provide women and girls in the developing world with information and support regarding contraception and, ultimately, universal access to consensual family planning . In 2007,
5084-595: A weapon of war, building on the experience of WWI , by Goebbels and the British Political Warfare Executive , as well as the United States Office of War Information . In the early 20th century, the invention of motion pictures (as in movies, diafilms) gave propaganda-creators a powerful tool for advancing political and military interests when it came to reaching a broad segment of the population and creating consent or encouraging rejection of
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt - Misplaced Pages Continue
5248-709: Is another example. In Nazi Germany , Hitler frequently appeared on postage stamps in Germany and some of the occupied nations. A British program to parody these, and other Nazi-inspired stamps, involved airdropping them into Germany on letters containing anti-Nazi literature. In 2018 a scandal broke in which the journalist Carole Cadwalladr , several whistleblowers and the academic Emma Briant revealed advances in digital propaganda techniques showing that online human intelligence techniques used in psychological warfare had been coupled with psychological profiling using illegally obtained social media data for political campaigns in
5412-462: Is based in part on the Jargon File , which is in the public domain. Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to
5576-435: Is considered commonplace contemporary political strategy around the world to implement bots in achieving political goals. Common media for transmitting propaganda messages include news reports, government reports, historical revision, junk science , books, leaflets, movies , radio, television, and posters. Some propaganda campaigns follow a strategic transmission pattern to indoctrinate the target group. This may begin with
5740-447: Is possible to find pages describing purely artificial problems. Such pages frequently contain links to the demonstrating source code that does not point to any valid location and sometimes even links that "will execute malicious code on your machine regardless of current security software", leading to pages without any executable code. The drawback to the FUD tactic in this context is that, when
5904-493: Is the last Roman civil wars (44–30 BCE) during which Octavian and Mark Antony blamed each other for obscure and degrading origins, cruelty, cowardice, oratorical and literary incompetence, debaucheries, luxury, drunkenness and other slanders. This defamation took the form of uituperatio (Roman rhetorical genre of the invective) which was decisive for shaping the Roman public opinion at this time. Another early example of propaganda
6068-422: Is the willingness of the propagandist to change people's understanding through deception and confusion rather than persuasion and understanding. The leaders of an organization know the information to be one sided or untrue, but this may not be true for the rank and file members who help to disseminate the propaganda. Propaganda was often used to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues, particularly during
6232-458: Is then recycled in the media and in the educational system, without the need for direct governmental intervention on the media. Such permeating propaganda may be used for political goals: by giving citizens a false impression of the quality or policies of their country, they may be incited to reject certain proposals or certain remarks or ignore the experience of others. In the Soviet Union during
6396-414: Is to have IT departments buy software they know to be technically inferior because upper management is more likely to recognize the brand . The strategy of deliberately sowing doubts about scientific findings was used by the tobacco industry. From the 1990s onward, the term became most often associated with Microsoft . Roger Irwin said: Microsoft soon picked up the art of FUD from IBM, and throughout
6560-545: The Los Angeles Times criticized the foundation for investing its assets in companies that have been accused of worsening poverty, pollution and pharmaceutical firms that do not sell to developing countries . Although the foundation announced a review of its investments to assess social responsibility, it was subsequently canceled and upheld its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices. Gates delivered his thoughts in
6724-519: The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. One was Mission Innovation , in which 20 national governments pledged to double their spending on research and development for carbon-free energy in over five years' time. Another initiative was Breakthrough Energy , a group of investors who agreed to fund high-risk startups in clean energy technologies. Gates, who had already invested $ 1 billion of his own money in innovative energy startups, committed
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt - Misplaced Pages Continue
6888-461: The Axis Powers . Others were intended to help Americans understand their Allies in general, as in films like Know Your Ally: Britain and Our Greek Allies . Apart from its war films, Hollywood did its part to boost American morale in a film intended to show how stars of stage and screen who remained on the home front were doing their part not just in their labors, but also in their understanding that
7052-600: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , which was identified by the Funds for NGOs company in 2013, as the world's largest charitable foundation, with assets reportedly valued at more than $ 34.6 billion. The foundation allows benefactors to access information that shows how its money is being spent, unlike other major charitable organizations such as the Wellcome Trust . Gates, through his foundation, also donated $ 20 million to
7216-536: The Carnegie Mellon University for a new building to be named Gates Center for Computer Science which opened in 2009. Gates has credited the generosity and extensive philanthropy of David Rockefeller as a major influence. He and his father met with Rockefeller several times, and their charity work is partly modeled on the Rockefeller family 's philanthropic focus, whereby they are interested in tackling
7380-578: The DOS market. In 1991, Microsoft released a beta version of Windows 3.1 whose AARD code would display a vaguely unnerving error message when the user ran it on the DR DOS 6.0 operating system instead of Microsoft-written OSs: Non-Fatal error detected: error #2726 Please contact Windows 3.1 beta support Press ENTER to exit or C to continue If the user chose to press C , Windows would continue to run on DR DOS without problems. Speculation that this code
7544-686: The French Revolutionary period movement of 1789 to 1799 between the start and the middle portion of the 19th century, in a time where the word started to be used in a nonclerical and political context. The first large-scale and organised propagation of government propaganda was occasioned by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. After the defeat of Germany, military officials such as General Erich Ludendorff suggested that British propaganda had been instrumental in their defeat. Adolf Hitler came to echo this view, believing that it had been
7708-740: The Linux community in particular, are widely perceived as frequent targets of Microsoft's FUD: The SCO Group 's 2003 lawsuit against IBM , funded by Microsoft , claiming $ 5 billion in intellectual property infringements by the free software community , is an example of FUD, according to IBM, which argued in its counterclaim that SCO was spreading "fear, uncertainty, and doubt". Magistrate Judge Brooke C. Wells wrote (and Judge Dale Albert Kimball concurred) in her order limiting SCO's claims: "The court finds SCO's arguments unpersuasive. SCO's arguments are akin to SCO telling IBM, 'sorry, we are not going to tell you what you did wrong because you already know...' SCO
7872-562: The Peloponnesian War , the Athenians exploited the figures from stories about Troy as well as other mythical images to incite feelings against Sparta . For example, Helen of Troy was even portrayed as an Athenian, whose mother Nemesis would avenge Troy. During the Punic Wars , extensive campaigns of propaganda were carried out by both sides. To dissolve the Roman system of socii and
8036-677: The Soviet Union both used propaganda extensively during the Cold War . Both sides used film , television, and radio programming to influence their own citizens, each other, and Third World nations. Through a front organization called the Bedford Publishing Company, the CIA through a covert department called the Office of Policy Coordination disseminated over one million books to Soviet readers over
8200-930: The TRS-80 Model 100 , but he wrote code that shipped with the company's products as late as 1989. Jerry Pournelle wrote in 1985 when Gates announced Microsoft Excel : "Bill Gates likes the program, not because it's going to make him a lot of money (although I'm sure it will do that), but because it's a neat hack ." During the late 1990s, he was criticized for his business tactics , which were considered anti-competitive . This opinion has been upheld by numerous court rulings. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would transition out of his role at Microsoft to dedicate more time to philanthropy. He gradually divided his responsibilities between two successors when he placed Ray Ozzie in charge of management and Craig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy. The process took two years to fully transfer his duties to Ozzie and Mundie, and
8364-847: The US Government , resisted by Pentagon Public Affairs and critiqued by some scholars. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (section 1078 (a)) amended the US Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (popularly referred to as the Smith-Mundt Act ) and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1987, allowing for materials produced by the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to be released within U.S. borders for
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#17328519071888528-686: The University of Essex stated, "Gates speaks as if all the lives being lost in India are inevitable but eventually the West will help when in reality the US & UK are holding their feet on the neck of developing states by refusing to break [intellectual property rights] protections. It's disgusting." Gates is opposed to the TRIPS waiver . Bloomberg News reported him as saying he argued that Oxford University should not give away
8692-458: The computer hardware industry is said to have led to subsequent popularization of the term. As Eric S. Raymond wrote: The idea, of course, was to persuade buyers to go with safe IBM gear rather than with competitors' equipment. This implicit coercion was traditionally accomplished by promising that Good Things would happen to people who stuck with IBM, but Dark Shadows loomed over the future of competitors' equipment or software. After 1991,
8856-842: The mobile operating system race to Android was his biggest mistake. He stated that it was within their skill set of being the dominant player, but partially blames the antitrust litigation during the time. That same year, Gates became an advisory board member of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum . In March 2020, Microsoft announced Gates would be leaving his board positions at Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft to dedicate himself to philanthropic endeavors such as climate change, global health and development, and education. The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2021 that Gates stepped down before Microsoft's board finished its investigation into Gates's alleged inappropriate sexual relationship with
9020-465: The "actor" or "system" that performs it. Propaganda is also one of the methods used in psychological warfare , which may also involve false flag operations in which the identity of the operatives is depicted as those of an enemy nation (e.g., The Bay of Pigs Invasion used CIA planes painted in Cuban Air Force markings). The term propaganda may also refer to false information meant to reinforce
9184-482: The "federal, state, and local contracts." Gates has also provided personal donations to educational institutions. In 1999, Gates donated $ 20 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the construction of a computer laboratory named the "William H. Gates Building" that was designed by architect Frank Gehry . While Microsoft had previously given financial support to the institution, this
9348-447: The '80s used FUD as a primary marketing tool, much as IBM had in the previous decade. They ended up out FUD-ing IBM themselves during the OS/2 vs Win3.1 years. In 1996, Caldera, Inc. accused Microsoft of several anti-competitive practices , including issuing vaporware announcements, creating FUD, and excluding competitors from participating in beta-test programs to destroy competition in
9512-580: The 1990s, Gates was reportedly upset at then Commissioner Dennis Yao for "float[ing] a line of hypothetical questions suggesting possible curbs on Microsoft's growing monopoly power". According to one source: Gates was vexed. "He started by calling Yao's ideas socialistic," recalls a source familiar with the July 15 meeting, "and as he got angrier and angrier and louder and louder, he got into calling them Communistic." After Facebook and Twitter had banned Donald Trump from their platforms on February 18, 2021, as
9676-573: The Archivist of the United States. The Smith-Mundt Act, as amended, provided that "the Secretary and the Broadcasting Board of Governors shall make available to the Archivist of the United States, for domestic distribution, motion pictures, films, videotapes, and other material 12 years after the initial dissemination of the material abroad (...) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit
9840-602: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reported to be the world's largest private charity . Through the foundation, he led an early 21st century vaccination campaign that significantly contributed to the eradication of the wild poliovirus in Africa. In 2010, Gates and Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge , whereby they and other billionaires pledge to give at least half of their wealth towards philanthropy. William Henry Gates III
10004-467: The Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors from engaging in any medium or form of communication, either directly or indirectly, because a United States domestic audience is or may be thereby exposed to program material, or based on a presumption of such exposure." Public concerns were raised upon passage due to the relaxation of prohibitions of domestic propaganda in the United States. In
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#173285190718810168-473: The Greek poleis , Hannibal released without conditions Latin prisoners that he had treated generously to their native cities, where they helped to disseminate his propaganda. The Romans on the other hand tried to portray Hannibal as a person devoid of humanity and would soon lose the favour of gods. At the same time, led by Q.Fabius Maximus , they organized elaborate religious rituals to protect Roman morale. In
10332-591: The Microsoft board in February 2014 and assumed the role of technology adviser to support newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella . In March 2020, Gates left his board positions at Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway to focus on his philanthropic efforts on climate change , global health and development, and education. Since 1987, Gates has been included in the Forbes list of the world's top billionaires . From 1995 to 2017, he held
10496-462: The PC. Microsoft made a deal with SCP to be the exclusive licensing agent of 86-DOS, and later the full owner. Microsoft employed Paterson to adapt the operating system for the PC and delivered it to IBM as PC DOS for a one-time fee of $ 50,000. The contract itself only earned Microsoft a relatively small fee. It was the prestige brought to Microsoft by IBM's adoption of their operating system that would be
10660-578: The Second World War, the propaganda designed to encourage civilians was controlled by Stalin, who insisted on a heavy-handed style that educated audiences easily saw was inauthentic. On the other hand, the unofficial rumors about German atrocities were well founded and convincing. Stalin was a Georgian who spoke Russian with a heavy accent. That would not do for a national hero so starting in the 1930s all new visual portraits of Stalin were retouched to erase his Georgian facial characteristics and make him
10824-551: The United States in 2016 to aid Donald Trump by the firm Cambridge Analytica . The company initially denied breaking laws but later admitted breaking UK law, the scandal provoking a worldwide debate on acceptable use of data for propaganda and influence. The field of social psychology includes the study of persuasion . Social psychologists can be sociologists or psychologists . The field includes many theories and approaches to understanding persuasion. For example, communication theory points out that people can be persuaded by
10988-487: The [user] is supposed to do is feel uncomfortable, and when he has bugs, suspect that the problem is DR-DOS and then go out to buy MS-DOS. In 2000, Microsoft settled the lawsuit out-of-court for an undisclosed sum, which in 2009 was revealed to be $ 280 million. At around the same time, the leaked internal Microsoft " Halloween documents " stated " OSS [Open Source Software] is long-term credible… [therefore] FUD tactics cannot be used to combat it." Open source software, and
11152-408: The accused individual a catalog of Neiman Marcus' entire inventory and say 'it's in there somewhere, you figure it out. ' " Regarding the matter, Darl Charles McBride , President and CEO of SCO, made the following statements: SCO stock skyrocketed from under US$ 3 a share to over US$ 20 in a matter of weeks in 2003. It later dropped to around US$ 1.2—then crashed to under 50 cents on 13 August 2007, in
11316-567: The adoption of the bill. The bill should cut the global greenhouse gas emissions in a level similar to "eliminating the annual planet-warming pollution of France and Germany combined" and may help to limit the warming of the planet to 1.5 degrees – the target of the Paris Agreement . He thanked both Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer for their efforts in a guest essay in The New York Times , where he said "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 may be
11480-565: The aftermath of a ruling that Novell owns the UNIX copyrights . Apple 's claim that iPhone jailbreaking could potentially allow hackers to crash cell phone towers was described by Fred von Lohmann , a representative of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), as a "kind of theoretical threat...more FUD than truth". FUD is widely recognized as a tactic to promote the sale or implementation of security products and measures. It
11644-415: The appearance of greater media fluidity, propaganda institutions, practices and legal frameworks have been evolving in the US and Britain. Briant shows how this included expansion and integration of the apparatus cross-government and details attempts to coordinate the forms of propaganda for foreign and domestic audiences, with new efforts in strategic communication . These were subject to contestation within
11808-622: The appearance of objective information rather than the appearance of propaganda, which is misleading. Federal law specifically mandates that any advertisement appearing in the format of a news item must state that the item is in fact a paid advertisement. Edmund McGarry illustrates that advertising is more than selling to an audience but a type of propaganda that is trying to persuade the public and not to be balanced in judgement. Propaganda has become more common in political contexts, in particular, to refer to certain efforts sponsored by governments, political groups, but also often covert interests. In
11972-533: The bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. Simply enough the covenant specifically is not defining the content of propaganda. In simplest terms, an act of propaganda if used in a reply to a wartime act is not prohibited. Propaganda shares techniques with advertising and public relations , each of which can be thought of as propaganda that promotes
12136-429: The board of directors and became chief software architect. During the late 1990s, he was criticized for his business tactics , which were considered anti-competitive . In June 2008, Gates transitioned into a part-time role at Microsoft and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , the private charitable foundation he and his then-wife Melinda had established in 2000. He stepped down as chairman of
12300-646: The case of the United States, there is also an important legal (imposed by law) distinction between advertising (a type of overt propaganda) and what the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an arm of the United States Congress, refers to as "covert propaganda." Propaganda is divided into two in political situations, they are preparation, meaning to create a new frame of mind or view of things, and operational, meaning they instigate actions. Roderick Hindery argues that propaganda exists on
12464-456: The climate activist community criticized Gates's approach as technological solutionism . In 2022, educational streamer Wondrium produced the series "Solving for Zero: The Search for Climate Innovation" inspired by the book. In June 2021, Gates's company TerraPower and Warren Buffett 's PacifiCorp announced the first sodium nuclear reactor in Wyoming . Wyoming Governor Mike Gordon hailed
12628-674: The cognate began taking a pejorative or negative connotation in the mid-19th century, when it was used in the political sphere. Non-English cognates of propaganda as well as some similar non-English terms retain neutral or positive connotations. For example, in official party discourse, xuanchuan is treated as a more neutral or positive term, though it can be used pejoratively through protest or other informal settings within China. Historian Arthur Aspinall observed that newspapers were not expected to be independent organs of information when they began to play an important part in political life in
12792-549: The common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. The people can always be brought to
12956-497: The communicative process involved – or more precisely, on the purpose of the process, and allow "propaganda" to be interpreted as positive or negative behavior depending on the perspective of the viewer or listener. Propaganda can often be recognized by the rhetorical strategies used in its design. In the 1930s, the Institute for Propaganda Analysis identified a variety of propaganda techniques that were commonly used in newspapers and on
13120-523: The communicator's credibility, expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. The elaboration likelihood model, as well as heuristic models of persuasion, suggest that a number of factors (e.g., the degree of interest of the recipient of the communication), influence the degree to which people allow superficial factors to persuade them. Nobel Prize–winning psychologist Herbert A. Simon won the Nobel prize for his theory that people are cognitive misers . That is, in
13284-735: The company after receiving a Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, effectively ending the formal business partnership between Gates and Allen, which had been strained months prior due to a contentious dispute over Microsoft equity. Later in the decade, Gates repaired his relationship with Allen and together the two donated millions to their childhood school Lakeside. They remained friends until Allen's death in October 2018. Microsoft and Gates launched their first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985, in an attempt to fend off competition from Apple 's Macintosh GUI , which had captivated consumers with its simplicity and ease of use. In August 1986,
13448-461: The company produced in its first five years. As the company grew, he transitioned into a manager role, then an executive. DONKEY.BAS , is a computer game written in 1981 and included with early versions of the PC DOS operating system distributed with the original IBM PC. It is a driving game in which the player must avoid hitting donkeys . The game was written by Gates and Neil Konzen . IBM ,
13612-515: The company struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system called OS/2 . Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system, the partnership deteriorated due to mounting creative differences. The operating system grew out of DOS in an organic fashion over a decade until Windows 95 , which hid the DOS prompt by default. Windows XP was released one year after Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO. Windows 8.1
13776-552: The conference, Gates warned that the world was not prepared for the next pandemic, a situation that would come to pass in late 2019 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. In March 2018, Gates met at his home in Seattle with Mohammed bin Salman , the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia to discuss investment opportunities for Saudi Vision 2030 . In June 2019, Gates admitted that losing
13940-453: The digital age has given rise to new ways of disseminating propaganda, for example, bots and algorithms are currently being used to create computational propaganda and fake or biased news and spread it on social media. Propaganda is a modern Latin word, the neuter plural gerundive form of propagare , meaning 'to spread' or 'to propagate', thus propaganda means the things which are to be propagated . Originally this word derived from
14104-430: The dissemination of information in favor of any given cause. During the 20th century, however, the term acquired a thoroughly negative meaning in western countries, representing the intentional dissemination of often false, but certainly "compelling" claims to support or justify political actions or ideologies. According to Harold Lasswell , the term began to fall out of favor due to growing public suspicion of propaganda in
14268-488: The early 20th century, propaganda was exemplified in the form of party slogans. Propaganda also has much in common with public information campaigns by governments, which are intended to encourage or discourage certain forms of behavior (such as wearing seat belts, not smoking, not littering, and so forth). Again, the emphasis is more political in propaganda. Propaganda can take the form of leaflets , posters, TV, and radio broadcasts and can also extend to any other medium . In
14432-465: The early predecessors of modern newspapers or neue zeitungen – targeting the mass. ) and influence the population of his enemies. Propaganda during the Reformation , helped by the spread of the printing press throughout Europe, and in particular within Germany, caused new ideas, thoughts, and doctrine to be made available to the public in ways that had never been seen before the 16th century. During
14596-459: The early sixteenth century, Maximilian I invented one kind of psychological warfare targeting the enemies. During his war against Venice , he attached pamphlets to balloons that his archers would shoot down. The content spoke of freedom and equality and provoked the populace to rebel against the tyrants (their Signoria). Post–World War II usage of the word "propaganda" more typically refers to political or nationalist uses of these techniques or to
14760-427: The enemy or some organization besides its actual origins (compare with black operation , a type of clandestine operation in which the identity of the sponsoring government is hidden). In scale, these different types of propaganda can also be defined by the potential of true and correct information to compete with the propaganda. For example, opposition to white propaganda is often readily found and may slightly discredit
14924-443: The environment and/or consumers using them, the products contain a number of ingredients advocates of natural products have long campaigned against the use of in household products due to toxicity to humans or their environment. All three implicit claims have been disputed, and some of their elements disproven, by environmental groups, consumer-protection groups, and the industry self-regulatory Better Business Bureau . This article
15088-624: The era of the American Revolution , the American colonies had a flourishing network of newspapers and printers who specialized in the topic on behalf of the Patriots (and to a lesser extent on behalf of the Loyalists ). Academic Barbara Diggs-Brown conceives that the negative connotations of the term "propaganda" are associated with the earlier social and political transformations that occurred during
15252-484: The family had done, and on December 9, 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates and investor Warren Buffett each signed a commitment they called the " Giving Pledge ", which is a commitment by all three to donate at least half of their wealth, over the course of time, to charity. The Foundation has received criticism, particularly over its role in Common Core , with critics stating the support is " cronyist " in that it profits from
15416-590: The global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations. The foundation is organized into five program areas: Global Development Division, Global Health Division, United States Division, and Global Policy & Advocacy Division. Among others, it supports a wide range of public health projects, granting aid to fight transmissible diseases such AIDS , tuberculosis and malaria , as well as widespread vaccine programs to eradicate polio . It grants funds to learning institutes and libraries and supports scholarships at universities. The foundation established
15580-436: The history of certain groups or foreign countries may be encouraged or tolerated in the educational system. Since few people actually double-check what they learn at school, such disinformation will be repeated by journalists as well as parents, thus reinforcing the idea that the disinformation item is really a "well-known fact", even though no one repeating the myth is able to point to an authoritative source. The disinformation
15744-466: The hopes, fears, and dreams of a targeted audience; and (4) it attacks opponents. Propaganda is sometimes evaluated based on the intention and goals of the individual or institution who created it. According to historian Zbyněk Zeman , propaganda is defined as either white, grey or black. White propaganda openly discloses its source and intent. Grey propaganda has an ambiguous or non-disclosed source or intent. Black propaganda purports to be published by
15908-637: The importance of propaganda. Propaganda was used extensively by Communist forces in the Vietnam War as means of controlling people's opinions. During the Yugoslav wars , propaganda was used as a military strategy by governments of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia . Propaganda was used to create fear and hatred, and particularly to incite the Serb population against the other ethnicities ( Bosniaks , Croats , Albanians and other non-Serbs). Serb media made
16072-647: The information that is being presented. Propaganda can be found in a wide variety of different contexts. Beginning in the twentieth century, the English term propaganda became associated with a manipulative approach, but historically, propaganda had been a neutral descriptive term of any material that promotes certain opinions or ideologies . A wide range of materials and media are used for conveying propaganda messages, which changed as new technologies were invented, including paintings, cartoons, posters, pamphlets, films, radio shows, TV shows, and websites. More recently,
16236-540: The intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don't understand why some people are not concerned. In an interview that was held at the TED conference in March 2015, with Baidu co-founder and CEO, Robin Li , Gates said he would "highly recommend" Nick Bostrom 's recent work, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies . During
16400-584: The intention of producing any effect in the audience (e.g. action or inaction; reinforcement or transformation of feelings, ideas, attitudes or behaviours) that is desired by the propagandist." The same author explains the importance of consistent terminology across history, particularly as contemporary euphemistic synonyms are used in governments' continual efforts to rebrand their operations such as 'information support' and strategic communication . Other scholars also see benefits to acknowledging that propaganda can be interpreted as beneficial or harmful, depending on
16564-399: The interview, he provided his perspective on climate change, his charitable activities, various tech companies and people involved in them, and the state of America. In response to a question about his greatest fear when he looks 50 years into the future, Gates stated: "there'll be some really bad things that'll happen in the next 50 or 100 years, but hopefully none of them on the scale of, say,
16728-406: The late 1700s, but were assumed to promote the views of their owners or government sponsors. In the 20th century, the term propaganda emerged along with the rise of mass media, including newspapers and radio. As researchers began studying the effects of media, they used suggestion theory to explain how people could be influenced by emotionally-resonant persuasive messages. Harold Lasswell provided
16892-511: The leading supplier of computer equipment to commercial enterprises at the time, approached Microsoft in July 1980 concerning software for its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC , after Gates's mother mentioned Microsoft to John Opel , IBM's then CEO . IBM first proposed that Microsoft write the BASIC interpreter. IBM's representatives also mentioned that they needed an operating system, and Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI), makers of
17056-461: The line between liberal and illiberal policies in communications, and emphasized the dangers of nationalist chauvinism. With Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia active on the radio, its liberal goals were ignored, while free speech advocates warned that the code represented restraints on free speech. Identifying propaganda has always been a problem. The main difficulties have involved differentiating propaganda from other types of persuasion , and avoiding
17220-556: The means by which the propaganda messages are transmitted. That work is important but it is clear that information dissemination strategies become propaganda strategies only when coupled with propagandistic messages . Identifying these messages is a necessary prerequisite to study the methods by which those messages are spread. Propaganda can also be turned on its makers. For example, postage stamps have frequently been tools for government advertising, such as North Korea 's extensive issues. The presence of Stalin on numerous Soviet stamps
17384-556: The message sender, target audience, message, and context. David Goodman argues that the 1936 League of Nations "Convention on the Use of Broadcasting in the Cause of Peace" tried to create the standards for a liberal international public sphere. The Convention encouraged empathetic and neighborly radio broadcasts to other nations. It called for League prohibitions on international broadcast containing hostile speech and false claims. It tried to define
17548-672: The mindsets of people who already believe as the propagandist wishes (e.g., During the First World War, the main purpose of British propaganda was to encourage men to join the army, and women to work in the country's industry. Propaganda posters were used because regular general radio broadcasting was yet to commence and TV technology was still under development). The assumption is that, if people believe something false, they will constantly be assailed by doubts. Since these doubts are unpleasant (see cognitive dissonance ), people will be eager to have them extinguished, and are therefore receptive to
17712-432: The new GreenWorks line was at least as effective as Clorox's existing product lines. The intention of this slogan and the associated advertising campaign has been interpreted as appealing to consumers' fears that products from companies with less brand recognition are less trustworthy or effective. Critics also pointed out that, despite its representation of GreenWorks products as "green" in the sense of being less harmful to
17876-533: The opinion, emotions, attitudes, or behaviour of any specified group in order to benefit the sponsor, either directly or indirectly". Primitive forms of propaganda have been a human activity as far back as reliable recorded evidence exists. The Behistun Inscription ( c. 515 BCE ) detailing the rise of Darius I to the Persian throne is viewed by most historians as an early example of propaganda. Another striking example of propaganda during ancient history
18040-502: The organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of." NATO 's 2011 guidance for military public affairs defines propaganda as "information, ideas, doctrines, or special appeals disseminated to influence
18204-500: The origin of Microsoft's transformation from a small business to the leading software company in the world. Gates had not offered to transfer the copyright on the operating system to IBM because he believed that other personal computer makers would clone IBM's PC hardware. They did, making the IBM-compatible PC, running DOS, a de facto standard. The sales of MS-DOS (the version of DOS sold to customers other than IBM) made Microsoft
18368-450: The pandemic. Gates has a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio with stakes in companies in multiple sectors and has participated in several entrepreneurial ventures beyond Microsoft, including: Gates considers climate change and global access to energy to be critical, interrelated issues. He has urged governments and the private sector to invest in research and development to make clean, reliable energy cheaper. Gates envisions that
18532-435: The political left, and right, and in mainstream centrist parties. Hindery further argues that debates about most social issues can be productively revisited in the context of asking "what is or is not propaganda?" Not to be overlooked is the link between propaganda, indoctrination, and terrorism/ counterterrorism . He argues that threats to destroy are often as socially disruptive as physical devastation itself. Since 9/11 and
18696-409: The presidential election) – well less than a majority – but I don't think having him off forever would be that good." In April 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic , Gates was criticized for suggesting that pharmaceutical companies should hold onto patents for COVID-19 vaccines . The criticism came due to the possibility of this preventing poorer nations from obtaining adequate vaccines. Tara Van Ho of
18860-458: The program ready for their senior year. Towards the end of their junior year, Evans was killed in a mountain climbing accident, which Gates described as one of the saddest days of his life. He then turned to Allen who helped him finish the system for Lakeside. At 17, Gates formed a venture with Allen called Traf-O-Data to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor. In 1972, he served as
19024-468: The project as a step toward carbon-negative nuclear power. Wyoming Senator John Barrasso also said that it could boost the state's once-active uranium mining industry. Gates spent many efforts to make pass the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 because of his importance to climate. He tried to convince Joe Manchin to support a climate bill from the year 2019 and especially in the months before
19188-563: The promotion of a set of ideas. Propaganda is a powerful weapon in war; in certain cases, it is used to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external, by creating a false image in the mind of soldiers and citizens. This can be done by using derogatory or racist terms (e.g., the racist terms " Jap " and " gook " used during World War II and the Vietnam War, respectively), avoiding some words or language or by making allegations of enemy atrocities. The goal of this
19352-401: The propaganda source. Opposition to grey propaganda, when revealed (often by an inside source), may create some level of public outcry. Opposition to black propaganda is often unavailable and may be dangerous to reveal, because public cognizance of black propaganda tactics and sources would undermine or backfire the very campaign the black propagandist supported. The propagandist seeks to change
19516-437: The public mind the fact that propaganda existed. ... The public's discovery of propaganda has led to a great of lamentation over it. Propaganda has become an epithet of contempt and hate, and the propagandists have sought protective coloration in such names as 'public relations council,' 'specialist in public education,' 'public relations adviser.' " In 1949, political science professor Dayton David McKean wrote, "After World War I
19680-488: The radio, which were the mass media of the time period. Propaganda techniques include "name calling" (using derogatory labels), "bandwagon" (expressing the social appeal of a message), or "glittering generalities" (using positive but imprecise language). With the rise of the internet and social media, Renee Hobbs identified four characteristic design features of many forms of contemporary propaganda: (1) it activates strong emotions; (2) it simplifies information; (3) it appeals to
19844-647: The real or imagined enemy. In the years following the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government sponsored the Russian film industry with the purpose of making propaganda films (e.g., the 1925 film The Battleship Potemkin glorifies Communist ideals). In WWII, Nazi filmmakers produced highly emotional films to create popular support for occupying the Sudetenland and attacking Poland. The 1930s and 1940s, which saw
20008-431: The reassurances of those in power. For this reason, propaganda is often addressed to people who are already sympathetic to the agenda or views being presented. This process of reinforcement uses an individual's predisposition to self-select "agreeable" information sources as a mechanism for maintaining control over populations. Propaganda may be administered in insidious ways. For instance, disparaging disinformation about
20172-413: The rights to its COVID-19 information, as it had announced, but instead sell it to a single industry partner, as it did. His views on the value of legal monopolies in medicine have been linked to his views on legal monopolies in software. Gates has been critical of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin . According to him, cryptocurrencies provide no "valuable output", contribute nothing to society, and pose
20336-777: The rise of totalitarian states and the Second World War , are arguably the "Golden Age of Propaganda". Leni Riefenstahl , a filmmaker working in Nazi Germany , created one of the best-known propaganda movies, Triumph of the Will . In 1942, the propaganda song Niet Molotoff was made in Finland during the Continuation War , making fun of the Red Army 's failure in the Winter War , referring
20500-404: The same community or propaganda intended to keep political power in the hands of a religious elite can incite religious hate on a global or national scale. It could make use of many propaganda mediums. War, terrorism, riots, and other violent acts can result from it. It can also conceal injustices, inequities, exploitation, and atrocities, leading to ignorance-based indifference and alienation. In
20664-472: The similar formulation "doubts, fears, and uncertainties" reaches back to 1693. By 1975, the term was appearing abbreviated as FUD in marketing and sales contexts as well as in public relations : One of the messages dealt with is FUD—the fear, uncertainty and doubt on the part of customer and sales person alike that stifles the approach and greeting. The abbreviation FUD was also alternatively rendered as "fear, uncertainty, and disinformation", which, of course,
20828-475: The single most important piece of climate legislation in American history" given its potential to spur development of new technologies. Gates gave further insights on climate change in his commencement address at Northern Arizona University on May 6, 2023, where he was bestowed an honorary doctorate. In October 2024, The New York Times reported Gates had recently donated $ 50 million to Future Forward USA Action,
20992-504: The song's name to the Soviet's Minister of Foreign Affairs , Vyacheslav Molotov . In the US, animation became popular, especially for winning over youthful audiences and aiding the U.S. war effort, e.g., Der Fuehrer's Face (1942), which ridicules Hitler and advocates the value of freedom. Some American war films in the early 1940s were designed to create a patriotic mindset and convince viewers that sacrifices needed to be made to defeat
21156-461: The span of 15 years, including novels by George Orwell, Albert Camus, Vladimir Nabakov, James Joyce, and Pasternak in an attempt to promote anti-communist sentiment and sympathy of Western values. George Orwell 's contemporaneous novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four portray the use of propaganda in fictional dystopian societies. During the Cuban Revolution , Fidel Castro stressed
21320-667: The split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches or during the Crusades . The sociologist Jeffrey K. Hadden has argued that members of the anti-cult movement and Christian counter-cult movement accuse the leaders of what they consider cults of using propaganda extensively to recruit followers and keep them. Hadden argued that ex-members of cults and the anti-cult movement are committed to making these movements look bad. Propaganda against other religions in
21484-579: The stated or implied threats fail to materialize over time, the customer or decision-maker frequently reacts by withdrawing budgeting or support from future security initiatives. FUD has also been utilized in technical support scams , which may use fake error messages to scare unwitting computer users, especially the elderly or computer-illiterate, into paying for a supposed fix for a non-existent problem, to avoid being framed for criminal charges such as unpaid taxes, or in extreme cases, false accusations of illegal acts such as child pornography . The FUD tactic
21648-404: The subject of both consumer and industry criticism for advertising its Green Works line of allegedly environmentally friendly cleaning products using the slogan , "Finally, Green Works." The slogan implied both that " green " products manufactured by other companies which had been available to consumers prior to the introduction of Clorox's GreenWorks line had all been ineffective, and also that
21812-485: The summer of 1974. In 1975, the MITS Altair 8800 was released based on the Intel 8080 CPU , and Gates and Allen saw the opportunity to start their own computer software company. Gates dropped out of Harvard that same year. His parents were supportive of him after seeing how much he wanted to start his own company. He explained his decision to leave Harvard: "if things hadn't worked out, I could always go back to school. I
21976-483: The system remotely via Teletype , Gates went to CCC's offices and studied source code for various programs that ran on the system, including Fortran , Lisp , and machine language . The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970 when the company went out of business. The following year, a Lakeside teacher enlisted Gates and Evans to automate the school's class-scheduling system, providing them computer time and royalties in return. The duo worked diligently in order to have
22140-515: The term has acquired a strong negative connotation. The connotations of the term "propaganda" can also vary over time. For example, in Portuguese and some Spanish language speaking countries, particularly in the Southern Cone , the word "propaganda" usually refers to the most common manipulative media in business terms – "advertising". In English, propaganda was originally a neutral term for
22304-487: The term has become generalized to refer to any kind of disinformation used as a competitive weapon. By spreading questionable information about the drawbacks of less well-known products, an established company can discourage decision-makers from choosing those products over its own, regardless of the relative technical merits. This is a recognized phenomenon, epitomized by the traditional axiom of purchasing agents that "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM equipment". The aim
22468-565: The title of the wealthiest person in the world every year except in 2008 and from 2010 to 2013. In 1999, he became the first ever centibillionaire when his net worth briefly surpassed US$ 100 billion. Since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft in 2008, Gates has pursued other business and philanthropic endeavors. He is the founder and chairman of several companies, including BEN , Cascade Investment , TerraPower , Gates Ventures , and Breakthrough Energy . He has donated to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through
22632-616: The wake of its use during World War I by the Creel Committee in the United States and the Ministry of Information in Britain: Writing in 1928, Lasswell observed, "In democratic countries the official propaganda bureau was looked upon with genuine alarm, for fear that it might be suborned to party and personal ends. The outcry in the United States against Mr. Creel's famous Bureau of Public Information (or 'Inflammation') helped to din into
22796-539: The wake of this, the internet has become a prolific method of distributing political propaganda, benefiting from an evolution in coding called bots. Software agents or bots can be used for many things, including populating social media with automated messages and posts with a range of sophistication. During the 2016 U.S. election a cyber-strategy was implemented using bots to direct US voters to Russian political news and information sources, and to spread politically motivated rumors and false news stories. At this point it
22960-413: The war is just. In these efforts it was difficult to determine the accuracy of how propaganda truly impacted the war. In NATO doctrine, propaganda is defined as "Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view." Within this perspective, the information provided does not need to be necessarily false but must be instead relevant to specific goals of
23124-480: The war, along with various merchandise items with Hezbollah's logo, flag color (yellow), and images of Nasrallah. T-shirts, baseball caps and other war memorabilia were marketed for all ages. The uniformity of messaging helped define Hezbollah's brand. In the journalistic context, advertisements evolved from the traditional commercial advertisements to include also a new type in the form of paid articles or broadcasts disguised as news. These generally present an issue in
23288-448: The way people understand an issue or situation for the purpose of changing their actions and expectations in ways that are desirable to the interest group. Propaganda, in this sense, serves as a corollary to censorship in which the same purpose is achieved, not by filling people's minds with approved information, but by preventing people from being confronted with opposing points of view. What sets propaganda apart from other forms of advocacy
23452-489: The widely used CP/M operating system. IBM's discussions with Digital Research went poorly and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and asked if Microsoft could provide an operating system. A few weeks later, Gates and Allen proposed using 86-DOS , an operating system similar to CP/M, that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to
23616-444: The word came to be applied to 'what you don't like of the other fellow's publicity,' as Edward L. Bernays said...." The term is essentially contested and some have argued for a neutral definition, arguing that ethics depend on intent and context, while others define it as necessarily unethical and negative. Emma Briant defines it as "the deliberate manipulation of representations (including text, pictures, video, speech etc.) with
23780-752: The world's energy system from one based primarily on fossil fuels to one based on sustainable energy sources. Global energy transitions have historically taken decades. He wrote, "I believe we can make this transition faster, both because the pace of innovation is accelerating, and because we have never had such an urgent reason to move from one source of energy to another." This rapid transition, according to Gates, would depend on increased government funding for basic research and financially risky private-sector investment, to enable innovation in diverse areas such as nuclear energy , grid energy storage to facilitate greater use of solar and wind energy, and solar fuels . Gates spearheaded two initiatives that he announced at
23944-593: Was a PDP-10 belonging to Computer Center Corporation (CCC) which banned Gates, Paul Allen , Ric Weiland , and Gates's best friend and first business partner Kent Evans for the summer after it caught them exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time. The four students formed the Lakeside Programmers Club to make money. At the end of the ban, they offered to find bugs in CCC's software in exchange for extra computer time. Rather than using
24108-479: Was a national bank president. Gates also has an older sister Kristi (Kristianne) and a younger sister Libby. He is the fourth of his name in his family but is known as William Gates III or "Trey" (i.e., three) because his father had the "II" suffix. The family lived in the Sand Point area of Seattle in a home that was damaged by a rare tornado when Gates was 7. When Gates was young his parents wanted him to pursue
24272-534: Was also being its largest individual shareholder until May 2014. He was a pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. Gates was born and raised in Seattle, Washington . In 1975, he and Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico . Gates led the company as its chairman and chief executive officer until stepping down as CEO in January 2000, succeeded by Steve Ballmer , but he remained chairman of
24436-554: Was always a penalty for losing". At age 13, he enrolled in the private Lakeside prep school . When he was in eighth grade, the Mothers' Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the students. Gates took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC , and he
24600-450: Was an example of FUD--a propaganda attempt to change an acronym to promote a certain agenda. FUD was first used with its common current technology-related meaning by Gene Amdahl in 1975, after he left IBM to found his own company, Amdahl Corp. FUD is the fear, uncertainty and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering Amdahl products. This usage of FUD to describe disinformation in
24764-424: Was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington as the only son of William H. Gates Sr. (1925–2020) and his first wife, Mary Maxwell Gates (1929–1994). His ancestry includes English , German , and Irish / Scots-Irish . His father was a prominent lawyer , and his mother served on the board of directors of First Interstate BancSystem and United Way of America . Gates's maternal grandfather J. W. Maxwell
24928-446: Was completed on June 27, 2008. Since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft, Gates has continued his philanthropy and works on other projects. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014 to become technology advisor at the firm to support newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella . Gates provided his perspective on a range of issues in an interview that was published in the March 2014 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. In
25092-402: Was done. We can't forget that another pandemic will come and we'll need to invest in being ready in that, ... while not forgetting that we were not prepared and we're going to have to invest – just like having a fire department – some money in an intelligent way and actually simulate what might happen and make sure that we're ready for it. Gates favors the normalization of COVID-19 masks. In
25256-498: Was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine, an implementation of tic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. Gates was fascinated by the machine and how it would always execute software code perfectly. After the Mothers Club donation was exhausted, Gates and other students sought time on systems including DEC PDP minicomputers. One of these systems
25420-449: Was from Genghis Khan . The emperor would send some of his men ahead of his army to spread rumors to the enemy. In many cases, his army was actually smaller than his opponents'. Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I was the first ruler to utilize the power of the printing press for propaganda – in order to build his image , stir up patriotic feelings in the population of his empire (he was the first ruler who utilized one-sided battle reports –
25584-670: Was meant to create doubts about DR DOS's compatibility and thereby destroy the product's reputation was confirmed years later by internal Microsoft memos published as part of the United States v. Microsoft antitrust case . At one point, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates sent a memo to a number of employees, reading You never sent me a response on the question of what things an app would do that would make it run with MS-DOS and not run with DR-DOS. Is there [a] feature they have that might get in our way? Microsoft Senior Vice President Brad Silverberg later sent another memo, stating What
25748-514: Was officially on leave." Gates read the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics which demonstrated the Altair 8800 , and contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform. In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for
25912-603: Was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked out and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, he wrote An Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter in which he asserted that more than 90% of the users of Microsoft Altair BASIC had not paid Microsoft for it and the Altair "hobby market" was in danger of eliminating the incentive for any professional developers to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software. This letter
26076-454: Was required to disclose in detail what it feels IBM misappropriated... the court finds it inexcusable that SCO is... not placing all the details on the table. Certainly if an individual were stopped and accused of shoplifting after walking out of Neiman Marcus they would expect to be eventually told what they allegedly stole. It would be absurd for an officer to tell the accused that 'you know what you stole, I'm not telling.' Or, to simply hand
26240-455: Was the last version of the OS released before Gates left the chair of the firm to John W. Thompson on February 5, 2014. During Microsoft's early years, Gates was an active software developer, particularly in the company's programming language products, but his primary role in most of the company's history was as a manager and executive. He has not officially been on a development team since working on
26404-457: Was to be true in Germany and backed up with their army making it difficult to allow other propaganda to flow in. Most propaganda in Nazi Germany was produced by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels . Goebbels mentions propaganda as a way to see through the masses. Symbols are used towards propaganda such as justice, liberty and one's devotion to one's country. World War II saw continued use of propaganda as
26568-527: Was to demoralize the opponent into thinking what was being projected was actually true. Most propaganda efforts in wartime require the home population to feel the enemy has inflicted an injustice, which may be fictitious or may be based on facts (e.g., the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania by the German Navy in World War I). The home population must also believe that the cause of their nation in
26732-427: Was unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it continued to develop programming language software for various systems. The company moved from Albuquerque to Bellevue, Washington on January 1, 1979. Gates said he personally reviewed and often rewrote every line of code that
26896-399: Was used by Caltex Australia in 2003. According to an internal memo, which was subsequently leaked, they wished to use FUD to destabilize franchisee confidence, and thus get a better deal for Caltex. This memo was used as an example of unconscionable behaviour in a Senate inquiry. Senior management claimed that it was contrary to and did not reflect company principles. In 2008, Clorox was
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