Andrew S. answered • 07/13/23
Tutor who’s passionate about Math and History
The US did use disinformation, however not necessarily in the same way as the USSR. The main thing you need to understand about the difference between the two nations is that although the USSR was more direct in their disinformation campaigns, such as falsely reporting agricultural and industrial output numbers, there were many people who understood that the government not only could, but did lie about these things. This is commented on in 1984 by George Orwell on (I believe) page 28, “ For example, the Ministry of Plenty's forecast had estimated the output of boots for the quarter at 145 million pairs. The actual output was given as sixty-two millions… Very likely no boots had been produced at all.” The reason is that when the state directly controls all media, as in the USSR, there is not only the opportunity, but the incentive to lie. However in the United States, because there were many independent newspapers, it is much more difficult to corroborate on lies. Anyhow, it is less so that the US Government would want to lie about production and agriculture (as those were primarily private sectors anyhow, and the market would be left to sort itself out), but the US government would use the film industry to promote the ideas of joining the military. Because the draft was such an incredibly unpopular policy, the US recognizes that they need to subtly nudge people towards wanting to join the military. This can be seen in more recent movies such as the new Top Gun, which is less about the story, and more about showing how cool the US military is. So in conclusion. The US does use disinformation, however not necessarily in the same way as the USSR, as it was more about nudging people into thinking the way the government wants them to think, rather than trying to strictly present lies as facts.
