cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/36992556
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem appeared in commercials aired on Mexican TV warning that anyone crossing the border illegally would be prosecuted and deported.
Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.semafor.com/article/04/22/2025/sheinbaum-bans-us-propaganda
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
TIL that saying “if you come to our country illegally, we will arrest and deport you” is propaganda.
Edit: oops, I seem to have accidentally posted a reasonable thought that goes against the circle-jerk. I’ll try to be a bit less objective and a bit more filled with myopic, conformist, unquestioned rage next time I comment here.
Don’t worry, I still believe that disappearing people to El Salvador is a terrible thing, and it makes me really angry, so I think I still pass the tribalist purity test.
It absolutely is… Basically anything spread to advance a cause or change behavior is technically propaganda. Generally, we use the term just when it’s done by or on behalf of a government, and especially when it’s pushing disinformation, but it’s all propoganda
The purpose of this is to push support, or at least normalization of, harsh treatment of Mexicans in the US or on the border. It’s also an intimidation and humiliation tactic
No matter how you slice it, this is blatant propaganda
TIL there are morons in America who think Mexico is their country
You’ll have to explain who you’re talking about, or how that’s relevant.
In any case, this may help. Let me rephrase: “TIL that if you’re American, buying an ad in Mexico saying ‘if you come to our country illegally, we will arrest and deport you’ is propaganda.”
Your comment looks troll-like, but I will bite.
One of the definitions of propaganda is “information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.”
In this situation is “information used to promote a political cause”, the cause being anti-migration. You may say it is only for the “illegals” but currently in the US anything appears to be illegal (see the case of the german backpackers).
The expectation is for governments to work together for such spots, the fact that the US bypassed the Mexican government and contacted directly the mexican media companies is a huge red flag. It was not any American person, it was the US government.
Thanks for the good-faith discussion. :)
So, correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like in that case the “Visit Mexico!” ads I saw when I was growing up in the US would be Mexican propaganda then, correct? Since they’re advancing a specific political cause, namely increasing tourist revenue and the government’s share of that revenue.
In that case, an ad saying “hey, don’t try to get into our country illegally because we’ll arrest and deport you” feels much less like propaganda to me than “hey, come visit our country so we can get your money!” does.
Edit: So, (aside from the comment that mentioned that this may be a mistranslation), if what you say about the situation is correct, to me it’s starting to sound like this might just be the Mexican government being intentionally incendiary and a bit hyperbolic in their language because they’re pissy about the US government going over their head and speaking directly to their people, which may be due to the (accurate or not) perception that the Mexican government isn’t doing enough to prevent illegal immigration. In that case, it seems like my original comment implying that this isn’t really propaganda is still mostly accurate.
The Visit Mexico ads are definitely propaganda, the word itself is a synonym of advertisement, but bening propaganda and displays a good relationship between Mexico and the United States, that is why you don’t hear backlash from it. Like I mentioned before the anti-migration message could have been agreed with the Mexican government.
You are framing your position on the fact that the mexican government position is incendiary or pissy, but the same can be said from the US ads, which are unprofessional, unprompted and unexpected, making them incendiary and pissy. Thus making them toxic propaganda.
Sorry, but I still just do not see how stating the obvious fact that “if you come here illegally you will be arrested and deported” can in any way be seen as “propaganda”.
You don’t understand English? Where are you from?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propaganda
The article that is linked (which is not much of an article) has translated the original source poorly. It’s being blocked because content on it was deemed discriminatory (not that it’s propaganda).
Ah, that makes a lot more sense, thanks for the explanation. It definitely feels discriminatory. That’s a terrible translation if this is the case.