Elizabeth I and Propaganda/Spin

A member of the list who is unable to post asked me to pass this along.

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[A few nights ago] on BBC3 or BBC44 there was a programme about British shipwrecks.  It devoted a lot of time to the Armada, and said something I'd never heard before.   Specifically, it said that the idea that Elizabeth I rallied the troops as the Armada approached and made a rousing speech to bolster their morale is fiction.  She stayed surrounded by her bodyguard until it was pretty clear that England was winning, and although she did then go among the troops and make a speech, it wasn't as rousing or memorable or well-crafted a speech as the one which was later reported.  The improved speech was written after the event and was then put about as having been made at the time.   (Although she may well have written it herself - she was a patchy but at her best an excellent poet.)   I know this is considerably removed from Bosworth but it does confirm that the Tudor monarchs (this one, anyway) were willing to use spin and propaganda, shading into fairly outright lies, as a very deliberate and premeditated tool.
I thought it was interesting in that it showed a very *deliberate", thought-out propaganda campaign.  It wasn't a bad one - what Elizabeth I was saying was perfectly unobjectionable, and I suppose it was rather like that American photographer faking the Iwo Jima shot: it was an improvement on the truth rather than a total fabrication.  But the re-written speech was passed around to be read out in church and presented as this great speech which the queen had made in the face of battle, when it was really an essay she'd written after the event, so it was a real example of intentional, organised spin.

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To all:

There is a good reason why members are moderated, for all new members that is the norm and this is to stop people joining and then causing disruption straight away, second is for those members that come off moderation and then become disruptive at a later time.

It gives me some control of how you all behave, I shouldn't have to do this as most of us are adult enough to understand and behave accordingly.

if those people that wish to circumvent these simple rules then perhaps this isn't the place for you and you may wish to find a group that meets your needs.

I hope you all understand and can play the game fairly.

Regards,

Moderator

And, never forget what the spin machines had to deal with Henry VIII. Wives by the handful, heads alop, excommunication, establishing a new church, and oh, so much more. Elizabeth was probably well schooled by watching and listening to all that was going on around her.
On Mar 18, 2014, at 3:44 PM, "wednesdaymac ." <wednesday.mac@...> wrote:

A member of the list who is unable to post asked me to pass this along.

<begin quote>

[A few nights ago] on BBC3 or BBC44 there was a programme about British shipwrecks. It devoted a lot of time to the Armada, and said something I'd never heard before. Specifically, it said that the idea that Elizabeth I rallied the troops as the Armada approached and made a rousing speech to bolster their morale is fiction. She stayed surrounded by her bodyguard until it was pretty clear that England was winning, and although she did then go among the troops and make a speech, it wasn't as rousing or memorable or well-crafted a speech as the one which was later reported. The improved speech was written after the event and was then put about as having been made at the time. (Although she may well have written it herself - she was a patchy but at her best an excellent poet.) I know this is considerably removed from Bosworth but it does confirm that the Tudor monarchs (this one, anyway) were willing to use spin and propaganda, shading into fairly outright lies, as a very deliberate and premeditated tool.
I thought it was interesting in that it showed a very *deliberate", thought-out propaganda campaign. It wasn't a bad one - what Elizabeth I was saying was perfectly unobjectionable, and I suppose it was rather like that American photographer faking the Iwo Jima shot: it was an improvement on the truth rather than a total fabrication. But the re-written speech was passed around to be read out in church and presented as this great speech which the queen had made in the face of battle, when it was really an essay she'd written after the event, so it was a real example of intentional, organised spin.

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