Propaganda is defined by the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, cause, or person. Propaganda is a very effective tool against your enemy if you know how to reach your target audience and can elicit a response from them. Propaganda is all about perception and what you can make people believe. It is used by everyone in politics and in every public affairs office to put a positive spin on themselves and negative one competitors. Al Qaida uses Al Jazeera and the internet to spread their propaganda against the West by showing the death and destruction of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan regardless of who really caused the damage. Terrorist organizations are having no problems recruiting new members to support their agendas no matter the cost so it propaganda is working very for them. During the last Presidential election examples of both good and bad propaganda were used by both parties. Obama’s family history and Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy were used to try to sway public opinion for the other candidate sometimes very effectively. It did work for President Obama much better than Senator McCain in swaying voters. An even more current example of how propaganda is used for both good and bad is the national debate for universal healthcare for everyone. Both sides are only pushing the facts that support their claims and leaving out a lot of relevant facts like true costs and current success and failures of the healthcare option. The outcome for this is still very much up in the air. Propaganda can be a very effective tool in waging war or in politics and even at work to spread information to ensure the desired outcome with your audience. It can be used for good and bad just like a loaded weapon.