Political propaganda had always been based on pseudo-real premises. Honesty and politics are never fully compatible and it is no surprise therefore, to find political ideologues, analysts and politically motivated media creating stories, images and ideas which are not real but appealing.

Pseudorealism or pseudo-realism as a term is in fact used most widely to refer to such media-images which are not fully real and yet which appeal to the viewers or the target audience. US media’s portrayal of a poor war-torn Afganistan as an evil wild country is one such example; justification of killings of thousands of Iraqi citizens in the name of fighting terror is another.

However pseudo-real portrayal of situations and events is not the monopoly of the rich capitalist west. The entire East Block was standing once on intense propaganda without allowing the citizens of these countries any access to the media of the west.

The Muslim world’s recent hullabaloo over the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad also shows dependence on pseudo-real propagation of views. The resentment against the cartoons, as it is now well known, was more a result of three images which were not originally part of the cartoon-series, but were probably circulated by the propagandists on their own.

Celebrated artist MF Hussain's paintings showing Bharat Mata and other Hindu Goddesses in the nude is not something which the artist himself had done. Yet an orchestrated attack on the artist in recent times shows how vulnerable are the minds of the people who accept any theory if supported by media imagery. 

This cartoon which shows The Prophet in an extremely poor light had enraged the entire Muslim community. However this was never part of the original Danish cartoons. Its injection into propaganda material shows a deliberate attempt at hatred-propagation. such political moves are part of 21st century life.

In 21^st century, when public information and knowledge almost exclusively depends on media generated images and stories, pseudo-real representation and their acceptance becomes the rule rather that the exception.