Propaganda Unveiled
The history behind Propaganda
Introduction 1
The spreading of ideas, information or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person, is the definition of propaganda according to the Webster dictionary. The definition of the word Propaganda has always been a part of the dictionary and it has a long history in the world. As you can see for the most part it means ideas, information, or a rumor that can either help a cause or lessen it. Possibly lying to people and creating the wrong idea that people do not need to hear. Usually it is used in the negative sense but alas it also has the same effect for the good side of things and people may use it in many varying ways. In one article is says that Propaganda is biased or misleading information circulated via some form of mass media with the intent of promoting a political agenda or viewpoint. Propaganda affects social change because people are controlling how the information the media conveys is interpreted.
Introduction 2
“Modern propaganda uses all the media available to spread its message, including: press, radio, television, film, computers, fax machines, posters, meetings, door-to-door canvassing, handbills, buttons, billboards, speeches, flags, street names, monuments, coins, stamps, books, plays, comic strips, poetry, music, sporting events, cultural events, company reports, libraries, and awards and prizes”, says one article. “While propaganda has been around for almost a thousand years, only recently (last 100 years) with the advent of technologies that allow us to spread information to a mass group has it evolved to a scientific process capable of influencing a whole nation of people.”, states the same article. Propaganda impacted the following social changes, the Holocaust, the 2016 American election for presidency, and the dispute between Tibet and China (I’m Tibetan).
First Body paragraph Holocaust
To commence, propaganda made it so the U.S and other countries would not know of the horrors that occured in Germany. To summarize, the article I read about was talking about the situation between the Germans and Nazis and how Hitler was saying all types of stuff about the Jews to make the people hate them and consider them not human. Furthermore, Throughout the 1930s, Hitler portrayed Germany as a victimized nation, held by the embarrassing loss of World War 1. “The radios and newspapers made the Jews and outside world believe that nothing was going to happen to the Jews and that in Germany it was peaceful and prosperous.”, this is what the author says. This is when they realized that they were going to be taken to concentration and camps where they would be enslaved and murdered in mass killings. In short, hitler was very smart and took advantage of the German’s poor economic status. To continue, he had to put the blame on someone else, whether it was for religious reasons or just lack of options he chose the Jews to be the ones that were picked as the targets.“Some things that the Nazi’s said the Jews did was spread disease and that they were all filthy. This of course was not true because I can assure there were some Jews that could have been way cleaner than Germans. But the germans become gullible or were just so moved that they didn’t see what lies beneath Adolf Hitler’s speeches.”, the article clearly states. This has been stated by the Nazi party multiple times and like stated the Germans decided that whatever Hitler said was true and believe every word of it, even though Hitler’s speeches were just made up and not in any way reasonable. To bring this all into light, these two sources will both suggest that propaganda did make it so that the U.S and other countries would not know of the discrimination between Jews and Germans. By taking control over the media Hitler was able to not only send messages to Germans in America about the acts but to also change a whole set of people who were not previously on his side to convert. To synthesize, this made made the Jewish population be portrayed as weak and disgusting people. Many of them did not know what to do and where to go after the war and knew that they definitely could not stay in Germany. Thus, propaganda has definitely created a hysteria in not only Germany but other places as well, it creates a sort of emotion that gives us fear, anxiety, or joy depending on the situation, now the question is, what will you do about it?
Second Body paragraph TIbetans vs Chinese
The debate between the Chinese and Tibetan has been going on for many years and it goes to show that although many people do not know what Tibet is, it still matters that we work to help Tibetans reclaim their country. The United Nations has gone against China for abusing human rights after the country was exposed for their cruelty towards the Tibetans. Tibet has long been the homeland of the Tibetans but the Chinese had decided take over long ago and now claim it as theirs. “China’s propaganda images are designed to show how happy Tibetans are. This couldn't be further from the truth, with Tibetans left disadvantaged in their own country.”, this goes to show that they will do whatever it takes to take control of Tibet. In China the main language taught is of course Chinese but this makes it so that Tibetans are not able to learn their mother tongue unless their parents know it. This is probably to make it so that eventually people can’t even speak the language. The Dalai Lama is right now Tibet’s thirteen political and spiritual leader. He has met with people such as Barack Obama, the Pope himself, and many other famous people who have made a difference. This makes Westerners support the movement because they as well can tell that what China is doing isn’t right. “Free Tibet supporters have no argument with the Chinese people. They support Free Tibet because they see Tibetans as victims of the undemocratic Chinese government and see Tibetans’ unwavering struggle for freedom as a just cause.”, the Americans indeed support the movement, “Free Tibet”. “The Free Tibet movement is supported by Western anti-China forces. Human rights are China’s internal affair and Westerners who have never been to Tibet have no right to speak against China’s policies.”, what China says. Specifically, both the Westerners, Dalai Lama, and author of the article himself both strongly believe that we as a whole need to stand up to China. There have been many fearless Tibetans who have taken it upon themselves to go against China but in return have faced harsh punishment since China as of right now technically controls the whole plateau. To synthesize, this all goes back to the fact that Tibet and China have been at this debate for quite a while. Did you know that Tibetans aren’t even allowed to go to China? In short, we Tibetans still go at it because of the countless people that have sacrificed their own lives just because they couldn’t live in oppression anymore. Are you with “Free Tibet”?
Third Body Paragraph (Recent Times)
When Donald Trump won the 2016 election, the reason that there is propaganda related to this is election is because when it happened there were many people who didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton because everyone was saying that she was going to win by unanimous vote. And the folks who supported Trump rapidly voted for him. In other words, fake news really is the reason the Donald Trump won the 2016 election. Moreover, he himself admits that media played a huge part in him winning the election.“Clinton does herself no favors when she suggests that criticism of the paid speeches she gave to Goldman Sachs was motivated by sexism, however sexism did definitely play a part in her election”, says the article. Sexism played a huge part in the election because a lot of people did not think that a woman was capable of running the country, at least not yet. Although, to be honest Hillary Clinton did take part in a ton of scandals that many people pointed out. The FBI found out about a fake email she made and this made the citizens of America consider her untrustworthy. It was either woman or an actor with wrote a book and was full of money. “Anyone who thinks sexism isn’t a force in American politics should have a good answer to the question of why, in a country that’s more than half women, there has never been a female president and, aside from Clinton, no woman has ever come close to winning a major party’s nomination.”, shows that sexism did indeed prove to be an effective reason. Hillary Clinton said that although she accepts every decision that she makes she knows that the news, media, and James Comey incident all played a huge role in her loss. To enumerate, Donald Trump won the presidential election due to propaganda from the media. Hillary Clinton also faced sexism from numerous voters but was a respectable candidate in the end that gave Trump a run for his money. To synthesize, Hillary Clinton was the first woman to win the popular vote in any presidential election since many woman did not run for president. She made faulty mistakes that helped result to her end. Thus, fake news did play a dramatic effect in the victory for Mr. Trump.
Conclusion
In final analysis, propaganda is a type of information that is used to confuse or wrongfully control people. Propaganda affects social change by controlling the media to convey a negative or positive message (mainly negative). Propaganda has affected social change through many historic and ongoing events such as the Holocaust, the debate between both Tibetans and Chinese, and the 2016 presidential election. So now the question stands, what will you do in the face of propaganda?
Cited Articles:
Merriam Webster Dictionary
The Washington Post, WP Company, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/04/03/a-new-study-suggests-fake-news-m.
Bergstrom, Guy. “What Is Propaganda and How Does It Work?” The Balance Small Business, The Balance Small Business,
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