Of Cavemen and Bin Laden: The
With the recent national tragedy, it can be said, with reasonable certainty,that our country, and much of the world, is in discord. We have been sosaturated with newsclips and printed images of the two planes collidingpurposefully into the World Trade Center Twin Towers that our fragile psycheshave become exhausted. As the days and weeks have come to pass, however, ournation has taken on an air of patriotism and unity as the result of one Society co-exists with propaganda. The actions and opinions of today'sindividuals are gauged by the amount of influence propagated messages have hadon their behavior. This method of persuasion is not new; on the contrary,propaganda has been around to sway opinions in a given direction sincecommunication began. Perhaps the most prevalent are the messages that are sentduring times of war. For it is during this state of national emergency thatworld leaders use propaganda as a vehicle for volunteer participation, patrioticsupport on the home front and demoralizing defense tactics behind enemy lines. In this new war, propaganda has been the key to preparing for and fighting anunknown enemy. As we all band together to fight future terr
If shrewdly interwoven with entertainment, people will listenwhether they like the message or not" (Lavine, Weschler 266-267). It attempts to reach a goal by making use of wordsand word substitutes (pictures, drawings, graphs, exhibits, parades, songs, andsimilar devices)" (WWW, Politrop-Definitions). Social participation is characterized by concern for the objectives of the group, the sharing of its activities, and the preparedness to accept deprivation on its behalf. Public speeches as propaganda have aroused American sympathy. During the Nineteenth Century songs like International, Over There,Red Flag, and Horst Wessel brought the propaganda song into its own (Mitchell8). Therefore, with a clear purpose in mind on how to handle all three fronts, itmust be decided how to utilize the various forms of propaganda available. Ithasn't take long for governments to learn that where the radio used to be theeasiest and most effective means of distributing propaganda, television and theinternet are what people are looking to: "The spoken word is more dramatic than cold type, especially when combined with sound effects and music. Noarmy can move as fast as a radio broadcast. Under whatever conditions, the objective of propagandists in wartime is tomaximize social participation among members of their own group and to minimize participation among members of the enemy group. Thisdefinition implies that while the term's negative connotation is taken to mean"ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further a cause or todamage an opposing cause," propaganda can be separated from education andinformation in the way that is deliberately selective and deceptive (GrolierMultimedia Encyclopedia, Propaganda). This brought about pamphlets,leaflets, tracts, journals, newsletters, newspapers, magazines, and novels(Mitchell 25). Second, create discord between the enemy and its allies. Summers, in a book on psychological warfare describes propaganda as having "no essential preoccupation with the truth; it is the guerrilla warfare of communication, it creeps up on your blind side saying one thing and meaning another; clothed in friendliness and good intentions like a bad fairy, itseduces you into taking a bite from the beautiful poisoned apple" (24). The printed word was introduced as a propaganda weapon with the invention ofthe printing press in the Seventeenth Century.
Common topics in this essay:
Seventeenth Century,
Lavine Weschler,
Twin Towers,
Taliban Osama,
Politrop-Definitions Evidence,
Berelson Janowitz,
According Doob,
War II,
Politrop WWII,
Lavine Wechsler,
lavine weschler,
times war,
home front,
war propaganda,
spoken word,
war effort,
television internet,
lavine weschler 13,
grolier multimedia,
seen propaganda,
multimedia encyclopedia propaganda,
war national,
grolier multimedia encyclopedia,
times war national,
|
Acceptance Essays
