From my understanding of the readings, it was that propaganda has a very heavy influence on viewers. When I first saw that we were going to read about propaganda, I immediately thought of negative connotations with the word. Anytime I hear the word propaganda I just think about World War II and how the adversaries of United States would use specific propaganda to put fear into their own people and make them want to hate Americans. I do realize though that America itself uses it’s forms of media to promote certain things that we called advertising for recruiting for specific jobs when in fact it is another way of propaganda. For instance, most of the commercials are from the Marines or any other branch of military says my patriotism and motivation to join. The way that they are portrayed and glorified in such an epic we got me to take action. I think that people in America today do not watch with me at that it is a form of propaganda because the word propaganda it’s self is associated mostly with negative connotations and also falls under brainwashing in a way. People don’t want to admit that they are in a way brainwashed by the amount of media they consume on a daily basis. I am glad in a way that I am majoring in CMC because I can look at things from an outside point of view and a more critical aspect than my other friends who are less aware of it.
I think you made a really great point of how American media is filled with propaganda, but we usually don’t identify it as propaganda because of the negative connotations and associations with WWII war propaganda. Because propaganda is so heavily associated with Nazi Germany, many people probably don’t think about how propaganda can exist outside of an authoritarian regime and be advocating for things other than fascism. It’s also very difficult to self-reflect and critically analyze how we’re all influenced/persuaded because of propaganda in some way. Your example about commercials for the Marines and how it influenced you is a really great example of propaganda in the American media. Many people would feel defensive and/or uncomfortable about referring to commercials encouraging people to join the military as propaganda. It’s uncomfortable to think about how we’re influenced by and how often we come across propaganda in our everyday life. I agree with you that that’s why Critical Media and Cultural Studies is so important. Through being able to critically analyze the media and how it influences people, you can become more self-aware instead of blindly accepting certain rhetoric/ideology, without considering its impact and the other options.
ReplyDeleteThe Sunday school I was forced to go to when I was younger was filled with propaganda. They gave us these bumper stickers that said, “Keep the Christ in Christmas” and wanted us to go around advocating for this message. I threw mine out because I didn’t really understand the message. I knew the story of Jesus’s birth and how Christmas is an important religious holiday for Christians. I don’t think that should be taken from people that are practicing Christians because it is an important time for them to connect with their family and faith. What I wasn’t comfortable with was that the slogan sounded like it wanted to take Christmas away from people that are not practicing Christians, which I didn’t think was fair since people from all different belief systems enjoy and celebrate the holiday. This might have not been the intention of the message, but that was how I interpreted it. Looking back, I don’t think it was fair that the church was asking children to go around advocating for a message they don’t fully understand, but that’s probably common for a lot of organizations.
The above comment is by Erin McCusker, I forgot to login to my account before posting.
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