Propaganda

Since World War II propaganda has grown to a more subliminal level. I feel that we do not notice the propaganda in current television ads or in any ads in the media. In German propaganda during the Second World War, the Nazi’s made it very clear on the type of image they were trying to portray of the Jewish community. Today, I think people are more ignorant to the images shown to them and the persuasive messages that they are being told. As viewers, we process these messages with no regards the underlying messages. To me, an example of this is the commercials we see for organizations that show images of children in third world countries that have blank looks, no smiles, and appear miserable. This is going to make me sound like a heartless person, but I hate these commercials. While these children may be hungry, the last thing they are is sad. I have a very good friend, Brooke, who went and spent a summer in Uganda, where many of the “sad children” are said to be from. She told me that she rarely saw a sad child; they were all happy with their lives. Because they live in a third world country, they do not have any way of knowing the difference of their lives to the lives of others throughout the world. Brooke told me that although hunger and disease are very large issues, they go to school, if available, and then play, especially the young children. They do not know that they are unfortunate; therefore, I believe that the commercials that portray them as miserable and depressed are out for something more than just helping these kids. There are many organizations that people donate to that do not know that half, if not more, of their donation is going to pay for the employees of the organization. However, this is not true of all organizations that go to help those in need. This form of subliminal propaganda shows us an image of an unhappy child and, along with sad music, makes us feel bad for having the things that we do so that we will donate to these organizations. Technology has made us believe these images and messages so much more because we are seeing actual film of these children; therefore, the images are real and if we are seeing the children ourselves, what reason do have to not believe that it is accurate?


In 2010, I think that people are most afraid of the economic and job world. Although our economy is, slowly but surely, rising back up, over the past three years we have been taught and have grown to fear losing jobs and money. Images and political cartoons displaying the fallen industries surround us everywhere and we have no choice but to fear everything ahead. We always fear what we are told to fear because we do not know what else to do. As Americans, we follow what a higher power tells us is wrong even prior to us finding out on our own; to me, we are a “follow the leader” country.