Propaganda In My Life

Richard DiStasio

Com 416

Feb 14th, 2018

News and Information

The first form of propaganda from my life, that I have witnessed, falls into the category of news and information. During the 2016 election, there was an abundance of fake news surrounding the election that was falsely created by Russia in the hopes that they could sway the election. All of this fake news can be considered propaganda because they are falsely fabricated stories that were meant to sway and influence the people of our country. The goal of the “fake news”, that Russia put out more than 213 million times, was to favor the republican party in the election. Through their promotion of this propaganda they were hoping to undermine the democratic party. Although Russia’s attempt was a failure, it is still considered to be propaganda since the information used to sway the public was all fabricated and false.

2. Advertising

The second form of propaganda that I have witnessed in my life falls into the category of advertisement. The first example of Advertising propaganda that I can think of was a commercial not too long ago for the car company Buick. In the commercial they were advertising a new model of the Buick Lacrosse. Through this commercial they wanted to show that their new model car was much more roomy than the last and much more luxurious. So, in order to put emphasis on the increase in size, Buick hired Shaquille O’neil to sit inside the car and do the commercial. Essentially, Buick hired not only the largest man they could find, but also one of the most well known at the time. The reason this Commercial classifies as propaganda is that the company used misinformation to persuade their customers to buy there car. By putting such a large man in a really not so big car, they wanted to send the message that their customers would have an excess of leg room. However, in real life, Shaq would never be able to actually it inside that car, nor would he be driving a Buick and one of the top paid and most well known NBA players of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvVNY2YC5zI

3. Entertainment

The third form of Propaganda that I have experienced in my life falls into the category of entertainment. In one of my favorite military movies to date, Top Gun, there is an underlying use of propaganda that many people had never picked up on. Essentially, this movie was a giant two hour ad for the navy that actually worked. In this movie, there was a surplus of military equipment used which all came in on a discount from the navy itself. The catch was that in order for the producers to receive the equipment at a discount, they had to give up some of the creative control to the navy. The goal of the navy was to portray themselves in a more positive way in the hopes that they could interest people in being recruited. Some of the changes the the navy made to the film would be changing all dogfight scenes to take place over a topographically ambiguous area in order to not attract the attention of other countries. They also changed fighting scened so that the soldiers never fired unless they were fired upon, and changing the death of one of the main characters, Goose, to a mid air seat ejection instead of the mid air collision that really happened. This is a clear use of propaganda because the navy tampered with the actual facts that the movie was based on in order to glorify the navy and make it look more appealing to the general public. The navy’s idea to glorify themselves in this film did in fact pay off, when after the movies release there was a clear spike in recruitment numbers according to studies.

4. Education

The fourth example of Propaganda in my life falls into the category of education. Student loans have been an on going discussion regarding propaganda, and is often referred to as a schematic plan. Student loans are considered to be a government plan to keep people is a lifetime of debt-servitude. According to Henry Giroux: "Higher education is viewed by the apostles of market fundamentalism as a space for producing profits, educating a docile labor force, and a powerful institution for indoctrinating students into accepting the obedience demanded by the corporate order”. Because it was believed that higher education was the answer to a more successful and prosperous life, it has always drawn the interest of those citizen interested in investing in their own success. It is this interest in higher education, to provide a better life for ones self, that the higher education system is able to convert into propaganda. Because is such an abundance of interest in chasing that “ better life”, these education systems leverage that interest to get you to sign yourself into a life long debt obligation. This is a blatant manipulation of people motivations that the education system uses to gain capital, and that is why many consider the educational system and “ giant scam” and a utilizer of negative propaganda.

5. Government

The fifth example of propaganda in my life, that I can think of, falls into the Government section. In 2009, the U.S. launched a phone based social media platform for the kids of Cuba, called “ZunZuneo”. This platform was similar to Twitter however it was more text message based. This platform allowed for cubans to send free messages, make posts, and read posts from the anonymous leaders of the social platform. In reality, this platform was really a front for the United States Agency for International Development, who is responsible for foreign aid. The plan was to lay low and provide the youth of Cuba with important information like news, sports, weather, and music. Then, when the time was right, the USAID would bombard the youth with statements encouraging a revolution to overthrow the corrupt government at the time. Although it may seem unbelievable for the U.S. government to do something like this, there are many leaked documents and interviews that clearly stated that was the plan. The reason I would consider this governmental propaganda, is that fact that the government targeted the youth of Cuba, and also attempted to do so by hiding behind behind a social media platform. Because social media was new to Cuba, the government knew they would attract a great amount of people, and they also knew that the messages they passed would be deeply interpreted by these kids. Essentially the government was using the platform to manipulate the minds of the youth in the hopes that they could convince them enough to actually cause a revolt.

6. Activism

The sixth example of propaganda in my life falls into the category of activism. During the month of June, Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka, went out of her way to make a tweet in support of “ LGBT pride month”. This supporting tweet immediately raised turmoil as a fellow Orthodox Jew stated that it was extremely offensive and unreligious for Ivanka to reference gay pride and Shavuot in the same tweet, since their religion does not support same sex marriage and relationships and considers them sinful. Some of the tweets that Ivanka sent were, “Logging back on after Shavuot, wishing everyone a joyful #Pride2017. This month we celebrate and honor the #LGBTQ community.” as well as “I am proud to support my LGBTQ friends and the LGBTQ Americans who have made immense contributions to our society and economy”. Not only was Ivanka’s statement a violation of the religion she practices, but it was also a polar opposite statement as compared to the beliefs of her father, Donald Trump. Donald Trump is known for not supporting the LGBT community, especially since he neglected to follow the precedent by Barack Obama to issue a white house proclamation honoring LGBT pride month every june. These statement quickly raised questions from the public and led many to believe that Ivanka only tweeted that in the hopes to use the LGBT community as a prop. Since her statements didn't fall in line with here religious beliefs, or her fathers presidential actions and beliefs, her statements can be considered a form of propaganda. She may have been hoping that by supporting the LGBT group on twitter it could help her father gain a better following from the group or even get them to forget the white house proclamation that he refused to pass. This is propaganda to me because she is voicing opinions , that have to be false regarding her religion and political party beliefs, in order to gain a following. It can be said that her main goal was to manipulate the LGBT community into thinking that she was a true, meaningful supporter of their movement, which is a purest form of propaganda.

Work Cited

R. (2012, April 04). Shaq Buick Commercial. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvVNY2YC5zI

Breeding, J. (2017, February 7). 6 Famous Movies You Probably Didn't Notice Are Propaganda. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://www.cracked.com/article_24593_6-movies-you-didnE28099t-know-were-propaganda.html

Dodge ,B. (2016, March 20). 6 Insane Examples Of Modern Propaganda By Major Countries. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://www.cracked.com/article_23784_6-hilarious-modern-attempts-at-government-propaganda.html

Timberg, C. (2018, November 24). Russian Propaganda Effort Helped Spread “Fake News” during election, experts say. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.html?utm_term=.e77226a591f2

LaBarbera, P. (2017, June 5). Ivanka Trump's 'pride' tweets upset LGBT activists and people of faith. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ivanka-trumps-pride-tweets-upset-lgbt-activists-and-people-of-faith

Welsh, I. (2016, April 24). How The Banks Stole Higher Education. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwkejm/irvine-welsh-how-the-banks-stole-higher-education