LEAP #1

Propaganda is all around us. We are constantly bombarded with messages hidden in our advertising, social media, in the politics, entertainment and people that surround us. We see propaganda that influences ideas we already have and also propaganda that changes our ideas and creates new ones, shaping the way we look at the world. Through government, blogging and social media, advertisements, entertainment, advocacy and education, through my daily life, I see many examples of propaganda that I experience. Some of these, I didn’t realize were propaganda until learning more about the definition and the ways it can influence my life.

In terms of government and policy, we see propaganda in so many ways. Whether it was the past presidential election, the commercials we see on television from opposing candidates, policies and ideas, or the news articles we see online and on social media, propaganda is all over government. As a future teacher, I have seen a lot of propaganda that has influenced me lately. This is with the nomination and election of Betsy DeVos as the Secretary of Education. Normally, I am not one to get involved with expressing my opinion on politics. Its one topic I keep to myself. However, in this situation, due to propaganda, it was a bit different. On Facebook, I am friends with a lot of teachers, most are family but also some friends in the education program. And I began to see more and more posts about DeVos and how she is not qualified for the position. This was due to posts, status updates, petitions and videos that began to riddle my time line. I would watch or read or look at them and began to draw conclusions based on the information I was receiving. This is almost ironic because usually, I scroll past anything political because I think to myself “that’s biased” or “they don’t have all the facts”. But since this decision was one that affects not only me, but my future students, I paid more attention to it and even did some more in depth research on it. There was one particular image that really spoke to me, especially as the daughter of a public school teacher. In this case I fell right into the “trap” that was propaganda, but in a way was positive propaganda, because it allowed me to get myself involved in what was happening with our government. It was also negative propaganda because I let these pictures, ads and articles persuade me and change my beliefs, even if they were not completely true, or they were biased. In this case, I was biased because I was looking at this from a teacher’s perspective, I also plan on working in public schools, and I attended them. Governmental propaganda is seen in so many places, especially in today’s day and age where picture and other media are shared so easily around social media. This in turn, can change minds of the people viewing it and elicit political stances and actions.

Public relations are also a large platform for propaganda. One example of blogging that has propaganda is the Instagram accounts I follow that are “fit” accounts. These are accounts that show real women who are on fitness journeys to better themselves. They give examples of meal prepping, workouts, and athletic wear and also give inspiration to women who are on the same journey as them. As Professor Hobbs, explains in her article, The blurring of art, journalism and advocacy: Confronting 21st century propaganda in a world of online journalism, the blurring boundaries of what it takes to be a journalist are making it so easy for many to take the opportunity to do so. Even here, I am not a journalist, but I am the owner of my own blog. Once moving off campus, I knew I had the obligation to cook for myself, so why not make it the healthiest. I then started following these accounts, and then started to not just be inspired, but also to question some areas of my diet and work out routines. I then began to read their blogs and find more and more information about these topics and tips, for example, Planking for Pizza http://plankingforpizza.com/book/. To clarify, I am a very DIY person when it comes to wellness. I like to do so with spending as little money as possible, and using the tips and tricks I find online to guide me through. But with these accounts, there are so many pictures and so much talk about “counting macros”, a way to track proteins, carbs and fats that you’re eating, using workout programs, and buying the best gear to wear. It becomes overwhelming because you want their success so that must mean you need to do just as they do. So often, the “ideal image” is put into women’s heads, and we are conditioned from a young age to want to have a model body. What is really great about these types of accounts is that they are promoting a healthy lifestyle, but also promoting loving the body that you have and loving yourself. In this case, it is positive propaganda. Event though it may feel like sometimes it is negative because I feel as if I am not doing enough to better myself, I read the comments and captions and realize wherever I am is okay.

Advertisements are everywhere; most recently, they have started appearing all over social media, especially Facebook. One thing I find so crazy is that I can look up one thing on my laptop and the next thing I know, there is an ad for it on my phone! This just goes to show, smart phones are a lot smarter than we think. In the video “Fake News Wasn’t the Biggest Problem”, we are told about the computer algorithms that social media has to promote advertisements, which are a huge moneymaker for them. So how do these advertisements put propaganda into action? For starters, I think their constant presence is propaganda in itself. Just that every time I open Facebook, I see a new option to buy what I was Google searching two days prior. That reoccurrence really makes me want to go back and buy whatever it was that I was looking at. For example, I was looking up shoes on Nordstrom’s and then I open up my Facebook and there they are, those exact shoes. There are links to buy them, and pictures to remind me. So sure enough, the next thing I know I’m scrolling through the Nordstrom website again looking at those shoes, convincing myself I need them. By presenting the shoes in a different context, the advertisements are using integrative propaganda because; I want them that is why I’ve been searching for them. I just haven’t yet purchased them for what could be various reasons. Another type of propaganda in advertisements can be seen in testimonials of products that are aired on television or radio channels or online. These are going to be the best of the best reviews, so even though they may be convincing, they may not be truthful, or even if they are, they are most likely exaggerated. However, if there is a product that you see and you definitely want to buy, these testimonials are only going to add to your wanting to buy this product. I know for me, as mentioned before, I am into fitness and healthy living. So, I have been researching different types of protein powders to buy. I have had my eye on one brand for months, and every time I am on the website, I read the reviews and testimonials, event though I know they are generic and written by people who are ambassadors to the company. But, it still convinces me that this is the right product to buy. This also reminds me of infomercials, they are solely to propagate a product, but yet we still buy the product because it sounds so good, especially out of customer’s mouths.

Media gives itself many outlets to many opportunities to use propaganda. Last week, I saw the movie Patriot’s Day. In this movie, there was an example of the propaganda used by Islamic extremists. This was the act of videos put on YouTube that anyone can access and watch. In the movie, you see the two brothers getting ready to bomb the marathon. In their preparation, you catch a glimpse of the older brother watching a video of an Islamic terrorist group. These groups have come up with “with the rise of social media—a vast chamber of online sharing and conversation and argumentation and indoctrination, echoing with billions of voices (2016, Singer and Booking).” These videos, as I learned in a 60-Minutes, preach and share the ideas of extremist views and they are convincing viewers that what they stand for is the right thing. This is a scary idea because it brings foreign threats close to home. The terrorist that you might stereotypically suspect is no longer the only target. Now anyone who watches these videos and believes is capable of causing harm. Media can educate us about this and it can also make connections, as Patriot’s Day did for me.

Finally, I see propaganda in education every Monday morning. As I mentioned, I am a education major and for my practicum I am in a 4th grade class at Gladstone Elementary in Cranston. After the pledge each day, the students recite the “Gladstone Creed”. The first time I heard this happen I was taken back, I couldn’t help feeling as if this was a little creepy, but for whatever reason, the pledge of allegiance was no problem at all. I consider this propaganda because it is giving the student’s the values of the school, and whether they realize it or not, they are living these every day. It is positive propaganda because it is promoting being a model student and citizen. I think it was the way they go about saying it, all at their desks, all standing up that made this really stick out to me as propaganda. It seemed like a very old fashioned thing to do. It is also something my elementary school never did, so it could be why the pledge was totally normal and the reciting of the creed wasn’t so much. Propaganda can also be seen in schools by the competition to see who can get the best grades, how well can student’s do on tests, and the standardized testing that puts so much pressure on our students.

Propaganda is everywhere! After writing this, I can see now just how much it affects my everyday and how many examples I can find of it. Writing this was very reflective, I realize how easily influenced I am by the day-to-day things I see and more specifically, how much social media impacts this.

Works Cited:

Hobbs, R. (2013). The blurring of art, journalism and advocacy: Confronting 21st century propaganda in a world of online journalism. I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society 8(3), 625 – 638.

Brooking, Emerson & Singer, P.W. (2016, November). War Goes Viral: How Social Media is Being Weaponized. The Atlantic.