Propaganda In My Life
Jaleel Felton
Com416
Propaganda in my life
Professor Hobbs
2/14/18
Propaganda is everywhere. It subconsciously effects us single day. TV commercials, movie trailers, newspapers, books, peers and many other channels that carry messages of propaganda. As humans we are easily persuaded when it come to ideas of how to live. I believe it comes from the drive to be better. We want to achieve better so we follow better, or in this case what we believe to be better. This is where the difference comes in to play. The way we interpret propaganda based on our biases and views determines the way we understand other forms of propaganda. In a sense it is a big tree that adds new branches but stems from the same roots. The roots for example, are the solidified views we base our personas around. Who we are as individuals is affected by what we see, hear, and learn everyday.
For example, I am a self-diagnosed music addict. I am constantly listening to music and learning about different styles of music culture. As it is globally know music is meant to entertain and send a message to its listener. Hip-hop and R&B are my favorite types of genres. Each has its very own culture behind it. Each culture sends messages of propaganda to their followers. For me, Instagram and YouTube are my biggest suppliers of propaganda. Music Videos, pictures of artist send messages of how their culture and life style are portrayed to be. Hip-Hop shows me that money and flashy items are everything. As a fan that’s who I want to be. I believe I am smart enough to respect the hustle of making money enough to cherish it when I get it. It took growing up and becoming more mature to understand this. Other messages flow out of hip-hop, such as police brutality and the oppression of the black community. As a 22-year-old black man I find it hard to not be persuaded by these messages. Hip-hop music as entertainment has powerful messages of propaganda. As I look at myself I am greatly influenced by the messages. Entertainment is not the only way to discover propaganda.
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On the regular, news and fake news influence people everyday. Honestly I am not truly into newspapers or news stations. I do not read or look into current events. I truly enjoy news and discoveries regarding space and the cosmos. If we know anything news regarding space was a great way to spread propaganda. The U.S.A used the sputnik satellite as a form of propaganda to fuel the cold war. If we bring it back down to earth, news and information are a leading form of propaganda. In my life I would not consider it the leading force behind who I am. I still get a lot of my news and information on social media and via friends. Not the best sources to trust but some sources are truly reliable. Whenever I do watch the news there is propaganda all over the news. They way different races and cultures are portrayed in the news is based on propaganda. For example, the way violence against black males is shown openly in the media is propaganda that goes over most people’s heads. Black men constantly being slain by police officers is always on the news. These constant images are slow making people become a custom to seeing things like this on the news. When I look at how news and information affect me, I choose not to watch it. I feel as if I constantly are seeing stereotypes and the attempt embarrassment or poke fun at my culture and race.
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On a brighter note, education has taught me a monumental amount. I am in my second semester of my senior year here at URI. Looking back on the long road of education and a bunch of aha moment I finally feel as if I learn what was meant for me to learn. I cannot sit here and say I have perfected my math skills or started a million dollar business out of my dorm room. But, I can say from persuasion from my classes, my professors, and my teachers over time I have learned so much. When I was young when I heard the word propaganda I automatically thought of Nazi Germany. And I thought it was always messages of negativity or violence. As I grew older I learned that it does not always have to be negative. In fact everything you hear and learn while enrolled in school is propaganda. Everything you learn is meant to influence the way we think. Depending on the environment you encounter outside of school. For example, Com416 is propaganda in itself. This class is meant to help us discover propaganda out in the real world. It is also mean to help us understand and depict the messages in the correct way. First we look at who are as people. What messages have shaped us? For me, messages about ambition and creativity really molded me into who I am today. Coaches, teachers and professors all play a part in molding me into who I am.
Now lets bring it back to social media. Advertisements pop up everywhere I look. I think about something and there will be an advertisement when I go online. Along with news I do not think advertisement have that great of an affect on who I am. I look at advertisement as something I have control whether or not I focus on it. I see advertisements for everything and anything I just ignore them for the most part.
For my last examples of propaganda, lets discuss the government and activism. We know in today’s society the government is using large amount of propaganda to persuade the people of America. Donald Trump the man behind it all. The man who can spark nation wide anger by simply tweeting from his phone. Trump uses propaganda with messages like “make America great again”. When did America lose its greatness? Phrases like these show his true colors. In stead of bring the country together he used his messages of propaganda to divide us down the middle. “Build that wall” another one of his many entertaining phrases. Things like this are example of how propaganda can have such an effect on people. Language and communication can change the way people think. Trumps words criminalized foreign cultures and discriminated other countries. Especially with the power he has his word and messages have a greater impact.
Propaganda is everywhere. It shapes each and everyone of us. I just went over in detail how propaganda has effect me personally and made me into who I am today. I know I am not done learning or being persuaded by messages of propaganda. But, I believe Com416 will help me better understand propaganda I will encounter in the future.