Throughout the past week, we have been exploring propaganda and some of it's subtle and not-so-subtle forms in the media. Before beginning this journey, we played a little game of 4 corners. The prompt: "It is okay for the government to mislead in order to promote security." was the one that hit me more than the others. Such a statement has been nibbling me at the back of my mind for the entirety of my bring. Initially, my response was that 'misleading by the government' was morally wrong. It was unethical, and the abolition of such a totalitarian statement will be the only path to a Utopia. However, throughout the past week, my stance on the statement has changed.
Propaganda has taken over our life, whether it be in the form of media or the daily talk we have with our family at the dinner table. Propaganda is everywhere, and is unstoppable as it is the by-product of human nature. This extreme form of bias is natural; if there was no propaganda in this world, there might as well not have been emotions.
This is evident from the Jessica Lynch case about which an article was assigned to us as a reading. Some consider the rescue of the then 19 year old American soldier heroic; others less so. The BBC and American media have taken widely different stances on this issue. The media in the USA had been accused of tweaking and manipulating the fine details of the story. It was portrayed as a very heroic story, one similar to those in action movies. This led to the induction of a new cult symbol in the USA. Even if the story is exaggerated, it gives hope to the Americans, and upholds the very fabric of society. Sure, the fact that the US government is not doing too well on foreign soil, or the fact that they shouldn't be there in the first place is not mentioned anywhere in american media. However, it is this confidence that holds America together: what's the point of reporting news that's going to bring a society apart? Societal structures in developed countries like the USA are fragile, and need to be maintained with great care in order to prevent the breaking down of one of the most powerful economies in the world. Imagine an America in turmoil: everyone running around in panic due to their lack of confidence in their military. This does not make a very pretty sight does it? Propaganda through the subtle impact of the American Government on American media provides an identity to an American even though they might not be wholly true: as those who stand for justice to anyone anywhere.
The documentary 'Control Room' also further emphasises my point on the importance of propaganda. Everyone considers Jazeera News to have some form of propaganda. The owner himself says that the main objective is to bring the Arab World to the forefront of technology. Iraqi media says that they have an American bias, whereas American media says they have an Iraqi one. This intertwining and mingling of different viewpoints on propaganda proves that everyone is human: objective reporting in extreme cases (such as the Iraqi one) is quite simply impossible. Since propaganda is going to be present anyway, wouldn't it be better if the almighty power of a country use certain propaganda and information in order to strengthen the identity and quality of life of a country?
Such a view might seem extreme if thought about initially. However, throughout the lessons, these are thoughts that have been going through my head. Propaganda is inevitable: you might as well use it for good purposes, even if it involves manipulation of facts. Willing citizens can make what they want to of the news being reported. This has finally changed my perspective to that of an "strongly-agreeing student" about this prompt. I can't say a lot of the others would say the same...
Propaganda has taken over our life, whether it be in the form of media or the daily talk we have with our family at the dinner table. Propaganda is everywhere, and is unstoppable as it is the by-product of human nature. This extreme form of bias is natural; if there was no propaganda in this world, there might as well not have been emotions.
This is evident from the Jessica Lynch case about which an article was assigned to us as a reading. Some consider the rescue of the then 19 year old American soldier heroic; others less so. The BBC and American media have taken widely different stances on this issue. The media in the USA had been accused of tweaking and manipulating the fine details of the story. It was portrayed as a very heroic story, one similar to those in action movies. This led to the induction of a new cult symbol in the USA. Even if the story is exaggerated, it gives hope to the Americans, and upholds the very fabric of society. Sure, the fact that the US government is not doing too well on foreign soil, or the fact that they shouldn't be there in the first place is not mentioned anywhere in american media. However, it is this confidence that holds America together: what's the point of reporting news that's going to bring a society apart? Societal structures in developed countries like the USA are fragile, and need to be maintained with great care in order to prevent the breaking down of one of the most powerful economies in the world. Imagine an America in turmoil: everyone running around in panic due to their lack of confidence in their military. This does not make a very pretty sight does it? Propaganda through the subtle impact of the American Government on American media provides an identity to an American even though they might not be wholly true: as those who stand for justice to anyone anywhere.
The documentary 'Control Room' also further emphasises my point on the importance of propaganda. Everyone considers Jazeera News to have some form of propaganda. The owner himself says that the main objective is to bring the Arab World to the forefront of technology. Iraqi media says that they have an American bias, whereas American media says they have an Iraqi one. This intertwining and mingling of different viewpoints on propaganda proves that everyone is human: objective reporting in extreme cases (such as the Iraqi one) is quite simply impossible. Since propaganda is going to be present anyway, wouldn't it be better if the almighty power of a country use certain propaganda and information in order to strengthen the identity and quality of life of a country?
Such a view might seem extreme if thought about initially. However, throughout the lessons, these are thoughts that have been going through my head. Propaganda is inevitable: you might as well use it for good purposes, even if it involves manipulation of facts. Willing citizens can make what they want to of the news being reported. This has finally changed my perspective to that of an "strongly-agreeing student" about this prompt. I can't say a lot of the others would say the same...
This is a hard thing for me to agree with. That is not to say that it is not true. I am perfectly willing to admit that propaganda does hold the american society together, but that does not make it morally right, just an ugly necessity. That said, this is on the whole a very powerful piece, specifically the "abolition of such a totalitarian statement can only lead to Utopia" is very resonanting.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Pratik! I liked how you tied it in to the examples we studied in class. I agree especially with what you said about propaganda being inevitable - just like we discussed in class, it is impossible to write a bias free text. However, you mentioned that propaganda should be acceptable since its inevitable. Do you think an ideal society would have propaganda in it?
ReplyDeleteOk so:
ReplyDelete-About your comment on the truth of wars causing turmoil in the US; ur absolutely right. But the turmoil is often what would lead to peace. Look at the Vietnam war: USA was more powerful by faaaar, but one of the main reasons they lost was because there were so many protests in the US. Thats the actual reason why the 60s are all about peace and love: they were trying to end the Vietnam War. So don't you think the turmoil is sometimes necessary for societal progress?
-I love how you mention that propaganda is simply inevitable... It's a harsh reality that we have to face: we're still human. But don't you think that maybe if we managed to step beyond it we might reach a better world..?