Blog #9: EOTO: Propaganda

    Propaganda has been a tool used for centuries in order to

influence certain ideas onto the public. It is used to communicate and push an idea onto people. Propaganda is still used in the current day to promote concepts people such as the government want the public to support. 

    Shown to the right is an example of current propaganda. The Covid-19 pandemic has many examples of propaganda used today. The government was using propaganda to encourage the public to stay at home and wear a mask if they need to be in public. Using this propaganda during the pandemic, the government held a lot of power. They had the ability to get millions of people to quarantine, wear masks, and get a vaccine all using propaganda.

    Propaganda can be used to manipulate minds. What could be promoted as a good thing, could actually be harming people. The government can use propaganda in order to benefit themselves by wording it correctly and convincingly. The government uses propaganda strategically to influence the thoughts and opinions of the public. 

    There are also ways that propaganda is used that is not necessarily posters and slogans. This could be through restriction. This is seen in the Smith- Mundt Act. It restricted news in the US from foreign sources. 

    In the Smith- Mundt Modernization it now "allows citizens to receive information regarding foreign broadcasts via Freedom of Information Act requests, which were previously prohibited on the basis of the Smith-Mundt Act." Before this moderation to the act, US domestic audiences could not access US sponsored foreign information.

    While this is considered censorship, it can also fall under the idea of propaganda since it is controlling the way the audience thinks by promoting certain ideas and restricting others. The Smith- Mundt act was used to limit foreign information broadcasting in the United States.

    Propaganda affects every person no matter that person's race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. It is used to alter the way every person thinks. Not only does propaganda influence your thoughts and opinions, it also effects your interactions with other people. Since propaganda affects all people and influences how they think, each person could have differing opinions. These opinions that are influenced from the propaganda could affect how people interact with one another in regards to that topic.  

    Propaganda can influence people to start protests on a topic, which will only result in even more propaganda on that subject. In furthering and expanding this propaganda, that specific idea that is trying to be conveyed will spread and influence more people. Protests can be a form of propaganda because they are meant to convey and push a certain idea or message onto people. 

    Propaganda has had an effect on me in my life as well. I have seen propaganda in a variety of ways. I have seen protests, movements, speeches, posters, and so much more. These are all forms of propaganda.

    One of the biggest examples of propaganda I have seen in my lifetime that has effected me is Covid-19. The use of propaganda to keep people inside. From the government spreading these ideas to keep people inside I was in my house for months, unable to leave. Propaganda was used in order to influence the public that going outside and near other people would harm their health. This forced people to stay indoors for months which overall affected our entire society as a whole.  

    Propaganda is a tool that has been used for thousands of years in order to control and influence opinions. This tool is still extremely common and influential in today's day and age. I believe it will continue to be used by people especially the government in order to influence people's thoughts and opinions.