Any information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view: propaganda. Not only used in politics but in our everyday lives.
Ever been watching the news and the report is totally one-sided. Clear as day. And you get upset and start yelling at your TV. Then the commercial breaks in. And all of a sudden, your mood changes. “Oh. Southwest is having a sale on flights. Let’s go somewhere.”
Just like that. First, you were force fed one-sided images and then immediately forced to forget about either side by switching your mind to other than the emotion of disgust you once had, only moments ago. Television tells lies through vision. The initial lie that is told is so biased you get upset and scream at the TV. And TV producers know and understand that the public is going to feel this way. So, just in case those feelings are felt. The immediate cover up begins. Switch to a commercial that will calm the current rift and subdue any feelings of disgust with the one-sided imagery. Therefore, salvaging the image in your mind, whether it is wanted or otherwise. You will get the point they are trying to make. Whether you like it or not.
You will have ‘this’ on your mind. This is the brainwashing of propaganda.
We saw it all through the election. We’ve seen it way before the election. But, were you paying attention? When Trayvon Martin got shot, what do you remember about that? I remember a lot. I remember he was a young black male being followed by a white wannabe policeman. I also remember that they said he was a thug and smoked weed and had a small criminal record. Why do I remember this? It’s not important to me. But it is important to the image the TV was trying to portray of him.
If they make us, the people, believe he was a bad guy, then we believe the shooter may have acted accordingly. And so it went. Zimmerman got off. And on and on, it kept happening.
They shot us down, then fed us lies about the victim so that would be okay with the shooting. Propaganda is a hell of a thing!
Propaganda shows up all over the place. From news reports to politics all the way to our school systems. With propaganda promoting biased or misleading information to promote an idea or point of view, I’s no wonder it’s found all over the place. We see it so much, now, that we’ve just become so expectant of it and used to it.
When I was younger, I used to drink Heineken beer. It was an acquired taste, but every one in movies was drinking it. Now, as I’ve gotten older, I realized that it is a nasty tasting beer. I like craft beers, now. I began drinking Stella Artois. I’ve been drinking Stella Artois for years, now. My friends never used to like it, until, now. It has replaced the Heineken of the movies. My promotion of it was nothing like that of the movie industry. Thanks to that propaganda, my favorite beer is everybody’s favorite beer.
Social media is notorious for spreading propaganda of all sorts. It’s so easy. And we, as a society, are so gullible. We believe anything with a picture and a quote. And folks took advantage of that during the election. Those folks are called Internet trolls. They spread lies and propaganda by starting arguments and upsetting people by posting inflammatory, off-topic messages. They’ll show up on your timeline to cause dissension among your friends and followers while posing as a friend or flat out imposter. They’ll show up bashing one candidate to plant the lies in your head so that when it comes time to cast your vote, you have those thoughts lingering.
This is how they influenced the election. It wasn’t rigged. It was influenced and tampered with by propaganda.
Let’s not even talk about propaganda in the schools. Okay. Let’s. School books will tell one-sided stories about history, such as slavery, and students have no choice but to take what they are given as the truth. School books will lead you to believe that slaves could have fought more for their freedom but did not because of the good lives they lived in the “Big Houses.” School books and the movie Roots will have you believing that not all slave masters were bad and evil. Not all slave masters were white. They want to perpetuate the image of a slave master being either black or white. So, that the image of white being pure is not shattered.
The news will report events differently according to the race of the person in the report. Blacks tend to be described as thugs or merely bad persons. Whites are just people who have committed a crime. Blacks are criminals. Whites are suspects. Blacks appear in the news almost always negatively. Reports surrounding whites tend to be about scientists, doctors and such. Blacks in the news excel in sports. Whites in the news excel in medicine. Leave it up to TV; blacks are mainly good at sports and crime. And whites are great at medicine and science.
Don’t believe the hype. I could go on and on. But, instead, I will leave you with this. Propaganda is all around us. Please, remember. Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. Do your own research. Investigate any and all tales. Even the ones I have told. Take nothing at face value. Don’t be duped, bamboozled or hoodwinked. Don’t believe the hype.
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