https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr Five key points from: Bernays, E. (1928). Propaganda. New York, NY: Ig Publishing. en-us 2017-10-15 04:09:27 UTC 2026-02-03 17:58:32 UTC hello@padlet.com xslowskys4lifex https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/197988091
This quote immediately reminds me of my gender and women studies class, where we analyzed fashion and makeup advertisements. Even as children, we're told what "beautiful" is by being told to play with blonde, skinny Barbies, seeing photo ads of scantily-clad women, and being show commercials with models that have perfectly white teeth. These pieces of propaganda persuade us to see "the mythical norm" for women (abled, white, blonde, skinny) as the ideal standard of beauty. ]]> 2017-10-17 19:12:07 UTC https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/197988091 xslowskys4lifex https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/197991267 We may think that we have to power to choose our own clothes, what type of car we buy, the way we decorate our homes, but we truly don't. We are stuck in a large system that provides us with choices, and we're simply forced to choice one thing or another. Propaganda, like advertisements or persuasion from peers/friends/family, are what influences us to make the choices we do. Even if we chose to ignore these ads, ignore the system, and make our own clothes/cars/homes/etc, we're still stuck in a system that provides us with limited choices. If we want to make our own clothes, for example, we still have to go to the fabric store and and pick fabric based on the choices given to us at that store. Are we actually free agents?]]> 2017-10-17 19:18:58 UTC https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/197991267 xslowskys4lifex https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/197997086 Though this book was written years ago, this description of political campaigns sounds all too familiar after the Presidential campaign of 2016. In actually focusing on Trump's speeches, ideas, and plans, you'd find that they were baseless, ignorant, and vague. What appealed to people was the glitz and glam of his campaign: the arguments, the insults, the inflammatory language, and drastic and unrealistic goals. ]]> 2017-10-17 19:31:28 UTC https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/197997086 xslowskys4lifex https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/197998881 Can you imagine a world rid completely of propaganda? I can't...we wouldn't be able to talk, to communicate at all. There would be no sharing of ideas or debate. I don't even think images or colors could be allowed, for their symbolic messages could be taken as propaganda in certain contexts. Propaganda goes hand in hand with rhetoric, and rhetoric exists in everything that we do, see, and hear. Propaganda will never die out because it is an innate part of society. As Jacques Ellul says, democracy cannot exist without propaganda.]]> 2017-10-17 19:36:20 UTC https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/197998881 xslowskys4lifex https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/198001288 Bernays says that new propagandists have become sneaky. Old propagandists found it effective to call out viewers or propaganda directly and push them to action immediately. For instance, take Uncle Sam telling you that he "wants YOU" to join the US army while pointing at you. Today, the army can recruit soldiers in more discreet ways. They give out free pens to high school students. They put 30 second commercials on MTV, a network watched primarily by young people. New propagandists use the subconscious influence of the mind to persuade. ]]> 2017-10-17 19:42:50 UTC https://padlet.com/xslowskys4lifex/do1q522slihr/wish/198001288