reflection

I chose this English class as a requirement of UC Davis and hoped to improve my writing. I always have problems with expressing my thought in writing. I do not expect much from this class, but when we discussed about how we going to write our essay I got really excited. Blog is new to me and I hope that this new media can help me improve my writing. With the experience on Blog this few weeks, I notice that my writing has not improve that much at all. However, I notice that I have been improving in my writing on Blog only. The problems I face writing on blog is that I keep writing anything that come to my mind so the paragraphs are unorganized which can be confusing to the audience.

As for the class, I really like the discussion and the analyzing we did together. Even though I did not participate on the discussion that much, but I learn a lot from listen. Before this class, I never pay attention to the things or signs around me, but now I seem to notice the signs and start analyzing it. Just yesterday, I was watching a movie with my friends called, “Untraceable” I start to analyzing it and see how it relate to the technology topic we discussed in class. From this class, I learn to appreciate thing around me more and see how technology has improve and influence my life and others.

The hardest part of this class was the class project. My group topic is to analyze online dating services since none of us have never experience or have any knowledge of it before so we do not know what we suppose to do. We just talk to people online and come up with ideals base on the key terms we discussed in class. Overall, we did a great presentation as a group and have a lot of fun through the process.

This class is the best English class I ever take and I would recommend this class to everyone.

Propaganda

Base on OED, propaganda is derived from the Latin word propagare which means to propagate. In a neutral sense propaganda means spreading messages, conveying information, and getting word out through some means of communication. The means may or may not be devious, deceptive and underhanded. Any goals sought in spreading the message may be good or bad, but no moral evaluation is conveyed. In a negative connotation, the Wikipedia states that propaganda is the relatively conscious manipulation of other people's thoughts or actions with the respect to beliefs, values, and behaviors which these people regard as controversial by means of symbols such as words, gestures, flags, images, music and more (3). The elements of consciousness and manipulativeness distinguish propaganda from merely causal communication or the free exchange of ideas.

Here, it is important to bear in the two components in the proper assessment of propaganda. One relates to the ends promoted by the messages which can be good or bad. The second relates to the means chosen which can be good or bad independently of the ends sought. The difference between propaganda and education is the propagandist presents a manipulative argument or a single set of symbols while the educator aims to present all side of an issue and leaves mainly to the audience the decision concerning the truth of the claims presented and the values at stake. Propaganda of the deed means the performance of a non-symbolic act that primarily for the symbolic effect it actually will have some audience (2). Political campaign, commercial bargaining and advertising obviously are likely to include both propaganda and propaganda of deed in their business.

The logical design of propaganda and of counterpropaganda appears to have begun in Greek city-states about 500B.C. known as rhetoric (1). Rhetoric is the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion. Teachers such as Plato and Aristotle complied the rules of rhetoric with two aims; to make their own argument more persuasive but also to immunize citizen against the use of logical fallacies and emotional terms by greedy politic, and to point out the possible dangers of following irrational leaders.

The terms propaganda in most of its modern usages is apparently derived from the shortened name of the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Congregation for Propaganda of the Faith), a standing committee of cardinals Catholic Church since 1622. Similarly, in communist circle the term propaganda is taken form the book, “Agitation and Propaganda” written by Lenin in 1929. In the book, Lenin distinguished between propaganda and agitation. He defines propaganda as the reason use of arguments from philosophy, history, and science to influence the educated and agitation as the use of emotional slogans, parable and half-truth to influence the uneducated and the unreasonable.

Only small advance in either the highly organized practice or the logical theory of propaganda took place until the industrial revolution made mass production possible. As part of the modern trend toward high profit distribution, studies began to collect data on what the consumers wants, habits and their susceptibility to alternative kinds of salesmanship, advertising, package and publicity. In 1930s, commercial sample survey began to develop rapidly in almost every conceivable aspect to opinion, attitude, belief and behavior involved in consumer motivation has been investigated with respect to sample of the population of most major countries. Such information is stored in computer and they are used as basic for increasing commercials and other propaganda. Nationwide and international advertisement companies spend billions of dollars annually, advertising on radio, television, newspaper, magazine and billboard in countries where it is acceptable.

Military invention and the spread of nationalism and attempts of democracy have caused recent wars and social revolution mobilized the entire national population (1). In World War I and more in World War II, each major contending government made massive outlays of propaganda. This attributed to various propaganda techniques like name calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonial, plain folks, card stacking, and bandwagon.

In name calling, the propagandists create fear and arouse prejudice by using negative words or bad names to create an unfavorable opinion or hatred against a group, beliefs, ideas or institutions they would have us denounce (5). This method calls for a conclusion without examining the evidence. In glittering generalities, the propagandists employ vague, sweeping statements using language associated with values and beliefs deeply held by the audience without providing supporting information or reason. They appeal to such notions as honor, glory, love of country, desire for peace, freedom, and family values. The words and phrases are vague and suggest different things to different people but the implication is always favorable. It cannot be proved true or false because it really says little or nothing at all.

Transfer is a technique used to carry over the authority and approval of something we respect and revere to something the propagandist would have us accept. Propagandists often employ symbols to stir our emotions and win our approval. In testimonial, propagandists associate a respected person or someone with experience to endorse a product or cause by giving it their stamp of approval hoping that the intended audience will follow their example (6). With plain folks, propagandists convince the audience that the spokesperson is from humble origins, someone they can trust and who has their interests at heart.

With card stacking, the propagandist uses this technique to make the best case possible for his side and the worst for the opposing viewpoint by carefully using only those facts that support his or her side of the argument while attempting to lead the audience into accepting the facts as a conclusion. Propagandists use bandwagon to persuade the audience to follow the crowd. This device creates the impression of widespread support. It reinforces the human desire to be on the winning side. It also plays on feelings of loneliness and isolation.

The poster below is a propaganda in World War II. Since the men all went to the war, women had to do the men jobs like building weapons, airplanes and other types of military equipment. The picture shows a woman with muscular and wearing a blue shirt represents a working class which is portray the opposite of feminine. The color of the poster contains red, white and blue representing our flag color which gives rise to national pride, citizenship and commitment. The words “we can do it!” give women courage and encourage women to take action. This also target women who desire for equal right. From history we saw that women accomplished their right to vote and treated equal as men after World War II. This poster shows the propaganda technique of glittering generalities.

By pointing out these techniques, I hope to create awareness and encourage serious consideration of the influence of contemporary propaganda directed at us through the various media. Since the improvement of technology and globalization, we are bombard with advertisement from different media like the internet, television and magazines. All advertisements used the techniques of propaganda to sell us products. As consumers, we should be aware of these techniques. For example, in this Mac commercial, New Mac Ad: Viruses, Apple company uses the card stacking technique. It puts PC down by saying that PC easily catches virus while Mac does not. When you see an advertisement or commercial take a moment and try to figure out what it is trying to present, who is it targeting, and who benefits.

Site

1. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/bernprop.html
2. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/propaganda
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
4. http://www.answers.com/topic/propaganda
5. http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111500/proptech.htm
6. http://www.globalissues.org/article/157/war-propaganda-and-the-media