War, Media, And Propaganda : A Global Perspective

2509 Words6 Pages

Theoretically speaking, a community united under one common goal is unstoppable. If everyone in the United States was on the same wavelength of thought, we would be able to triumph over anything that stood in our way. If only we could truly be United States and stand under one common goal. Perhaps the government should strive for that through advertisement on every television set, radio station, and magazine in the nation. Take a step back. Does the premise for which the advertisement would be published not sound like fascism? We are constantly being bombarded by extremely biased advertisement. #1 Recommended by Dentists, this is the product you should buy, This product will you make you irresistible to women; all of these statements are created and promoted by their private corporations, but what happens when a government advertises something more than a product? What happens when a government promotes a central idea in order to gain support? As stated by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Propaganda is “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.” We can easily point out examples. During World War II, the “When you ride alone, you ride with Hitler” poster was released promoting the idea that the nation should save gas for the war effort by car-pooling with one another. One cannot forget the iconic poster depicting Uncle Sam beckoning people to join the United States Army. Something like that could not happen today, right? Wrong. According to an article by Eric Schmitt from the New York Times published on December 3, 2005, “The military acknowledged…in a briefing for a ranking Senate Republican that news articles written by American troops had bee...

... middle of paper ...

...avid Welch. Propaganda And Mass Persuasion : A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 To The Present. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2003. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 2 Dec. 2013.

Schmidts, Dana Adams. "Nixon Asks $155 Million in Drug War." Palm Beach Post 18 Jun 1971, Friday A1. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.

Schmitt, Eric. "THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: PROPAGANDA; Military Admits Planting News in Iraq." New York Times 03 Dec 2005, n. pag. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E6DB1231F930A35751C1A9639C8B63

Reaves, Jessica. "Just Say No to DARE." TIME. 15 Feb 2001: n. page. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. .

Brody, Jane E. "Tapping Medical Marijuana's Potential."New York Times 04 Nov 2013, n. pag. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. .

Open Document