Research Hypertext-American Propaganda

Role of American Propaganda

I have decided to my research project on the presence of propaganda in America. In Little Brother, Cory Doctorow tries to answer this question: what impact does propaganda have on the citizens of the United States? In his text, Doctorow shows that people can be easily convinced with what they are told in newspapers, on television, and through other forms of popular media. There are several examples of this, such as when the news tries to portray the rebellious teenagers as terrorists for going against the rules set by the DHS. It seems that the characters in the novel easily accept this idea because propaganda ignites a feeling of fear within them. They spend little time truly thinking about the situation that is actually occurring. Doctorow modestly makes an attempt to show how propaganda can strongly influence how Americans act and react to complex occurrences. Along those lines, I would also like to discover how American propaganda is different than propaganda in other countries and how powerful it is able to change the mindset of its citizens.

Through my study of the literature, I have come to learn that Americans hold the upper hand when dealing with propaganda. Paul Weber notes that American propaganda is so successful because it plays with people’s emotions and ignites strong feelings from its viewers. For example, he notes that advertisements for women’s beauty products plays into a women’s fear of not looking or feeling as beautiful as society says she should be. In other words, it creates a feeling of fear inside of her that she won’t be as attractive as other girls with out the product being advertised. Doctorow has contributed to this idea by showing how much chaos and worry can come out of a newspaper article, a morning news channel, and more. Though his examples focus on much more serious situations than buying women’s beauty products, his ideas seem to agree with authors today. However, he doesn’t show just how prominent American propaganda truly is in our society.

American propaganda has been around for decades, and is visible in many forms. Tex Avery, a famous cartoonist created a cartoon entitled “Blitz Wolf”, a playoff of the Three Little Pigs, which illustrates the Big Bad Wolf as Hitler to show Americans to be fearful of this all-powerful man and find ways to reduce his status. It is obvious that Americans have mastered the skill of propaganda and have been able to reach out to their viewers in a variety of ways, even through the entertainment industry. I would like to study this issue further and investigate the role propaganda plays in our American society even more. So far, I have come to the conclusion that those who have some sense of authority in the advertising world can steer our minds into whichever the direction they choose.