Starfish 3/27

In class last Thursday, we discussed Herman and Chomsky’s theories of propaganda. They believe that the purpose of mass media’s existence is solely for propaganda purposes. Mass media “…inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society” 257. This got me wondering. Is everything around me propaganda? The scary thing about it is sometimes we cannot pin point when things are. Propaganda can affect us subconsciously, so are we on a day-to-day basis being brain washed?
Another thing that I found interesting was the idea of “opine and recline.” We think that in everything we do and believe that we have a choice. We have control over our own actions, but Herman and Chomsky say that this is merely an illusion. I would really like to believe that I have complete control over everything I do, but it makes sense that certain things I believe and think were subconsciously put in my head by the media.
The news is a big portal for propaganda. We read the paper or watch the news to be updated on what is going on in the world. We trust the news to give us the facts, but sometimes the news does not report the whole story. In CMC 200, we discussed how on a late night program they had a segment called “The Casualties of War.” They then proceeded to show the pictures of the men who had died in the War on Terror. The government was outraged when this occurred because they don’t want American’s to see images like this. They only want us to see the positives of war. They don’t want us to see the reality of situations.