Propaganda Is Not for the People
By, Alondra Jimenez
Is the media addicted to propaganda? For many years, society has relied on the media for access to information. But what happens when that information is weaponized for one’s political and social interests? People are then mislead from the truth and conditioned to believe false narratives. That has been the role of the media in today’s society.
The early and mid 1900s was the golden age of propaganda. Through the use of political cartoons like Uncle Sam, the media was able to project positive imagery surrounding the wars of that time.
In recent years, the media has been weaponized for political use. For instance, the media played a huge role in the 2016 United States presidential election. Today, there is an ongoing debate on whether or not Russia took part in spreading an anti-Hillary Clinton rhetoric through the use of social media. In “The Propaganda Tools Used by Russians to Influence the 2016 Election,” Alicia Parlapiano and Jasmine C. Lee breakdown the various tools used to promote pro-Trump propaganda by “Russian nationalists”. According to the article, the suspects would make social media accounts, while putting on the appearance of being American users. Through these social media accounts, the suspects would post memes and false information regarding the election.
Parlapiano and Lee argue that the suspects planned to “encourage minority groups not to vote or to promote accusations that the Democratic Party engaged in voter fraud”. In this case, the media was used to influence the American vote within the election. Due to this, the alleged intrusion of “Russian nationalists” within the American media is considered to be at fault for Trump’s victory in the presidential election. This is a prime example of when propaganda takes place, the media begins to have a negative effect on society.
This then raises the question on what happens, when one takes a stand against political propaganda. The answer is censorship. In an article titled “World Cup hasn’t loosened Russia’s grip on media freedom, RSF says” published by rsf.org, the Russian government allegedly have been censoring the media. According to the article, the Russian government have used various media outlets to spread propaganda. The use of propaganda in the Russian media has forced many journalists to stand against it, while putting their lives and careers at risk. The article claims that under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, “at least 34 journalists have been killed” in relation to their profession.
The media controls what we see. Therefore, it becomes an issue when what we see is controlled by other forces and becomes apart of an agenda used to deceive us. The use of propaganda within the media is a threat to our society and our freedom to think. We as an audience must learn to not believe everything we see. We must acquire the ability to digest the information we receive through critical lens. Through this we are then able to weaken propaganda and the forces that work behind it.
