Propaganda Journey
Propaganda was a topic I have heard many times in the news and in headlines on social media. I was always familiar with the word but never fully understood the true meaning of it, the impact it has on society’s mindset, and the way it can persuade people. I went into this course wanting to learn more about how propaganda is utilized by influential people from celebrities, politicians, and social media personnel. I was totally overwhelmed and fascinated by how deep propaganda is in our history, and how much propaganda is involved in our everyday lives without us realizing it. This course has allowed me to challenge my own opinions and look at conversations through a different lens that made me question how much propaganda has affected my own life. I always had this impression of propaganda that it was solely a vocabulary word used for politics, but I was proved how encapsulated propaganda is from our education, media, politics, films, music, arts, terrorism, and so much more. After the end of this course, I decided to revisit my own definition of propaganda which I initially thought “propaganda is the spreading of ideas to persuade a large group of people”. While yes, this is partly true, it goes much deeper than this. Propaganda can be dangerous, glamourized, or insightful which gives its true meaning of the word a very complex approach. As I wrapped 12 weeks fully emersed in everything propaganda from every possible direction I have come to my own conclusion that propaganda is “The way in which values, information, are facts are projected to help or paralyze one’s claim”. What I mean by this definition, what I have learned it’s not about persuading a group of people to think as you do, it’s how they are able to do that and this is what makes propaganda in my opinion a masterful work of art. There were five topics this semester that I found fascinating and really brought me out of my comfort zone, which in a way brought me out of my ignorance. These propaganda topics include; “The Dark of Propaganda”, “Conspiracy Theories”, “Terrorism as Propaganda”, “Patriotism, and Nationalism”, and “Propaganda in Education”
