Propaganda Needs to be Noticed More by Americans (EOTO Part 1)

Used a lot in government and many other marketing activities, propaganda is when information is manipulated in a way that makes information false and this false information influences the public opinion. We have seen propaganda used very recently in politics with the upcoming Presidential election as journalists have attempted to manipulate quotes to affect presidential candidates. But propaganda is also used in commercial advertising, public relations, legal arguments, and collective bargaining. People who use propaganda use persuasive slogans and parables to shift public opinion.

Noted Use of Propaganda

Propaganda was used by the United States when they entered World War I. When the war began in 1914, the United States vowed to stay neutral and not enter the war. But with fear growing that Germany could win the war, the United States entered. But since the country thought the U.S. was going to stay neutral the country had to use propaganda posters to change the public opinion on neutrality. This was known as "fake news" as U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had recently been re-elected for keeping America out of the war. Most recently, we have seen many instances of propaganda involving President Trump and how people believe that Russians hacked the voting to help him win the election. Even most recently as this week, Trump's likely opponent in the upcoming election was said to have made statements about Trump's reign as President that were claimed to be propaganda by Trump himself.

Propaganda posters like this above were used to get Americans encouraged about the Untied States going to war after the American people thought the country was staying neutral.

Impact

As you can see by the recent acts of propaganda, it has a major impact on society as it can easily change public opinion to believe in ideas that are not true. Propaganda has an impact on every generation due to the affects it has on the current Presidential situation and the term "fake news" that has been used so many times by President Trump. As for any person in America today, propaganda can affect a person by changing their beliefs on the government whether they think that some of the fake news that is being used today is real of not. To conclude, propaganda was a good thing when it came to war but it can be a bad thing, even life changing in making people believe false information about the country.

Related Links:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/propaganda

https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/overhere/more

https://www.history.com/news/world-war-1-propaganda-woodrow-wilson-fake-news