Blog #10: Propaganda

 Propaganda

Ah, Uncle Sam, America’s favorite relative.  Created in the 17th century, his white, red, and blue outfit, top hat, and stern face evokes feelings of patriotism and strength. By pointing his finger at the audience,

he encourages confidence in the American people and unifies them as one. After all, he boosted the morale among Americans and got more troops for the Army to fight in World War I.

Yes, Uncle Sam is a beloved figure in American history who represents this nation’s strength. 

But he is also one of the most famous examples of propaganda in American history. 

Propaganda is dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumors, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion. In this instance, it's the government using emotion to inspire Americans to support the war efforts; men fighting in the army and women supporting from home. Propaganda has been used for centuries, with records dating back to 515 BCE. It has been used throughout history in every organization civilization with a democratic hierarchy. In American, typically its either used by the government to create support for its plans or, its been used by opposing politicians to decrease support for the other. 

Uncle Sam is one of the most popular examples of American propaganda and it represents a happy ideal in America, everyone feeling empowered to do their part to support America which is pretty positive.

However, the group brought up an example of how evil and dangerous propaganda got in Hilter’s Germany. Hilter used propaganda to paint negative viewpoints of Jewish people and other minorities across the nation. Hilter intentionally depicted Jewish people as evil and the cause of the world’s problems and after enough propaganda was released, public opinions were influenced. By using propaganda, anti-semitism spread across Germany and led to the Holocaust, which killed six million Jewish people. 

Clearly, propaganda can be extremely dangerous when used by evil people with malicious intentions. Propaganda is influential tool, that can be used to create lovable characters who influence you to give back to your country, or it can encourage others to participate in mass genocide.