Wag the Dog

When watching a film about history being 100% accurate may not make the movie as enjoyable to viewers, so I believe a lie here or there wouldn’t hurt. Movies are made for entertainment, so if someone wants accuracy then they should watch a documentary. But this movie did a good job staying true to history and the events of its time.

Our perception in regards to reality is frequently “in the hands of” of our community, and we form our beliefs in regards to what is real is through the media. Therefore, the documentary “We Need to Talk about Sandy Hook” by Sofia Small storm and the film “Wag the Dog,” by Barry Levinson are both examples of how the media tries to deceive people. The documentary has deceived the pubic into believing that the Sandy Hook Massacres did exist, and Wag the Dog tries to trick the public into believing that the United States will be at war. Both films use deceptions that are planned by the government to deceive the public for their own needs. Therefore, although people rely on media for legitimate information, they never know the truth unless it was experienced first hand.

Typically, a government or political organization that is in power places these restrictions formally or covertly on oppressed groups so that they may be exploited and less able to compete with other social groups. The oppressed individual or group is devalued, exploited and deprived of privileges by the individual or group which has more power" (Barker, 2003).

The media in American society has a major influential impact on the minds and beliefs of millions of people. Whether through the news, television shows, or film, the media acts as a huge database for knowledge and instruction. It is both an auditory and visual database that can press images and ideas into people's minds. Even if the individual has no prior exposure or knowledge to something, the media can project into people's minds and leave a lasting impression. Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact it

There are some who may argue that oppression is a concept of the past and that it does not exist in our modern society; however, oppression it not always an overt power one person or group exerts over another. It can come in more subtle forms, many of which that have become such normative aspects of our society that some oppressors and oppressed individuals alike may not immediately recognize its impact. In

The Week’s article also made me question our government and its principles. For the past 53 years Theorists have been constantly debating the horrendous assassination of John F. Kennedy was a conspiracy theory for sure, there are just so many possibilities. The people should be able to have some faith in their own

Movies consistently distort the facts so that they can entertain a mass audience. Time and time again, consumers have

"[It's] not a war. It's a pageant. We need a theme, a song, some visuals," states Conrad Brean, the White House's Mr. Fix-it, referring to the plan designed to divert the public's attention from the incumbent's recent disastrous decision-making. The fabricated war and astonishing public response depicts the unfortunate credulity our society suffers from in Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog. Produced in 1997, the satire displays phenomenal insight into the media's effective use of rhetoric to influence the public opinion.

The media in American society has a major influential impact on the minds and beliefs of millions of people. Whether through the news, television shows, or film, the media acts as a huge database for knowledge and instruction. It is both an auditory and visual database that can press images and ideas into people's minds. Even if the individual has no prior exposure or knowledge to something, the media can project into people's minds and leave a lasting impression. Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact

I believe todays media is controlled by the wealthy liberal minority, Examples of some include television, major internet sites such as Yahoo and AOL. These wealthy liberal minority’s use the media to impose their beliefs by airing programs that can influence perception. Think about it-show enough interracial couples, air enough Police brutality directed at one particular group, give only one side to a point of view and the outcome becomes brainwashing to a certain degree. The perception becomes acceptable behavior, thus the norm. Whoever said, “repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it” hit the nail on the head because it’s essentially true. Controlling what media viewers see and hear is basically re-programming us how to think

In our Society, we deal with many form of oppression in our daily lives. Unfortunately, different groups of people are more oppressed than others. Oppression is the unjust treatment of a group of people. I believe, our government is a major culprit as they are responsible for oppressing most of society. This involves many groups, such as single mothers, the working class, African Americans, gays and lesbians. In my paper, my personal views will be addressed incorporating ideas from several readings pertaining to different forms of oppression. A summarization of each article will be provided as well.

Just think about it, the MK ultra project is something HUGE that the CIA has been working on for years, but we know about it. Can you imagine all the other things they could be working on right now? For all we know, the MK ultra project could be completed by now and the CIA has moved on to the next SCI-FI horror story. This makes it hard to believe anything anymore. All the information we know, everything that’s featured on the news, could all be just one big cesspool of lies released to the media to “maintain

The author from The Atlantic discusses the effect that the publisher of these conspiracy theories has on the American citizens. It is harmful as these theories have become normalized through politics, a great portion of many lives and has led them to have their free mind almost being altered. The spread of fake news is becoming a prevalent issue currently to owners of any media platform across the web as stated through Gale Databases. As it has spread to websites and social media it has become hard to distinguish the real from the fake if you are constantly being surrounded by the fake. The question of why so many people believe in conspiracy theories can be embarked upon in many different aspects as seen by Time. Through studies, we see that one’s income, education, or political beliefs can alter their mind. But also a mentality implemented through politics and the tension around that can be harming people. In which every way it is absurd that people are still being fooled by this false information and that it is allowed to still continue on. All three sources can come together to agree that the perpetuation of misinformation is a very real, toxic product that is affecting the way in which our society views events or stories. It can be taken on through politics and rumors present there, conspiracy

Wag the Dog depicts how public relations firms alter different distractions to divert attention. In the movie, the American people are the targeted audience of this film during this political propaganda to pull their attention away from the presidential scandal with a young girl before it affects the candidacy of the president. They did this by calling in Conrad Brean a “spin doctor”. This refers to his expertise in fixing or handling difficult situations. Brean and Anne Heche manipulated the public into believing there is a war going on with Albania by staging events with Stanley Motss a Hollywood producer, making it to where the only person who could resolve the current devastation was the president.

During elections in countries with corrupt governments, for example, it has to be decided whether the guarantee of every individual’s right to vote or who wins is more important. (Wong, Lecture, October 24) Moreover, deep divides continue to exist and separate groups in democratic countries by race, religion, language, and class, resulting in tension and, in some cases, oppression. Thus democracy, despite its emphasis on liberty, equality and plurality, can still be problematic.