What Is Propaganda?

In order to spread lies about marijuana use, various agencies released propaganda films, most notable of these films is “Reefer Madness”. In this film, high school students are lured into using marijuana, which leads the students to commit murder, rape, suicide, and an overall decent into madness. Despite the strong use of propaganda, marijuana use saw an upward trend between the 1950’s and the 1960’s. Use of marijuana had spread to the white upper and middle classes by the 1960’s, partially changing the negative connotations attached to marijuana use. The drug was used by these middle and upper class whites to rebel against the older generation’s way of thinking. Many teens were introduced to marijuana use in college, where various other counter-culture ideas were being expounded. While the use of marijuana experienced a rise since the 1800’s to the middle of the 20th century, use of the drug saw a strong downward trend in the 1970’s through the early 1990’s, in part due to the strongest

For the last century there has been an abundance of false information being spread about the drug marijuana. Even in commercials on television, misleading facts about the drug have been presented to the audience. Some misconceptions about the drug include its potential to cause addiction, the damaging of brain cells, genetic damage, violent behavior, and damage to the immune system. These misconceptions, which have plagued a large percentage of the population into thinking that marijuana is a bad drug, have caused many set backs in the process of gradual legalization. (http://legalizationofmarijuana.com/ )

As some teenagers are pressured in to using marijuana, others are interested in experimentation. Many young people who are curious about drugs tend to try marijuana because it is viewed as the "safest" illicit drug. The popularity of the drug, talk of legalization, and media all contribute to marijuana being seen as a safe drug. Aforementioned, many young people use this highly accessible drug. People begin to think that if everyone else is doing it without harm, then they can too. It is well known that marijuana alone has never lead to death and has only been associated with fatal accidents when combined with alcohol or other drugs. These unthreatening ideas of marijuana combined with the constant debate about legalizing or decriminalizing the drug, persuade people to believe that it is safe and will not do them any harm. The most significant way this idea is developing is through the media. Although there are many anti-drug commercials and campaigns, the amount of television shows, movies and songs involving marijuana outweigh them all. In an article about marijuana in the media, Gary Oetjen, assistant Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, says that television is "glamorizing the usage of [marijuana] and these young kids believe they can get away

From the very early stages of the Cold War, the United States (U.S.) government realized that in order to run a successful propaganda against the Soviet Union, the information must be as credible as possible. President Harry Truman “called for a Campaign of Truth to counteract the Soviet Union’s “big lie”” . I argue that credibility was one of the key elements that enabled the U.S. to become the dominate Cold War super power. For instance, Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Liberty (RL), radio stations that broadcasted outside the U.S., agreed that “if their message was to have any effect, it had to be fact based, balanced, and credible to an often skeptical audience” . In its effort to be credible, RL was criticized of being

Flyers and posters were placed everywhere reading “Marijuana a puff- a party- a tragedy! Assassin of Youth(marijuana).” All sharing one common goal: convincing the public of the abominable drug that marijuana was being presumed to be. Then came the grand slam, the Reefer Madness film. The film’s main focus was how badly the teenage marijuana users were affected by the drug. These adolescents became unexplainably violent and deranged. The film even showed an extremely irrational behaviors, like suicide, because of how “potent” the high was. The movie was successfully advertised and pushed to be seen. Quickly after, this falsified idea of marijuana spread across the US like wildfire and its information was absorbed. Generation after generation carried on these false interpretations on cannabis. All medical miracles and its obvious economical benefits were lost due to blind ignorance and lack of knowledge.

Director Brett Harvey documentary, The Culture High is an interesting story that takes a raw and honest look that tears into the very grit of modern day marijuana prohibition to reveal the truth behind the arguments and motivations governing both those who support and those who oppose the existing pot laws. As we ask ourselves will marijuana be legalized in our lifetime? Or is the “war on drugs” really fundamentally affecting this country? This documentary states two reasons why the information on cannabis is kept from the public, either just one joint can cause psychiatric (mental illness) episodes similar to schizophrenia (a long-term mental disorder) or the addiction and how this drug can lead to another drug. The thesis that this documentary

Almost a century ago, there was a film made that is considered to be one of the worst films ever produced, Reefer Madness. Reefer Madness is a film made in the 1930’s and later resurfaced in the classrooms during the 70’s as a scare tactic to persuade teenagers into saying no to pot; the film depicts hilarious scenarios and outlandish claims that marijuana turns the users into addicts, and causes them to have horrific hallucinations. Also their addiction will in turn force them to become murderers, rapists, and thieves. While these claims are ridiculous, and have been disproved by extensive research, these same claims are still used by the people fighting the war on drugs today (Ferner). One of the main concerns about

Everyone has a right to express themselves in any way they want to. Saying and expressing your thoughts to people is an activity that everyone practices on a day to day basis, some might might think that because they have authority they have the right to teach or in force their views to the ones they are teaching and no one can tell them to stop because they have the right to talk. This is call freedom of expression and it is a fundamental right to every citizen of Canada, because it is a right it has to have a purpose and those who violate it have to pay the consequences. Just like the charges that R.V. Keegstra faced for exerting his right of freedom of expression.

propaganda played a major role in the United States war effort. Although very subtle, propaganda was a major part of the victory for the United States. Radio broadcasts, movies, and comic books designs were produced during WWII by the Office of War Information. The Treasury Department also was a major creator of posters and propaganda. propaganda used fear, bandwagon and many other themes.

Propaganda can be used in politics, war, education, and advertisements. One belief that propaganda can help promote is the idea that the government should be allowed to collect information about people’s social media, and texts in order to help prevent terrorism. Propaganda can be used in a multitude of ways, and is effective in promoting many ideas and beliefs.

For decades genocide has been a problem all over the world. The killings are made by groups of individuals organized generally as militias, communal police, the army and death squads. It is imported to figure out what factors motivate people to participate in this horrid group violence. It is hard to imagine that something can persuade massive groups of people to murder innocent humans. History displays the recurring use of mass media being used to provoke this violence. Overall, mass media has been used as propaganda.

“Look, I'm just a storyteller. When I make a film, I never want the film to become a vehicle of social propaganda.” This statement can be taken in many ways. The way I plan on discussing it, is if the statement is accurate. In my opinion, I fully believe that with the films that we have watched, this is an inaccurate statement. I say this this because, the film maker wants to make more money. Also within this, I will be talking about storytelling, and the thin line between it and propaganda. Everyone has their own belief and morals, however, just how much of said beliefs and morals have a propaganda based foundation?

Growing up, time and time again we are urged not to do drugs and are told that “drugs are bad for you,” in schools, at home and by many other authority figures. A child typically does not fully understand the reasoning behind this, all they know is that everyone is telling them that drugs are either bad, unhealthy or unsafe without real reasoning. As a child grows, he or she observes people that use drugs even though it is illegal and they do not understand why someone would go against the law and even jeopardize their health to use such drugs. The drug most commonly seen in our culture is marijuana and, surprisingly, it is all around us. Marijuana is shown throughout today’s culture in the media that people enjoy such as: movies, music

Propaganda is not a recent idea or concept however since the creation of film propaganda has found its way into them, especially documentary’s. Documentary filmmaking is a platform and mode of filmmaking associated with truth and actuality to present an overview of a topic or issue (Aufderheide, 2007). Audiences expect this when watching documentary films because generally the topic of a documentary film is based on a real issue and/or event without the use with actors, sets and special effects (with the exception of docudramas) (Nichols, 2010). Although they may be based on a real-world issue/event the filmmaker(s) behind the documentaries have an agenda and are trying to push certain ideologies or points of view on the audience. However, the assumption is made that they are doing this through fact and truth (Bizz). Propaganda on the other hand does not rely on truth or fact as it is an idea of dishonestly. Propaganda never tries to persuade or inform instead it attempts to deceive an audience by conveying/creating representations and ideas in a text that can only have one dominant reading (Aufderheide, 2007). Propaganda filmmaking is usually created by governments and political figures to impose hateful/nationalistic viewpoints and ideologies on the general populous (Aufderheide, 2007). Triumph of the Will (Riefenstahl, 1935) and Prelude to War (Capra, 1943) demonstrate that documentaries have the ability to create a false representation of history due to the filmmaker's

Propaganda, a strong and powerful word that carries quite a negative connotation nowadays. It exists since a thousand years ago, and used to be a tool that was widely used by charismatic leaders in order to rule a nation or just simply influence an audience. It is still constantly being used as a political and social mean in less obvious ways to influence people’s attitudes. By definition, propaganda is giving information that is not impartial. We usually have the Nazi propaganda in mind, or all the other war propaganda posters since it is more evident. But what about modern day propaganda?