One of the most useful tools used to control the Oceania society is propaganda. Through posters on the street with messages sent by Big Brother and the Party, propaganda is used as a weapon to keep under control the citizens’ minds.
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INGSOC government makes people think about what they need and make them believe that they give the people what they need, so in the comfort of the government protection, Oceania society thinks that they cannot ask for more.
Moreover, if your thoughts are different, you will have to face the Thought Police. That is why people either follow the Party’s “rules” because they actually think they are controlled by a good government or they obey just because of fear and the threaten of Big Brother. So, it was love to Big Brother or fear to Big Brother.
Orwell’s novel presents the possible future of the world, and I strongly believe that is no far of becoming true.
Nowadays, we are constantly exposed to mass media and propaganda, which inject us ideas of what to feel, what to believe and how can we be a better and happier person.
Propaganda is brainwashing our minds to make us believe that if we drink Coca-Cola we will feel happy.
To make us believe that with a “like” on Facebook we will help a starving kid.
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To make us believe that we need to be thin, blond and have blue eyes to be pretty and, we must not forget to have trendy clothes.
The control of the mind has always been present, in the past and in the present and it will be in the future. As it is presented in the novel, propaganda is used to destroy the individual’s capacity to think in their own and make their own decisions, so they accept everything that the Party says, just like in our society propaganda is constantly telling us what we need and what we have to do in order to get it and be happier.
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Do you think that the power of propaganda will be strong enough some day to make us think that 2+2=5?
Sources:
-http://www.articlemyriad.com/role-media-society-1984-george-orwell/
-http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-type-propaganda-techniques-use-war-peace-428489-http://www.articlemyriad.com/role-media-society-1984-george-orwell/
I believe propaganda has already made us believe that 2+2=5; however I would like to point out the way it has negatively affected us according to beauty standards. First of all, even though there are women out there who are able to see the difference between stereotypes and reality, there are still those who are blinded by the fictitious standards, and have make them believe they are not good enough. Henceforth, we can see nowadays there are thousand of girls, teenagers, young adult women and adult women who are suffering the effects of these propaganda, to the extent of becoming ill, such as being anorexic or bulimic, going under the knife to change their appearances, and when none of the former show results even suicide or other extreme measures can be taken all as a consequence of what society has imposed on us how we should look like.
ResponderEliminarI think that propaganda nowadays IS strong enough to make us think that 2+2=5. It is just a thing of looking to all the celebrations we have throughout the year: Christmas should not be about buying, Halloween should not be about buying candies or costumes and Valentine's day should not even exist the way it does now. It has reached such an extent that all the important things have been trivialized: love, family, self-esteem. We do not love what we are, we love what we are supposed and expected to be. Thank propaganda about that and about what Carolina said, which is totally right, by the way.
ResponderEliminar