Observed EOTO Terms and Concepts: Propaganda

Last week, our class split up into groups and prepared multiple presentations on various EOTO terms and concepts. I learned a lot from these most recent presentations, but one that especially stuck out to me was Elizabeth's presentation on Propaganda. Her topic initially struck my interest because of my knowledge of propaganda in World War Two, and my curiosity of its more current impacts on society. 

Elizabeth began her presentation by defining propaganda as the dissemination of information, facts, rumors, half-truths, or even lies, through mass media to influence public opinion. 

I found it interesting that the word "propaganda" actually originated from the Roman Catholic Church and was first widely practiced during the Protestant Reformation. Consequently, we see propaganda first noticeably practiced around the same time that the printing press was invented, demonstrating the correlation between industrial developments and tactics in government and culture. Additionally, I was unaware of propaganda's impact on religious issues, and has previously thought of it as solely a governmental tool. 

Elizabeth went on to discuss the impact of propaganda in the Mexican American War, WWI, and WWII. I thought that the use of propaganda surrounding the sinking of the USS Maine was especially tactical and sneaky. America used this tragedy to immediately place blame on Spain and gain support from Americans to wage war on Spain. "Remember the Maine" was the coined slogan of this propaganda, victimizing America and making Spain out to be the enemy although there was no evidence of what actually happened to the USS Maine. During the first and second world wars, the United States used propaganda to promote hate towards the Germans and the Japanese, often through racist and stereotypical drawings. 

This presentation concluded by describing the more recent presence of propaganda in Russia. I found this

especially intriguing because although it is happening right now, during my life, I have never seen it in the news or heard of it before this presentation. Elizabeth stated that Russia is offering "summer camps" to Ukrainian children affected by war, but instead of a fun and safe camp to avoid conflict, these camps are actually indoctrination camps that teach false history and propaganda. 

Overall, Elizabeth did a superb job on this presentation and I learned a vast amount of new information on propaganda, especially about its effect today.