Blog Post #7

 AWARENESS

Propaganda

Disinformation

Smith-Mundt Act

Total Information Awareness

False Flag

Five Eyes

 

Group 1 is Awareness. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, awareness in the media is “an understanding of the different methods for presenting information in newspapers, on television, on the internet, etc.” (Cambridge, 2024). Implications are how the media has been very polarized and biased lately. For example, without awareness, News networks have the ability to push their own agendas rather than report the news as it is. On one hand when the media reports scandals, they indirectly increase awareness to other social issues such as sexual harassment and cancel culture. On the other hand, it could pave the way to and dissolve into cancel culture itself and potential bias could be involved. Propaganda as stated by Dictionary.com is “information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.” Propaganda can be good in that it can unify the masses to face a great threat. This was a common sight in WWII. However, Propaganda can be filled with bias against other groups of people as well as blatant lies and indoctrination. It affects society because by using political bias, issues such as race, gender, grooming, etc have been weaponized into propaganda by the media. This affects my generation which is Gen Z. That is because according to an article from Stanford University, “While propaganda is most evident in times of war as in the poster, it is constantly being used as a political and social means in even less obvious ways to influence people's attitudes. This is currently evident with all the election commercials on TV, where the candidates are using propaganda techniques to elevate themselves above their competitor. Another place propaganda is being exploited is by the use of the media in its portrayal of countries that have nuclear technology.” (Manzaria and Bruck, 2016). One perfect example of propaganda, is where content creators and networks attempt to indoctrinate children into SJW ideologies. One shining example of this is the kids show on YouTube called Radical Cram School created by Kristina Wong where she indoctrinates and brainwashes children with Communist, Feminist, anti-Conservative ideals, anti-Capitalist messages, anti-Trump ideals, and a wide variety of other woke messages, as shown in this picture below from season two which has Kristina and the children confronting a gun puppet and rallying against him by spouting pro-gun control and anti-conservative messages in the episode “Kids Talk Show has Gun as a Guest.” 

Disinformation is another way of saying false information. It is bad because it is often intended to mislead people. For example propaganda comes from the government via the mainstream media. They also spread disinformation while at the same time, censoring truths and any talking point that does not agree with their points of view and political leanings.

According to an article in congress by Representative Mac Thornberry, the Smith-Mundt Act is a law passed by congress in 1948 that was used to avoid showcasing divisive content that could influence public opinion or could be classified as propaganda (Thornberry, 2012). It is good because if divisive content was shown to foreign nations especially our adversaries such as Cuba, the content could breed Anti-American sentiment and further tension between the nations. 

Total Information Awareness is, according to Scientific American, also known as the “Patriot Act” where the Government cracked down on every phone call and activity in America (Horgan, 2024). Nowadays, while it had good intentions, it is being abused today. In recent years, the government colluded with tech companies like Google and monitored the activity and privacy of citizens. This inspired the rise of various products dedicated to protecting online privacy such as VPN Hub and Surf Shark.vpn.

False Flag is according to Webster’s dictionary “a hostile or harmful action (such as an attack) that is designed to look like it was perpetrated by someone other than the person or group responsible for it In case you didn't know, a false flag is an incident that is designed to deceive people into thinking it was actually carried out by someone else.” (Giambruno, 2024). It is bad because it paves the way for conspiracies and potentially future chaos and tensions that could divide society. It affects people because it often uses divisive tactics to mislead the public and spread fear. It affects my generation because Gen Z is known for heavy use of the internet and they easily believe everything they read especially on TikTok and Twitter. 

Five Eyes is, according to Forbes.com, an intelligence network that was established after World War II that consisted of five English speaking countries: Canada, Australia, the US, the UK, and New Zealand that was created to gather intelligence on foreign activity. (Haan, 2024). I believe that it is good for society because it attempts to safeguard us from the threats of Communism, Woke Ideologies,  and Islamic Extremism both foreign and domestic, especially since some of them know how to speak English. 

                

References

Giambruno, Nick. “False Flag Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, 2024, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/false%20flag. 

Haan, Katherine. “What Is the Five Eyes Alliance?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 4 June 2024, www.forbes.com/advisor/business/what-is-five-eyes/. 

Horgan, John. “U.S. Never Really Ended Creepy ‘Total Information Awareness’ Program*.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2024, blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/u-s-never-really-ended-creepy-total-information-awareness-program/. 

Manzaria, Johhnie, and Jonathon Bruck. “Media’s Use of Propaganda to Persuade People’s Attitude, Beliefs and Behaviors.” Stanford.Edu, Stanford University, 2016, web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/war_peace/media/hpropaganda.html.

“Propaganda Definition & Meaning.” Dictionary.Com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/propaganda. Accessed 24 June 2024.

“Propaganda | Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge.Org, Cambridge University, dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/propaganda. Accessed 24 June 2024. 

Thornberry, Mac. “H.R.5736 - 112th Congress (2011-2012): Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 | Congress.Gov | Library of Congress.” Congress.Gov, United States Congress, 10 May 2012, www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/5736.