Argumentative Essay: Propaganda In The Real World

994 Words4 Pages

Palmer 1
Ashlynn Palmer
Mr. Berchiolli
English 4
4 April 2023
Argumentative Essay: Propaganda
Did you know that Selena Gomez prefers to drink Coke rather than Pepsi, while Hailey Bieber only drinks Pepsi? Did you realize that I just used propaganda on you? Propaganda is an idea not only used in fictional situations, but is something in the real world. In the book, “1984”, it is heavily used through posters, videos, and slogans. The idea is to be able to control the citizen’s thinking, which is Big Brother’s main goal. He is determined to make everyone believe his way is the right way, and if you think different, you will be vaporized. Propaganda corresponds to real-life by our real world inspiring the use of it in “1984” through posters only …show more content…

In “1984” and through World War II, propaganda was hidden in no ways, but now while it is still used, it is less frequent and more hidden through media. “The black-mustachio’d face gazed down from every commanding corner.” (Orwell 2) While in real-life, propaganda “reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when pro-American values were being widely promoted in film, television, music, literature and art.” (Llewellyn and Thompson “Cold War Propaganda”) In present time, “social media is intentionally designed to grab the user’s attention with irresistible intensity. It feeds its audience content, which is repeated incessantly with the purpose of inspiring belief in the message, whether it is true or not.” (Beck “Platforms of Propaganda: How Social Media Sites Facilitate and Spread Disinformation”) The book, “1984”, portrays propaganda as it was at it’s height, meaning the Big Brother posters being shown all around town compares to the posters, movies, and films that featured the battle between democracy and communism during the Cold War. While this information was made clear as propaganda, in present time it may be harder to find the difference between propaganda and not. Due to social media platforms being so popular, a lot of biased and incorrect information is spread to viewers causing the public to believe what is provided to them on the internet, fact or not. Propaganda can be all around you, whether you know it or not, and can be influenced to the public in obvious or secretive