EOTO2 part 1: Propaganda

      Throughout history, governments and advertising companies have gone above and beyond to find ways to manipulate people into thinking a certain way or buying a specific product, one of the many tools used that we can still see today is Propaganda. Propaganda is a form of communication that has been used for decades that is always bias and its purpose is to promote a particular point of view or issue. Propagandists use specific symbols, language, themes and images to manipulate people's emotions into believing a message is true. So why is Propaganda so powerful? And where do we still see it today? 

    Research on Propaganda shows that this tool was heavily used by the U.S army during world war I and II where it usually depicts the enemy as evil, this technique was not only used to change public opinions but mostly to convince more Americans to join the U.S army and protect their country from "The evil enemy". This technique works well because instead of allowing people to make their own judgment and use critical thinking, propaganda creates a polarized society where you're either with this movement or you're against it. 

 In 1917 The Uncle Sam propaganda poster was adopted by the U.S army, it became so popular and such a powerful recruitment tool that it was used again during world war II and is still present and a part of American culture today. This propaganda poster inspired other countries like the British for example who used their own posters  in 1914 and saw the highest number of volunteers enlist in the entire duration of war. William Bird and Harry Rubenstein said " Propaganda posters were an agent for making the war aims the personal mission of every citizen". What this means is that instead of explaining the real reason why a country is going to war it targets people's emotions by making them feel guilty or scared. The poster below clearly show how guilt was used to make people join the army. 

Where do we see propaganda today? 

Overall, the idea of a big poster seems a little too old for our generation and with the rise of social media a new and more powerful form of propaganda surfaced: Memes. 

    Memes can be described as images with a caption that tend to make people laugh, but memes are so much more than that, they are shared by millions of people everyday all over the world and are almost always related to current events and politics. They are shared so much due to confirmation bias, popularity bias and lack of critical thinking. But the main two things that Propaganda posters and memes have in common are: Time and source. Time meaning they spread FAST and with the rise of technology and social media it is impossible to stop something from spreading once it is out. Sources means once the propaganda is out to the public it is almost impossible to trace where it came from, a meme for example is shared over 4 million times in one day, it would take years to find the first person that reposted it, what this does is make the source almost irrelevant to the message and when in reality the bias of the source is what created the message. 

EOTO 2 Part 2 : Confirmation Bias

 

Confirmation Bias is defined by apa.org as "the tendency to gather evidence that confirms preexisting expectations, typically by emphasizing or pursuing supporting evidence while dismissing or failing to seek contradictory evidence". Basically people tend to seek information from sources they know share their opinions and reject other sources that might challenge their views or beliefs. 

So, Why do humans do that? And why is it harmful for society especially with the rise of social media? 

Psychologists Believe that the reason confirmation bias happens is because people put more weight and value in their own believes and that leads them to reject anything that doesn't align with their views and in most cases consider it "false" or "misinformation".

 Different aspects of this phenomenon can be seen in our every day lives, for example: Social media. 

People go on social media apps everyday and all they have access to is what someone else (a creator) Decided they wanted to share today (meaning the information itself is already bias) There is a very large amount of "information" posted on the internet but a large amount of it is money and emotion driven, brands manipulate customers on social media based on their emotions in order to make more profit, for example: Starbucks, when BLM protests started it became a trend on social media to take part in the movement and post a black screen, Starbucks on the other hand went extra and wrote a very sensitive message, they also changed their logo from green/white to black/white for a day, this gave Starbucks a lot of new followers and costumers that only started doing so because they believed that Starbucks shared their views and beliefs. You can imagine the shock when a Starbucks worker tweeted the next day: "

Why make a statement saying your employees can’t wear BLM apparel but not 24 hours later, tell them now it’s okay because you ‘stand with us.’ Pick a side. Admit you made a mistake. Don’t romanticize this movement for publicity. This is real life".

Brianna and many other Starbucks employees explained that they were not allowed to wear BLM apparel inside the stores which made it very clear that the brand only joined the cause in order to make profit. 

 one can say that people are responsible for not falling into the trap but marketing experts use very complex psychological tricks on social media to trick people and use their confirmation bias to make more money. At the end of the day people have to remember that brands care about money and most of what we see on social media isn't information, it's marketing. 

Privacy

 A few weeks ago, after visiting my doctor's office I decided to go on my phone and research the medicine that I was prescribed, most importantly read about any side effects and the duration of the treatment. Later that afternoon I was giving a presentation in class and when I opened youtube to play a video I had to watch a 15second ad about the medication that I was taking in front of my whole class and instructor. The ad described my symptoms, why I needed that medication, my allergies and side effects. 

At that moment I was wondering how can it be that none of these people have the right to know about my personal health nor the medications I’m on but youtube can play a 15second ad and give the classroom a lot of detail on my physical health. 

That is sadly an issue that we all have to deal with today, “privacy” or more importantly the level of privacy one has when using the internet is becoming more and more of a debate topic. 
The harsh truth is that every single individual using social media has agreed to these terms and provides companies with data everyday. In today’s world, almost every electronic device humans touch records their behavior. This behavior is recorded in the form of data which is then sold to marketing companies. Overall this doesn’t sound like a bad idea, studying people and finding out what they like so later on they can get ads for products they potentially need or want. 
But this becomes an issue in my situation for example, when my whole classroom gets information about my personal health without my consent, or what if another student was doing research on extremist groups? The ads on his computer will give people an imagined student that is false. Overall it is a vicious circle that can ruin lives and put people in danger. 

So what do we do about it? Well, here are some tips from staysafeonline.org to control your online privacy as best as you can: 

1- Try to share a very limited amount of personal information online and try to avoid websites and apps that require a lot ( phone number, address…) 

2- Use private mode or incognito mode: this makes sure that  none browsing history, temporary internet files, or cookies are saved 

3- Read before you click: most privacy terms are not read by the users plus a lot of hackers use emails and text to hack which is why it is important to read and understand what you’re clicking “YES” to. 

https://www.privacymonitor.com/articles/privacy-guide/ 

The Progressive Era

 

 The first amendment and most importantly freedom of speech is known to get damaged at most during times of war. This pattern is repetitive throughout history in places without freedom of speech but is pretty ironic coming from the American government that swore to protect civilians’s individual rights. 

Not only are these individuals arrested and their freedom of speech taken, they are also portrayed as traitors and people who don’t “love” their country. Why? 

        How can a group of individuals with simple ideas and speeches  threaten the American government so much? 

                The truth is…There were A LOT of people who shared those anti-war voices but it was in the American government’s best interest to continue with the war. 

According to www.cnn.com "33% said they favored the war in Iraq, 64% opposed, and 3% was undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 3%".  Another poll made by cbsnews also shows that By a margin of more than two-to-one (51% to 22%), Americans think the U.S. should have stayed out of the conflict, versus those who believed the "did the right thing" by participating in the war. Roughly a quarter of respondents (27%) had no opinion.

   These are so pretty drastic measures to take against freedom of speech which only proves the power it holds. The American government silenced anti war voices because the people disagreed with what the government was doing and were demanding change. But what about today? We rarely hear  of someone getting thrown in jail for writing a speech or an article in this country…Well that’s because the American government discovered a new modern way of keeping anti war voices silenced: If you don’t know what your government is doing in other places, how are you going to protest it? 

The average American has no idea what their government is doing around the world but is it their fault? In reality we wouldn’t know anything that's happening internationally if it wasn't for the media. So why aren’t they doing their job here
? Why does the American media only report on government action inside the country when they have such an important presence internationally? 

The good news is, there are still a few people doing that job: Websites like www.antiwar.com who educate Americans on their governments actions and give people an opportunity to oppose these decisions, it also lists all the different locations America is having an impact on like China, Indonesia, Iraq, Latin America, Africa…

The American government and people made one thing clear throughout history and it is the power of words. As long as there are people writing and voicing their opinions there will be hope for change. 

EOTO

 

The history of instagram: 

Instagram is an app that gives people the chance to communicate with images, unlike other social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook who rely on text, Instagram users use images to socialize online. Since its launch in 2010 the instagram community grew to 1.386 billion members and is one of the most valued social media apps of our generation. But how did it start? 

Kevin Systrom created the app 11 years ago for his simple love of photography, not too long after the launch, the app had over one million users, when creating the app Systrom said that he took all the other options out and only left the option to upload photos, leaving a comment and liking,  this helped him envision the app. The name instagram came from the fact that people were sending instant telegram. The app was then bought by facebook in 2012 and the community has only grown since. 

Why do people love instagram so much? 

    

    According to recent surveys , teenagers say that they love instagram because it is a positive place where they feel comfortable. The survey also showed that a lot of people used the words "real content" to describe instagram and that made me think. What these people mean by real content is that they get to follow their favorite celebrities and see their everyday lives which makes it possible for them to relate and say " Hey, I can be like them". This is actually one of the biggest concerns that people have about instagram is that it gives people unrealistic expectations. 

    Instagram models for example are usually influencers who market products for companies through  their instagram. These specific people are chosen because they have a large following audience which provides good marketing for the brands, but these large amount of followers are usually people who want to be like these influencers
( dress like them, have their job, have their bodies ) And in a lot of cases these followers put in effort to look like their favorite celebrities. The problem is a lot of these pictures posted by these influencers are heavily photoshopped and modified... So people are setting unrealistic expectations for themselves which can cause severe mental and physical health issues. 

    This is an issue hurting millions of people all over the world which is why influencers have to speak up and share the fact that these pictures are not realistic. 

    Movements like these have started, instagram-versus-reality movement was initiated to show that we see on instagram isn't always a reality by putting pictures of influencers before and after their pictures had been modified. 

It is important to make sure that people make a difference between what they see online and reality and this applies to all social media apps. If people give too much importance to their online presence they might forget about the real one and live in a simulation. 

Eight Values Of Free Expression

    

Throughout history, society  has seen that restriction is the start of a revolution. When civilians are restricted and their voices are not valued or sometimes silenced people tend to resort to violent ways of getting their message across which is why Stable Change is the speech theory that stuck with me. 

According to safety-valve-theory “it implies that citizens are free to make  statements concerning controversial societal issues to express their displeasure against the government and its policies. In assuming this right, citizens will be deterred from undertaking violent means to draw attention to their causes”. In other words, giving the people a chance to speak and lay out their concerns and thoughts while being heard decreases the chances of rebellion and people going against their government. 

    This in my opinion is more than a speech theory but a need that every human has to be heard. The stable change theory is nothing other than establishing a clear and healthy communication between the government and its people. But this becomes harder when the governments needs to do more than listen.When people speak up on social issues that are bothering them or sometimes threatening their lives they want to feel valued and that can only be shown through action caused by the government, without action than it becomes a one way conversation where people are speaking and the government is ignoring them.

        A survey from the American Psychological Association found that feeling-valued at work was linked to better physical and mental health, as well as higher levels of engagement, satisfaction and motivation. All the things that lead to a healthy and productive relationship between employer and employee. This can easily be applied to the government and its people: if civilians are heard, acknowledged and action is taken to help their situation there will be no reason to use violence to pass a message across. It can also help keep the government in check and make sure that they are doing what is right fo the country and its people. 

    When thinking about the American government today, one can say that it does not possess a healthy communication with its people, a lot of mistrust and it has to change. In order to do that the American government needs to establish a clear line of communication between citizens and the government, once that’s established there needs to be room for debate, in most cases nothing is black or white and people have to work together in order to enter the grey area. By doing that the government will show the people that they care and that they are valued. Overall this is not just a short term goal:  having healthy communications and debate will help make decisions faster and create room for change and growth. 

The Founding Era

     After watching the videos provided by Dr. Smith, I began to ask myself a lot of questions about the Supreme Court, the first one being: So, what do they really do? 

    According to supremecourt :"As the final arbiter of the law, the Court is charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law and, thereby, also functions as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution". This sounds very promising right? So you might understand why I was shocked when Dr. Smith informed us that the first time the Supreme Court ever used the first amendment to protect people was in 1931 in near-v-minnesota. Yes, 140 years AFTER it was put in place. Knowing this made reading the definition of the Supreme Court very ironic to me, especially after seeing the timelines in the videos and realizing how much was going on at the time and the power the Supreme Court had to stop it. 

Some important takeaways that I had from this lecture and videos were that: 

For starters I learned that there were already people revolting against the idea of slavery all the way back in 1620 most of them being religious groups, this made me realize that the fight for racial justice has been going on for longer than I expected. On one hand it’s good to know that there were people fighting for this in 1620, on the other it’s sad to see that there are still people fighting for racial justice today in 2021. Something else that was interesting to me were the three compromises made by the north in 1787, I always believed that the south was the big evil trying to keep slavery alive and the north was against slavery and wanted to end, but I quickly realized that there were a lot of people in the north benefiting financially from slavery which is why things were moving so SLOW. 

One thing that stuck me from the bedrock principles video was that that the first amendment is not absolute, throughout history this has been shown to protect the wrong people and while it is good to know that people are still charged with incitement and other felonies like that it really all goes back to who’s judging you and how they see your actions, this to me means that the first amendment is not as strong as people think it is and it might not always protect them.