Propaganda is everywhere, brainwashing and conditioning our minds. It may be as benign as a commercial for the newest soda or it may be as malicious as governments conditioning the minds of children. I know I sound like a paranoid person who sees conspiracies everywhere, but the evidences of such are around and within us. Maybe I've been watching too many episodes of "The X-Files."
We really don't think of propaganda around us. Instead, we call them advertisements and commercials. The word "propaganda" has a negative connotation and is associated with wartime propaganda. But we are all products of government propaganda.
I spent half my life in South Korea and grew up with the lies that the government instilled in its children. For those who do not know, North and South Korea are still in a state of war. The kids were taught songs that scorned North Korea's leader and read in textbooks that North Korea was so poor that everybody lived in shacks; that people lived on grains and rice, nothing more. Imagine my surprise when I saw a video footage of North Korea that showed buildings, restaurants and freeways! I was shocked.
Even in America, propaganda exists. Do you remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance everyday at the beginning of class? I'm sure that the little kids don't even know the meaning of what they were saying. It seems a bit militaristic -- saluting and swearing allegiance every morning. How about historical lies that the teachers told us when we were children to make us love our country? That a united America single-handedly defeated the British. That George Washington never told a lie. That slaves were freed by the goodness of Lincoln and the North, and everything was okay from then on. Please don't make me laugh.
Why didn't the teachers tell us that America could have never won without the help of the French? That the Founding Fathers were slave-owners? That FDR knew about the Japanese plans to attack Pearl Harbor and did nothing? That Nixon was a liar and a criminal? That George Washington, JFK and other Presidents were adulterers and morally disgraceful? That Lincoln never intended to free the slaves and certainly didn't fight the war to free them? How come they don't teach the kids about the Civil Rights Movement and what racist pigs most people in America were? Don't I feel stupid singing songs about how great these people were ...
I can almost understand why governments all around the world spread their lies. What would a country be without some sense of pride in themselves? If truths were revealed to people at an early and impressionable age, how could any country exist without the faithful support of its citizens? Wouldn't all people be cynical and society's structure collapse? Maybe. But I can almost guarantee you that such arguments were used by Nazis, Stalinists and other dictators that we were raised to hate.
I took up history as my major because I can find out about the lies people try to cover up. The more history classes I take, the more I find out that lessons that were ingrained in me were lies. The government tries to put the spotlight on the facts that make the country and itself look good and hardly bother to dust the facts that make them look stupid. And most people are happy and satisfied with their ignorant existences, happily saluting the flag and standing up whenever the national anthem is played without giving a thought.
The Nazi propagandist, Goebbels, said that Jesus Christ was the best propagandist the world has ever seen. There is much truth to that statement. We are conditioned religiously by our parents. Most children adopt the religion of their parents. What would happen if we gave our children a choice? What if we presented the children the various religions of the world at an early age with facts and beliefs of each religions and make them choose? Or raised the children in a nonreligious environment and made them choose? Do you really think that they would choose the religion of their parents?
I have nothing but admiration for America. I will gladly die for this country, and I believe in what this country stands for. The government does not need to lie or even embellish to make Americans love their country, because we have a lot of things to be proud of.
