EOTO P2: Propaganda

Propaganda is a term that I've been learning about since elementary school. Propaganda can be defined as biased or misleading information used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. For the most part, schools have taught that propaganda is often used in wars. It was very useful throughout that time because it took on the form of posters, TV advertisements, and radio announcements. Often times it was used in order to ensure that people who were at home and not fighting in wars felt hatred towards their enemy. The information could tell that the enemy was evil and make them seem inhuman. Propaganda was even given to the enemy- telling them that the war was going badly for them and that they should give up.

Here are some examples of propaganda used during wars:

One of the most well-known users of propaganda in history is Adolf Hitler. Hitler's use of war propaganda eventually resulted in convincing his country of the National Socialism ideals, which ultimately resulted in the Holocaust and the extermination of millions of Jews. Hitler even once wrote a political statement explaining his hatred towards Jewish people and asking that after his death people continue to stay strong in their beliefs. This use of propaganda in order to spread prejudice beliefs of National Socialism and his dislike of Jews resulted in Hitler's army and country supporting the idea as well and the breakout of World War II.

In my opinion propaganda was and still is a scary and dangerous way to spread false news. Today, propaganda posters have been replaced with hundreds of digital visuals such as memes that can easily be made by anyone and distributed to so many people within minutes. Propaganda appeals to an individual's unconscious mind. The use of propaganda within the media can have the ability to sway someone's opinions or beliefs and can even have the power to control certain situations or outcomes. This is something that we often see in politics.

One thing that I've learned in college is that for the most part, students like myself tend to get almost all of their daily news on social media. When it came time for us as first-time voters to choose a presidential candidate, where did we get most of our information? The media. In a way, the media determines what information we see often and how much of that information is actually "relevant: or "important" to us. The media has a way of picking and choosing who or what they want to be in the daily headlines for the world to see, and this is exactly why we have to be careful as to what information we choose to take in.

I Googled Myself & Here's What I Found...

As a 19-year-old living in the 21st century, I pretty much grew up with social media. If I can remember correctly I created my first social media account around 7th grade. In the beginning, my parents were really strict about how much time I spent online and how I used that time. At one point they even had some of my passwords so that they could ensure that I wasn't doing anything I wasn't supposed to be doing. Compared to now, I was definitely reckless with how I portrayed myself on my social media accounts, so I'm kind of glad that there isn't too much from my past online.

I became really invested in this quest to find myself online and was surprised at what I found. To my knowledge, there's nothing negative online about me, and I probably owe that to my parent's guidance throughout my first couple of years being on social media. But I did find some things that I didn't expect to see at all. Things I almost forgot I participated in and didn't even know made its way to the internet. Of course, things like my Linkedin profile came up immediately which is fine by me because that's related to myself as a student and will hopefully play a role in me working in the field of my choice. I also found some "stats" from when I ran track in high school which really surprised me because I literally only participated for a couple of months. 

After digging a little bit deeper I also found some information from when I attended The Omega Black College Tour back in 2017 while deciding where I wanted to attend school for the upcoming years. This opportunity played a really important role in where I finally decided to attend school, but I had no idea there was this much about it online. Not only was my name mentioned multiple times throughout the tour's website, but there were also pictures that I've never even seen of myself before.  

As far as finding my different social media sites (like Twitter and Instagram) I didn't find anything at all when I searched my full first and last name. That's because on things like my Instagram I don't use my real name. I want to say it's because I prefer to use a nickname, but in reality, my real name was just never available. I think choosing whether or not you want your name on your social media accounts all depends on what your purpose of having that account is. If your purpose is to showcase a brand, and you want to develop authenticity with your clients/ customers maybe using your real name is best. But when it comes to more personal accounts where you share selfies I think going for something more fun or laid back is totally appropriate. 

UPDATE: 11/9/2019

For some random reason, I decided to search my name again, but this time using a different browser and I found something that I didn't see the first time. This website called Search People Free had my New York house address, my phone number, and the names and numbers of the other residents of that house. As if that wasn't scary enough, there were also names and numbers of other members of my family that have never even lived in that house. The website even had some of my parent's previous addresses that they confirmed were correct.