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David Quintel Adams Jr.

Mr. Kaveh Safa

Psychological Anthropology

27 April 2010

Viewer Supported:

An assessment of mind control instituted by mass-media, a conspiracy theory

During the twentieth century, one of the world¶s most influential leaders gained his

support by dismantling the individual, establishing nationalism, and enforcing an outstanding

ministry of propaganda all strategically used to influence social psychology and gain appeal in

Germany and much of Europe. He was quoted in saying, ³what good [fortunes] for those in

power that people do not think,´ in which he depicted how easily malleable the minds of the

public are, because of ignorance and the public¶s acceptance of socio-cultural norms. This

leader¶s propaganda techniques were astonishing and unparalleled to anything ever before. Adolf

Hitler¶s Propaganda Machine was the source of social violence and political terror, particularly

during the Holocaust, which at the end of his reign left more than six million minorities

murdered, harassed, and bent into chains. This societal idea poses the notion that people make

decisions based on society and culture; people do what culture deems acceptable, yet, few of us

know the vast socio-cultural devastations the mass-media plays public and individual behavior.

This notion is extremely true in the modern world, particularly the United States of America.

³Viewer Supported´ will depict how mass-media has manipulated behaviors and thoughts of

people, how mass-media has negatively shaped social roles in the United States, while

uncovering how Americans have allowed the mainstream to renounce individuality through the

use of propaganda devices.

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In discussion of mass-media¶s influence on individuality, one controversial idea is at

what point is propaganda techniques involved? However, before this point is uncovered, the

terminology that will be referred to in the remainder of the discourse will be explained. Among

these includes: identity, culture, crowd psychology, mass-media and propaganda, as well as how

these terms are more or less dependent upon each other. I¶ve always believed that identity was

the understanding of one¶s self; little did I know it was so much more. Identity involves

understanding one¶s self, one¶s gender, one¶s social and ethical roles as well as the self¶s place in

the world. One notion that serves to explain identity is culture. Conventional wisdom suggests

that culture is a set of traditions, values, goals and rules that govern any group people. Culture is

most certainly learned as well as integrated but communities and societies alike, the process by

which people adapt to a certainly culture is called enculturation. Yet, many people do not

consider that since culture is a strategy for solving problems in societies that culture is closely

correlated to social dissonance and disaster.

Since culture is the way in which people view and affect the world, can their ideas be

skewed and/or changed? The notion of crowd psychology may help to explain. It is assumed that

crowd psychology is a study of how the individual operates in a group. On the contrary, crowd

psychology is the study of how groups operate because of the people in them. Crowd psychology

is shaped a lot by notions of groupthink and deindividualisation which can, in large, be altered by

the next term, propaganda. Crowd psychology is also dependent upon another term which will be

mentioned often as mass-media, or mainstream media, which are those sources of persuasion

which include, but are not limited to news, magazines, books, commercials, ads and others that

are used to negatively or positively affect a group of people at one time. Mass-Media operates

within the realms of propaganda and when it comes to the topic of propaganda, most of us will
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readily agree that it manipulates. Where this argument usually ends, however, is on the question

of how. Propaganda devices are the reason for the manipulation of minds both positively and

negatively in history as well as today. Propaganda is the term for persuasive techniques that are

employed by mainstream media to control one or more people; while there are numerous

instances in which the use of propaganda proved beneficial, for instance, ads and commercials

encouraging voter registration and civil liberties, but, propaganda has never proved more fatal

than right now in the United States with the advent of social conformity. Look around you!

Propaganda is used in every medium of everyday life. We cannot escape it. It has become us.

Many concerned Americans feel that Jerry Mander,

environmentalist and loaded author of the book Four Arguments for the Elimination of

Television, said it best when he asserted that ³[ours] is the first society in history of which it can

be said that life has moved inside the media.´ This was a quote in which Mander conveys the

horrific nature of the beast, mass-media, and how we must first realize that we are in a state of

chaos and turmoil because the citizens, not only in the United States but around the world, have

allowed for the rise of large- corporations to mandate and promote skewed versions of culturally

accepted normality. Many concerned Americans may ask, ³Is this the world that we live in?´

According to French Renaissance philosopher, Rousseau, who suggested that, in his essay ³The

Social Contract´, ³[man] is born free but everywhere is in chains´, this is most certainly the

country that Americans call their home: a world in which deception, lies and betrayal are all

accepted by the media! Rousseau does not directly say but apparently alludes to the

renouncement of individuality and the artistic temperament of creativity in a world that is shaped

by the mainstream societal norms. Many abstract thinkers would agree with Rousseau, Mander

and I in believing that on a daily basis Americans are being mind-controlled and are being spoon
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feed the renouncement of individuality and creativity on a constant basis by television, news and

radio. Many Americans do not know that they are being persuaded to conform, much less the

dire consequences that this persuasion entails. Take a look around again and realize now that

everything has been reduced to some form of persuasion! Moreover, before the essay delves into

the numerous ways mass-media has negatively influenced culture and the understanding of

human identity, ³Viewer Supported´ will explore propaganda¶s roles in history as well as

different types of propaganda techniques. Historically, ³true propaganda´ was not full

of so much ³deception, as many people believe´ until recently; true propaganda for many years

was the ³statement of facts´ without many unbiased opinions to discern the audience. According

to Hoty, the shift from propaganda being used to have a negative effect on society became very

real when the government and mass-media, including big corporations, lobbyists, and political

advocates, allowed for deception of the citizenry they broadcast to daily by means for television,

radio, and print all of which most people consider to be reliable sources of information. For

many years, according to Hoty, messages that are projected into our television screens, the news

we here about in magazines and books is often skewed and manipulated by ³producers, directors,

writers and news anchors or disc jockeys whose personal beliefs creep into ideas that are viewed

and heard by a massive audience.´ Many critics believe that this is not beneficial because the

average American believes in the media because, according to Hoty, ³[since] the audience has

little or no opportunity to respond or provide feedback to these messages, they become fact in the

minds of many´, in which the writer suggests that Americans are rendered slaves to the media¶s

interpretations, explanations and indubitably allow for it to continue, this notions also holds true

historically. Propaganda has been around for centuries, from the time of Pope Gregory XV, who

in 1622 coined the term to the meager beginnings of our war-torn country, propaganda and
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mainstream media have had a gripping fist on societal values and beliefs. Society has been

affected by the numerous advancements in the power of persuasion. Yet even before Pope

Gregory XV established the Congregation of Propaganda in 1622 in hopes of spreading the

world to win Catholics over during the Reformation, as early as Neanderthals used propaganda,

the reasoning is self-evident; because, there have always been messages that people have wanted

other people to know as well as people have always wanted things that other people had ³and we

have always tried to get it from the other fellow-sometimes with clubs, more often with words.´

These techniques have advanced since people living inside of caves to the technological

advancements and cultural advancements of today, so too does persuasion advance.

There are many propaganda devices that have been active for centuries yet

with the same token, there are others that are newer. Some common appeals in propaganda

consist of: sex appeal, fear appeal, bandwagon, save-money appeal, plain-folks appeal, card-

stacking, stereotypes, slogans, war propaganda, political propaganda, and glittering generalities

to name a few. ³Viewer Supported´ will depict examples of each and the messages they have

conveyed by taking in in-depth look at the evolving history of the United States and the people in

it to show that there are many notions of positive persuasion, yet negative persuasion has caused

discrimination, caused wars and ended lives to say the least. For example, in United States

history some of the most prolific and controversial wars, were those geared and encouraged

negatively by propaganda devices. For example, George Washington, the first president of the

United States of America and military leader, was an outstanding cheerleader who promoted the

freedom from Great Britain¶s dictation over the new and innovative happenings in the thirteen

original colonies of the new United States; Great Britain refused and spun the Revolutionary War

in motion. Little did political advocates of Great Britain realize that they would be a victim of the
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United States Propaganda Machine under propagandists: Thomas Paine, Samuel Adams and

George Washington, himself, along with others skewed public opinions into support of the war?

Washington ordered read aloud of an excerpt from ³The Crisis´, a famous Thomas Paine

pamphlet, the excerpt went as such, and ³[these] are the times that try men's souls. The summer

soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he

that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not

easily conquered«´ in efforts to arouse soldiers and officers and prepare for battle, Washington

scheduled read aloud of these words every day in every camp of his regimen. ³The Crisis´, by

Thomas Paine, effectively rendered the soldiers emotionally charged and stimulated for battle

and demanded the civilian support of new American citizens when the Revolutionary War began.

Samuel Adams and increasingly popular propagandist, Thomas Paine, became famous and their

views leaked into the public opinion via pamphlets. Paine used ³emotion stirring words,

dynamic, yet simple language filled with ringing phrases that were easily remembered´, in which

the book alludes to the effectiveness of his language being able to reach the masses not just

simply, according to Thum, ³educated men of property´ such as ³James Otis and John

Dickinson´ who wrote in a ³more sober tone.´ They simply were not powerful enough to

persuade colonies, Paine however was and he is arguably one of the reasons the war raged so

furiously for decades.

Propagandist during the colonization of the country, up until the 21st century, have

realized the power of words and encouraged those over the power of the sword. For instance,

with the advent of early American war propaganda, wars flourished and were supported by

citizens. Citizens supported wars such as the Civil War, in 1861, and the Spanish-American War

which followed it because of propaganda devices. Yet in the twentieth century Americans saw
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the rise of a different mode of persuasion, Americans gave rise to social propaganda used by

Muckrakers and Progressives who wanted reform in social corruption by ways of mild to

extreme measures, which was not as bad as discouraging individuality because this propaganda

was used by people who did not hold amazing public offices or own businesses. They were

radicals in a sense that they wanted change for the betterment of everyone in the United States of

America. These statements assert that a knowledgeable citizenry has the power to change the

world with propaganda the exact same way the government and big-businesses. If ever an

outstanding promotion of human betterment it was thee Progressives and Muckrakers, Upton

Sinclair, John Spargo and many others, of the early 1900¶s in the United States who notice and

sought to change injustices that had been accepted as norms by the government for so many

years. In this way, propaganda was used by citizens to rise against the machine, if you will, rage

against evil, rage against societal norms in a country that allowed for them for decades.

In the Post-Modern world of propaganda, Americans are sold things! Americans are not

so simply the latest songs, newest clothing, the most popular shoes or the delicious McDonalds

food that is so present on television, today. No, Americans are sold something direr than this.

Americans are becoming more and more conditioned to conform. This means that Americans are

being sold things by the media and the media has operant conditioned the viewer to feel pleasure,

and fit in only when they have purchased what is being sold. Erik Erikson would completely

support that culture aids in shaping human development. According to Erikson¶s Stages of

Psychosocial Development promotes that self can be shaped by culture. For instance, because of

the way family and adolescents are portrayed in the media, Erikson noticed that some

adolescents forge their identity early, simply by taking on their parents¶ values and expectations.

Traditional, less individualistic cultures inform adolescents who they are rather than leaving
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them to figure it out themselves. Other adolescents may adopt a negative identity that defines

itself in opposition to parents and society but in conformity with a particular peer group-the

jocks, the preps, the geeks, the cheerleaders, etc. Still others never quite seem to find themselves

or to develop strong commitments. For most, the identity question-Who am I ?-continues past the

teen years and reappears at turning point during adult life. This is because the media has skewed

views of the world and imposes them onto its audience. This psychological warfare of wits is

raged every time people turn on the television, listen to the popular radio stations, or read those

oh-so present popularized magazines. One example of how mass-media has altered and

negatively influenced the lives of young woman, ages thirteen to late twenty¶s, in the United

States is by portraying famous women in the media as salacious, obedient or stupid in almost

every popular film, television networks or song. How does this influence woman negatively, one

may ask? One example of a popularized song with negative messages is Kei$ha¶s song ³Blah,

Blah, Blah´ in which she is talking to a man a few years her senior, yet both Kei$ha and the man

are intoxicated beyond the point of stability, as depicted in the video, Kei$ha begs for the man to

listen to her drunken rant about how they both feel during this late hour at the nightclub. She

yells!

Zip your lips like a padlock and meet me at the back with the jack and the jukebox. I

don't really care where you live at, just turn around, boy, let me hit that. Don't be a little

bitch with your chit chat. Just show me where your dick's at. Boy come on get your rocks

off come put a little love in my glove box I wanna dance with no pants on!

Lyrics such as these woman and men alike have adapted much skewed notions of sexuality, drug

usage, humility and personal development. Yet, messages like these, by popular radio stations

and television networks are played continually for many reasons. Among those reasons include:
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corporations are in the business of making money by continuing to play popular much and

televisions shows, whether the message being advertised is positive or negative. Another reason

why negative messages are played every hour on the hour in our homes, cars and at work is

because music is a very successful medium for connecting to a lot of people without much effort.

Yet, among the most influential reasons messages like these appear all too often is because radio

stations want to appeal to a large group meaning that radio stations want to be cross-culturally

acceptable and they have become so by repetitiously playing the songs corporations want people

to like or listen to everyday.

In this sense American consumers, and consumers around the world, are literally buying

to what big-corporations have to sell by listening to the music everyday and purchasing the

music, which is the goal of many big-businesses to the consumer to buy into what is being sold.

Americans, as mentioned before, are not only sold songs they are also sold how to express

themselves through individuality. Is this authentic individuality or is this merely a reflection of

how the mainstream media has jaded perceptions while strategically promoting consumerism?

Another example of how the media has jaded our perceptions of expressionism in the

United States is by the clothing we wear as well as the clothing we do not wear on a daily basis.

One defining idea about a person is what they wear because many people know that humans

express themselves through clothing. One contradictory notion that I have found to be true is that

if a man wears a dress he is criticized, ridiculed, or tormented simply because he chooses not to

wear the acceptable jeans and T-shirt. This is a very interesting notion. Why would that man be

labeled as anything other than a man? A dress as well as jeans are objects of clothing yet how is

it that this is so far-fetched to think that woman are the only worthy adversaries of dresses. When

woman can wear both jeans and dresses and it be culturally acceptable. Mass-media has very
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well defined gender roles for Americans as well as members of other cultures. For example,

many people in the United States believe that only woman can wear dresses. This is the reason

why I, who wore a pink dress with a bow, was asked a surplus of questions, harassed and made

to feel a fool then entire when I was simply expressing the way that I see myself many days out

of the, year. These very same attitudes including: discrimination, harassment, ridicule exist

because the media provokes them.

In popularized United States, woman speak their mind, woman are stereotypically crazy

or always upset about something, woman are made out to be bitches, woman are depicted as

house wives or only second best to men, yet, is this everywoman who lives in the United States?

If you are a woman reading this now, do all of these characteristics describe you perfectly? Men

are conveyed as raging idiots, who cheat and are never around for the raising of the baby, men

are also depicted as very flat and very readable: in other words woman are able to know

everything that a man is thinking. This is what our media considers to be normal. Americans are

normal if they believe in these generalized biased opinions in which the media conveys. If we

follow the media then by definition Americans will be ³free from mental illness´ yet this seems

the furthest things from sanity to many people, like me. How can Americans still believe biased

and one-sided opinions the mainstream conveys? Furthermore, what happens to those people

who choose not to operate within these conformist means? I would have had interviews with

these people but many of them are dead. Among those brilliant minds includes Matthew

Sheppard who in 1998 was offered a ride by two heterosexual young men and after admitting to

him that he was gay, was robbed, pistol whipped, tortured and left for dead tied to a fence.

Another young man from Puerto Rico who was burned and dismembered for openly admitting he

was a homosexual. As well as recently a young lesbian who wanted to go to her senior prom
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with her girl friend and because she wanted to go, the prom was cancelled. She was not killed

only harassed for weeks and weeks to come. All of these instances were talked about highly in

the local and national levels of broadcast journalism. Yet many people fail to note that the people

that harassed and murder the very people I just mentioned are dictionary examples of normal

people, yet, the people that were killed or harassed are not.

The use of propaganda by mainstream media outlets of entertainment in the United States

is something that should be regulated now, because regulations it allows for and promotes all of

the negative outcomes listed above. Without moderate to severe regulations on how big

corporations can persuade on television, radio, news print, and all other mediums, people in the

United States will continue to grow in ignorance. Will we change this? Will Americans every

turn off the television? Will Americans allow corporations to dictate what acceptable behavior

is? By using techniques, such as: bandwagon, plain folks appeal, as well as other propaganda

techniques have had very conducive affects in shaping human social roles as well as propaganda

has tremendously altered notions of creativity and individuality. Many theories are proposed

with the start of a more real experience in the media, yet citizens must first realize the complete

deceptions we have all been led to believe. Little do many of us know that Americans have the

power to change the way that media is produced. There are many ways of doing this. For

instance, in the United States, citizens can protest against the Standards and Practices

Commission of the television networks. We can also become a citizenry that reads more. Many

people believe that they have to power to change the way that things work in his/her life yet

many of those very same people do not do anything for fear of significantly making a difference.

Above all else, citizens of the United States should prepare to become a more knowledgeable and

open-minded one if United States of America hopes to change a problem if this magnitude.
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Citizens must realize that there is a problem in the way that mainstream media has controlled our

cultures and has simultaneously renounced traditions and practices of culture. We must all ask

ourselves on a continual basis, why, where and how? These questions would assist Americans to

realize the motives of many companies and the horrendous outcomes of buying into mostly

negative messages.

In conclusion, the governments of the world and large corporations have dictated for

many years the extent of the human social roles and have negatively shaped the way humans see

and interact with the world around us. Culture and reality alike have been skewed by mainstream

media and now everything has been reduced to persuasion. Yet, for thousands of years the

advent of propaganda has been useful for many people and organizations but the use of

propaganda has never proved more deadly than recently, through the use of radio, television and

the internet, conformist norms and societal renouncement of individuality has become

popularized all the while honor, respect and unconditional positive regard have gone out. Now

more than ever, America¶s citizens have feel slave to the mainstream as well as lost sight of

cultures, knowledge and individuality. Americans are in the age of consumerism and normality!

Yet does this normality come with a cost? We rage wars, end lives and discriminate against each

other because of the mainstream's versions of what is normal and what is not. Normality has

renounced morality. The media plays a greater role than many of us V
people would like to

admit. It indirectly influenced the murder of not only tow people as mentioned before, but of

billions of people all over the world including the Jew, Persians and homosexuals who were

killed during the German Holocaust or the numerous causalities the United States have caused

because of its gun happy culture. Search for knowledge; search for truth because these will be

the only resources in for people to stop being and discrimination to cease.