Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Brainwashed America

7 comments:

Morbid Harbinger of Death said...

This is genius! I hope Kassidy watches this one: she'll appreciate the filmy-making stuff. Okay, the filmmaker makes the point that "The Government" really has no idea what's going on and therefore has to frighten America into submission while the leaders of the country try to figure things out. This point is made most strongly by the texts inserted between the footage from the 2004 election campaigns. These texts both demean the speaker and inform the audience of what the filmmaker is trying to say. Also the constant and almost frightening repition of the different words [random thought: the word "terrorists" does not sound like a word after it is said many times] illustrates how the political leaders take a vague stand and stick to it to make a point that they don't completely understand.

Sentafax said...

i completely agree with the harbringer of death. the constant repetition of each word over and over again till you cant even tell if your hearing repeats again or if each and every one of the "terrorists" or "nuclear weapons" was said seperataly. It brings back what we had during the red scare. where you couldnt do anything politically without appearing to the general populace to be hard on communism/terrorism in the end it all just blends and your left there with a headache.

on a seperate note
have you watched zeitgeist, it highlights this and much more very well?

Rahfin Faruk said...

After September 11th, many believe that Republicans preyed on the fear of the American public for their own political successes. This video makes this arguement by focusing on how certain diction was used to portray Republicans as protectors of everything American. For example, the use of the term "torcher chambers" to describe a brutal totalitarian regime in the Middle East appeal to an American's moral base. By associating the entity that America was fighting against (Saddam Hussein citation - video was made after the United States attack Iraq), Republicans portrayed the war as moral crusade. Furthermore, as noted by other respondents, the repetition of words such as "terrorist" provoke fear into Americans by constant allusions to 9/11. However, to add to this concept, one should also note that such monotonous repetition also aids in dehumanizing the enemy up to a point where the moral wrongs associated with war are minimalized. This strategy is only strengthened when the enemy is associated with "radical" philosophies. To better understand this concept, one can draw parallels to numerous Red Scares in American history. The use of diction with such negative connotations only helps Republicans strengthen their platform against their Democratic counterparts. In a time of as many would say, 'artificial' panic, Republican plans of building up the military, increased spending on Homeland Security and borderline Constitutional violations (Patriot Act) seemed appealing to the American public.

josh said...

I would agree that the help of media political hold on the people of america have made them tense to the point of nuclear proofing their house, but i disagree that such five finger hold on the mind of people is enough to scare them enough to flee to Alaska where the only fear is of Sarah Palin and the common cold. Such manipulation of media has been used before as to gain the best political platform to appeal with the people and have a higher vote output for their party, but such a manner of manipulation has been used before as time progresses also the media smartness of people, as to dodge and over come such attempts to drag their worries in a vice.

the terrorist said...

it is true since 9/11/2001 the government mainly the republican party has been able to instill fear into the american people in which they where pursuing personal gain whether it was an election or approal of the american people to follow the government blindly without really understanding the full scope of their plans in this case the republican party has been able to somewhat wave the flag of quick action to show how well they handled that tragedy but at the same time it leading to a bigger mess

the terrorist said...
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the terrorist said...
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