Propoganda
Propaganda Furnished by the Media: The terms global warming and climate change are used in conjunction with colorful vocabulary to command and provoke fear in order to gain public interest and push political agenda’s. In an article by Chuck Colson, he details that some of President Obama’s “supporters speak of him in messianic terms”. James Hansen, “the ‘father’ of the global warming movement…” told a media source “that the new President ‘has only four years to save the world’”. If we don’t take “drastic measures” swiftly and require the delays of new power plant construction (that intend on burning coal more efficiently with new technologies that are eco-friendly) along with the implementation of a huge “carbon tax”, we will face a revelatory future that includes but is not limited to “global flooding, widespread species loss and major disruptions of weather patterns” (2009). This type of propaganda is displayed not only to adults through various media sources but it is also directed toward our children in the form of cartoons. There is one such cartoon in the film “An Inconvenient Truth” (Guggenheim, 2006). It has Simpson’s style characters. This portion of the film is directly aimed to create fear in children by humanizing suns rays and greenhouse gasses. The “Sun Rays” (Guggenheim, 2006) are friendly and the “Greenhouse Gasses” (Guggenheim, 2006) are villains. The “Sun Rays” are trapped, held hostage and beat up by the “Greenhouse Gas” bullies. As stated by a press release from Sustainable Schools (2007), Education Secretary Alan Johnson notes that “Children are the key to changing society’s long term attitudes to the environment. Not only are they passionate about saving the planet but children also have a big influence over their own family’s lifestyles and behaviour”. By using this type of one sided of media, it programs our children. By programming our children it is easier to implement and enforce future new taxes such as the “huge ‘carbon tax’” (Colson, 2009) with out raising much question or concern.
Today’s news media lacks disciplined unbiased reporting. Unbiased reporting is getting the story from different angles and viewpoints without the creation of an opinion on the subject. When the media only reports one side of an issue, in order to achieve polarized public opinion, they are employing propaganda tactics. Propaganda is used to create a “groupthink” (Lessing, 2007) environment and influence decisions. “For propaganda to happen there must be a person or persons in positions of power where they have significant control over mass-communication media. This can include presidents,(and)governments...” (Straker, n. d.). In England, the school system wanted to distribute the film “An Inconvenient Truth” (Guggenheim, 2006). Due to the political connotations and prejudiced one sided reporting there was a lawsuit filed by a parent. In October 2007, Justice Burton, ruled that in order for schools to show the film, they must also address the other side of the story “with guidance” (BBC, 2007). When both sides of the story are given without prejudice, citizens are able to make an informed educated choice. No more acronyms or abbreviations without proper definitions to inform the public. Supplying the public with the tools needed to make informed decisions regarding governmental policies, encourages democracy, " ...the art of democracy is the rt of thinking and discussing indepentantly together" (Delwiche, 2002). Remove those same tools and you create a dictatorship. Your ideas and thoughts become unimportant.