1984 Article

The issue that I am choosing for this assignment is Winston's job of censoring the past. He gets a message that has newspeak on it. The newspeak tells him what to change from the past. Basically it is used to show how pervasive the censoring is in Winston's world. I think that Orwell uses such an extreme example to highlight how bad censorship is and to show what unchecked censorship can lead to.

The article that I chose that relates to this is an article that informs us how Iran is censoring Google and Gmail and is making the internet private. This comes after Google's Youtube hosted an inflammatory anti-Islam video. I would link to the video but I can't for the life of me find the actual video; I can only find reactions/news clips that concern the video. Iran is a predominantly Muslim state so it makes sense that they would take offense to an anti-Islam video.

However, it is not ok for a government to censor the internet. If something is offensive to you, don't watch it. It seems like it would be pretty easy, no?

Also, there's a lot of hypocrisy from the more radical Muslims. It is expressed to the right. The video said that Islam was violent and hateful. Instead of sitting down and talking about it the Muslims stormed on embassies, killed people, etc. That is not peaceful. Here are some more examples of Muslim hypocrisy concerning censoring and their actions.

What would my handicaps be?

My handicaps would be weights on my legs, the ear-thingies in my ears, and a hideous mask. Haha just kidding about the mask. I play soccer and run and both of those use legs so the weights would inhibit my ability to use my legs to excel at those sports. I consider myself pretty smart so the ear-thingies would inhibit my smartness.

Can propaganda be a good thing?

Yes, I believe that propaganda can be used for good and can be a good thing. One of the most obvious uses of propaganda is when it is used in wartime. Sure, war can be a bad thing, but using propaganda to motivate citizens to ensure your country's victory is a noble idea. Let's make up a hypothetical situation. Country A is good. Country B is bad. Country B keeps attacking country A and country A has no choice but to go to war with country B. If country A wins then the world will be at peace. If country B wins then the world will be in chaos. I think that if country A uses propaganda to help its cause then it is an instance of propaganda being used for the greater good.

Another method of propaganda that we discussed was propaganda in children's books. In And Tango Makes Three  the two propagandic points were that it is ok to be gay and that gay people can raise a child perfectly fine, and the other point was just teaching children to be more tolerant of differences. I think that both of these points are true, so propaganda subliminally teaching children them is fine by me. Now, I know that some uninformed people will disagree with me about gay marriage. That is a contested point in our world today. However, I think that we can all agree that being tolerant is a good thing. Therefore, I think that propaganda in children's media for good things is ok.

Also, I think that it is just fine for politicians to lie to sway voters--wait, I don't, Paul Ryan.