Duck and Cover

1. Overt Message- If an atom bomb goes off, everyone needs to know what to do. People should duck and cover if they see the flash of the bomb go off.
2. Covert Message- Everyone needs to be prepared for anything that could happen. With the looming dangers, people need to be ready to protect themselves at all times.
3. This is informational. The ad is not trying to convince people to protect themselves. People already know that they have to take precautions, but this is specifically telling them how to.

Overt & Covert Messages- Mars

1. Overt Message- Oil and competition are very important to everyone, especially in the United States. I got that because the whole cartoon was talking about how great oil is and making it out to be the best thing in the universe.
2. Covert Message- Everyone needs oil to be able to function in society. When the martian came to America, he saw that their society was running very smoothly and found out that it was because of the oil. Before he discovered the oil, the martians were angry and did not seem happy with the way they were living. When they discovered oil, they became happy and started working together and improved their society.
3. This is propaganda because there was an underlying, not straight-forward message within the cartoon. In the cartoon, there were Glittering Generalities. They described what the oil did for America and that it was so great, which could mean different things to different people and maybe even make it seem better than it really is. They also used transfer to connect ideas of capitalism to oil and competition.

Propaganda

1. The overt message is that people need to cook more of their own food and eat less bread. The woman is shown with a pot in her hands which suggests that she has been cooking something.
2. The covert message is that women who have husbands or other relatives in the war need to make themselves useful and not just sit around and wait. Cooking could be something that could occupy their time and if they just eat a lot of bread, they are purchasing this and not doing themselves any good.
3. The disparity of the two could cause many people to think different things, which is what propaganda does. There is not a very clear, straightforward message, but it gets people thinking.

"Clampdown" by The Clash

1. This song is about Nazi Germany, which is referred to as the "Clampdown". The song says, "Taking off his turban, they said is this man a Jew?" This is referring to the Nazi's view of Jews and how they treated them. Also, it says, "We will train out blue-eyed men to be young believers." This refers to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed men that Hitler and the Nazis viewed as the perfect citizen and Nazi.
2. The strong guitar part in the song creates and intense and strong feeling because the Nazis in Germany were intense and strong.
3. This song relates to propaganda because Nazi Germany used a lot of propaganda to demean the Jewish people and also promote the war. The song talks about how people can't refuse the control of the government. People were persuaded to believe in the Nazis and were deceived to think that it was the best government.

Rhetoric, Persuasion, and Propaganda Quotes

I chose quotes 11, 43, 68, and 76.
Analysis of quote 68:
"Vilify! Vilify! Some of it will always stick." - Pierre Beaumarchais
In this quote, Beaumarchais is addressing anything that is used to persuade someone to think a certain way or convey an idea, be it propaganda, rhetoric, or persuasion in general. To vilify something means to speak ill of, defame, or slander it. When trying to persuade someone of something, there is no guarantee that the message or point you are trying to get across will have any effect on that person or that they will remember your argument in the future. Beaumarchais is suggesting that if you use vilification when doing the persuading, at least some part of your message will get into their mind and stick there. As a result, your argument will be stronger and they may be more easily or strongly persuaded. I believe that he is saying that it is often not enough to persuade people with general tactics like facts and credibility and that sometimes attacking and demeaning something or someone is what it takes to create a very affective argument. An example of this vilification in propaganda is in Germany during WWII. There were many posters and other forms of propaganda made that were demeaning and negative towards Jewish people at that time. Something about this obviously stuck, since many Germans were persuaded to believe the harsh and hateful things that were said about the Jews. This is just one of the many examples of times when vilification in persuasion has caused ideas to stick in peoples' minds and be more effective.

Brave New World Reading Entry #3

Two questions about BNW:
1. Why did Huxley have John hang himself at the end of the story?
2. What was Huxley trying to show by having John lash out on Lenina like he did when she came to see him at the lighthouse?

Question about 1984 & BNW:
1. If our society today was to become like one of these societies, which one would it become?

"Communist Utopia" by Thomas Hornung

1. In this painting, the multiple eyes indicate communism. It looks like the eyes are staring right at the man as he does a simple thing like walking down the street. It shows total control and how the people in a communist government have no privacy.
2. The artist's view of communism is that it is a negative thing and that people who live in communist governments don't have any privacy. He shows that it is a dismal and dreary thing by painting most things gray, other than the eyes that represent communism.
3. The title "Communist Utopia" means that this setting would be a utopia to people in charge of a communist government or that support it. The man has no privacy, which would be like a utopia to communist people.