PROPAGANDA+1

= = =Brainwashing Techniques and Psychological Conditioning = ===="... in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive the people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think."====

** In Brave New World... **

 *  Hypnopaedia (sleep-teaching): attempts to convey information to a sleeping person, typically by repeating a phrase to them while they sleep
 * The Controllers learned that this process could not be used for learning facts
 * Hypnopaedia became used by the Brave New World society for behavioral conditioning

 ====//**Definitions ** //(source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online) ====
 * Brainwashing: a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas; persuasion by propaganda or salesmanship
 * Conditioning: a simple form of learning involving the formation, strengthening, or weakening of an association between a stimulus and a response
 * Propaganda: ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause

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Articles

 *  [|Having a Sway with Words] USA Today. 01/30/2009. Pittsburg Steeler's coach, Mike Tomlin resorts to the verbal repetition like "iron sharpens iron" to encourage his players to perform their best on the field. This is also seen as a type of brainwashing by ones peers. His players will tell you that these monotonous phrases really stick with them, and at times they find themselves unconsciously saying them. Tomlin feels that this coaching philosophy allows his coaching points to really resonate with his players.
 * [|Your TV is Brainwashing You] by Schloffel, Danielle, Marie Claire. 08/2008. This article gives examples of instances where television shows had a huge influence over people's lives. For example, one instance was when the show "Friends" was aired in China, actual friends started buying apartments across from each other.
 * [|High-Tech Hidden Persuaders] by Harmon, Amy. Los Angeles Times. 10/01/1995. This article is about how subliminal messages are put into music, movies, and television shows, but especially ones being put into a new computer game called Endorfun. This game will have music in the background that sends positive, uplifting messages to its players.
 * [|Video Games and Violence] Issues and Controversies. February 13, 2004. The issue presented by this article is a pro-con debate of whether violent video games (rated M for Mature) should be kept out of the hands of children by law. The supporters of legislation argue that the video games form the association of rewards for violence and desensitize the children to the consequences of their actions. On the other hand, the opponents cite First Amendment Rights and claim that the aggressive children who play the violent games could have had this behavior beforehand and were therefore attracted to the game.
 * Quote from the article: "In fact, supporters argue that the most intense violent games, particularly the first-person shooters, can be seen as a type of conditioning that cultivates an ability to commit violence effectively and without remorse."
 * [|Statistical Update] Issues and Controversies. November 2, 2006. An update on some of the statistics cited in the article "Video Games and Violence."
 * [[file:Video Games and Behavioral Modification.pdf]] by Tucker, Patrick. Futurist. January/February 2009. (Peer-Reviewed Article) Patrick Tucker describes two new innovations in technology in this article. One involves a sensor that is somewhat of an advanced form of a pedometer that links to a website and uploads information about your daily activity. The other is a research study at McGill entitled the Self Esteem Initiative. It's biggest goal to to increase the psychological connection between self and acceptance and to reduce aggressiveness through video games. See the websites section below for their homepage.
 * [[file:Before John Stewart.pdf]] Subtitled: "The Truth about fake news. Believe it. by Love, Robert. Columbia Journalism Review. March 2007. (Peer-Reviewed Article) In our society today, there are many different definitions of fake news. To keep the tone light, we have satirical news show which poke fun at world events and are obviously not meant to always be taken literally. But we also have newspapers that have hired propagandists writing for them. We have the media, including television, internet, and radio, that provides more opportunities for people to put out fake stories. In this article Professor Robert Love at Columbia University discusses the history of propaganda and yellow journalism and how it affects contemporary society.

Web Pages

 * [|Music Class for the Wii Ones] a post by Jeff Lambert on Teacher Magazine. Mr. Lambert comments on the new Wii game: "Wii Music," explaining how it can help in music classes to engage the students in the subject. The posts that follow are a debate among other musics teachers about the benefit of the game. One theme that comes out in the post in the idea of "grabbing the attention of this tech-savvy generation" versus being "simply pacified or entertained with a toyish approach to learning music." Anyone see similarities to //Brave New World//? [|Click here for the article] that Mr. Lambert references.
 * Here is the [|Self Esteem Initiative Website],corresponding to the article entitled "Video Games and Behavioral Modification." You can play the self-acceptance games they have created (the games work on the laptops), see how they work towards a healthier mind, read about your research, and look at current news on the topic.


 * [|OpEd News: Brainwashing]
 * This RSS Feed includes various OpEd articles about brainwashing. The articles range in topic from people's experiences with brainwashing, to effective brainwashing techniques, to ways in which people are brainwashed through the government, and many more.
 * rss url="feed://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/propaganda/index.html?rss=1" link="true" description="true" length="100" number="10" date="true" author="true"
 * rss url="feed://www3.interscience.wiley.com/rss/journal/118505413" link="true" description="true" length="100" number="5" date="true" author="true"

media type="file" key="Saw_It_On_TV.asf"
In this video, a group of teenagers discuss the effects of television on themselves and their friends. They observe that often, the violence portrayed on TV excites them and possibly leads to more fights because that is what kids are learning. One girl mentions that because each person has individual thought, he or she should be able to make the right decision. This brings up the issue questioning to what extent what we see brainwashes and conditions our minds. (Video from UnitedStreaming)

media type="file" key="Targeting_Kids.asf"
This video explains the subliminal advertising and propaganda in our society, mainly focusing on how drugs and alcohol are offered to kids. It starts off by citing that clothing and candies that encourage children to try certain brands. It then focuses on the movie industry, explaining that companies pay to have their brand name used in the film. The host leaves the viewer with the challenge to question advertising methods by asking, "Is this ad meant for me?" (Video from UnitedStreaming)

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 * 1) Robert MacNeill once observed that "Television is the soma of Aldous Huxley's //Brave New World//." Do you agree with this statement? Take into account Neil Postman's comment that "the average length of a shot on network television is only 3.5 seconds, so that the eye never rests, always has something new to see. Moreover, television offers viewers a variety of subject matter, requires minimal skills to comprehend, and is largely aimed at emotional gratification."
 * 2) Are we, as Neil Postman claimed, "amusing ourselves to death" with technological advances? Are all of these advances truly necessary for our society?
 * 3) Could our society ever come to the hypnopaedia-conditioned society of //Brave New World//? Are we becoming, as Postman phrased it, a "trivial culture," with little care for the important issues in society?
 * 4) How does advertising impact your everyday? Do you find yourself greatly affected by this?
 * 5) Do you think that there are any benefits to the use of brainwashing or psychological conditioning? If so, what would these benefits be? Do they outweigh the risks?
 * 6) Do you believe that the supposed "subliminal messages" in video games, music, and TV shows truly have an effect on someone?
 * 7) What types of brainwashing or subliminal messages have you come in contact with?
 * 8) Is brainwashing through media any more or less effective than the form of brainwashing used in Huxley's //Brave New World?// Which one is more effective and in what ways would each impact us?


====//"...when you trust your television, what you get it is what you got -- cause when they own the information, they can bend it all they want."// ====

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