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Name: Vincent Wong
Alias: Runearay
Age: 18

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Tuesday, March 21, 2006
|12:26 PM|


Propaganda

Its been a long time eh? Well, I've been busy.

This idea has been floating around my head for quite some time now. I'm sure all of you know about propaganda, how useful it is in turning the minds of every single human on the planet to suit the needs of a few humans. Propaganda, what a big word for such a small, commonplace thing.

I'm sure all of you have heard the stories of how the great tyrranical and autocratic governments, say, the Soviet Union, the Nazi Germany, the Mao China, all use propaganda to create positive public opinion, and thus provide an excuse for whatever the governments are doing. I'm sure you've all seen sample pictures of propaganda, and have all scoffed at how unbelievable shallow it is.

Well, I'm here today to tell you all the propaganda exists in this world not only in the past, corrupt governments, but also in today's world. And not only in governments too, but also in your everyday life. And its more commonplace then you think. Propaganda is used by the schools even!

How horrible, you gasp! How terrible, you say! How... stupid. How can it be? That's impossible, right? No one in this civilized time and age is going to be using propaganda. Its an era of democracy and self-informed thought. Its an age of the power of the people, and the people are not being manipulated! Its just not possible. Isn't it? No, actually, if you think about it, almost every thing you see in the schools you go to are propaganda ploys. Yeah, I'm talking about every school here, not just my own. Every single school in the whole of Singapore, and possibly the world, is a hotbed for propaganda.

Now, I can't just be making pointless accusations like that, can I? I have to substantiate my arguments with proof, or I'll end up behind bars for being a mad man seeding distrust and dissension. Well, let's start the evidence part.

First of all, let us take a look at the most integral part of any school life in Singapore. The morning assembly. From the start to the end, it absolutely stinks of propaganda. Right off the hook you have a parade commander shouting for attention, and comes on the national anthem and the pledge. All symbols of our respect to our nation, which has fed us, nursed us from cradle to now. March on, our nation, be ever strong and proud! I pledge myself to your service, a loyal citizen and more. Blah blah blah. All this is well and good. But don't you think its alittle overkill here? We're proclaiming our service at the age of six. Yes, no nation can be strong without its people. Everyone, a toddler or an old man, must give their all.

But to say the pledge, everyday, it almost feels to me as the nation is half-afraid of losing her citizens.

Well, what do I suggest then, to instill patriotism and nationalism in our youngsters? I suggest nothing. I have no answer. Despite all I've said, I admit and submit, that there is no other way then what is already being done. If we don't do the pledge-taking everyday, then Singapore will, within a few generations, simply cease to exist as a nation.

Let us move on. From the morning assembly to the lessons. Every school day, we enter the classrooms, sit down and listen to the teachers drill into us the way to add 11 to 12. Every school day, we sit there and listen to teachers drill into us that HE goes with IS, and I goes with AM. Everyday we learn over and over that plants need chlorophyll (I apologise for any wrong spellings. Its been too long since I've last touched a science textbook) to perform photosynthesis. We learn new things about the world we live in everyday. We learn how to analyse a problem. We learn problem-solving technics. We learn how to score in exam. Every school day after day, we sit in a grey chair, listening to teachers repeat over and over what we need to know.

And to think that when I was young, I've always wondered if they should replace a teacher with loudspeaker instead. Trains our listening skills too, then I won't fail so badly for listening.

Don't you think so too? Think back on your lesson periods, if you cut short all the joking, all the "class, keep quiet" and all the screaming children, all you get is one person (teacher) saying the things another person (student) is supposed to remember. Kind of similar to posters going "JOIN THE ARMY AND BEAT BACK THE FARKING BRITISH" or "THE TSAR IS GREAT!" or "MAO IS OUR HERO", right? It still doesn't make sense? Well, look at it this way:

Poster says something, you look, you absorb, you accept it.

Teacher says something, you listen, you absorb, you accept it.

Poster wants you to do this, you do it.

Teacher wants you to do this, you do it.

Poster tells you "blah blah", you're supposed to believe it.

Teacher tells you "blah blah", you're supposed to believe it. So you do.

Does it seem slightly similar now? Well, how else are we to learn, if we refuse to believe teachers, if we refuse to follow the teachings? That's the way teaching has been done from since Confuscian times! Classroom classics are established to transfer knowledge! How can you learn if you don't do things this way? Well, yeah, you can't. I admit, fully and wholly, that you have to teach things this way. Experential learning, hands on, teach less learn more... its all propaganda, but yes, that's the way you have to do things.

There just isn't any other way.

Well, let us move on again. Now to lectures. From after secondary level, you get mass lectures, where everyone gathers at a hall-like area with seats, and you all sit down and listen to this teacher drone on and on, explaining how things work, explaining how to do this sum, how to do that sum, explaining theories, illustrating examples... basically a session where everyone sits dumbstruck and just listens to everything that's being drilled in. Nope, no need to ask questions. Tutorials (or lesson periods) will cover up any holes and answer the questions.

Do I need to make comparisms?

You don't accept it. You refuse to believe what I've said is true. Well, afterall, propaganda is the systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause. (thanks to dictionary.com) You think that teaching is not equals to propaganda because teaching is the passing on of knowledge, and propaganda is changing the way a person thinks to suit that of the one doing the propaganda. Well, teaching IS changing the way a person thinks to suit that of the one doing the teaching. I'm sure that when you were five years old, you thought that pigs could fly and bears wear red shirts and make friends with piglets and tigers and rabbits and donkeys... I'm sure you've been taught to think otherwise since then.

Yes, you all see it now, don't you? From the start of the school day to the very end, its all a session in propaganda. And the irony is that there really isn't any other way to teach humans about the world. You can't just throw a toddler in the wild and expect him/her to come out spouting E equals MC squared. You have to "teach" to transfer knowledge from one generation to another, and there's no way to teach except through propaganda, simply because the very idea of "teaching" IS propaganda.

Now, so what's the big deal?

There's no big deal, except that propaganda doesn't stop there. Propaganda is also in our every day speech. You know, for the past 15 minutes, you've been reading a propaganda article. You know, everytime a person (anyone, be it your mom or a stranger) smiles at you, it is propaganda. You know, you've been practicing propaganda so well, its become easy for you to just spout propaganda every word you say, and you do.

Yes, propaganda is all around us. It is something humans do very well. It is something humans strive to be very good at. And I will say, we are pretty damned good at it. Why, if we can convince dogs to be our best friends, and chickens to lay eggs for us... we're really damned good at it, aren't we?


Looking to the future~
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