LLA 4/30

The word “propaganda” often came up when I learned about WWI and WWII; however, similar to the difference between socialism and communism, I had never really understood the concept of the word, so today’s LLA lecture was useful to me as it cleared up my vague understanding. I thought that this topic profoundly relates to Lies My Teacher Told Me because textbook authors concealing or exaggerating facts about certain historical figures or events seems similar to omnipotent corporations censoring the information on newspapers, for example. Who knows, there may be powerful industries behind textbook makings who control what materials are put into children’s spongy brains.

I learned last year in politics and economics class that the Yomiuri Shimbun strongly encouraged the importation of nuclear power technology into Japan, information that was censored by the government and the reporter. I think that the same can be said with the news about nuclear power contamination in Fukushima. The government assured the people that the contamination they were exposed to were higher than usual but harmless to the body, which seems unlikely. It can be assumed that the Tokyo Electric Power Corporation controlled the presentation of this information. It is frightening to think that information on a national newspaper that people rely on for accuracy is being muddled around by big industries. My parents always encourage me to read newspapers to “stay on track” with the surrounding occurrences, but reading these may lead me to a track of falsehood. Furthermore, the short documentary about two journalists who were blackmailed for finding out about Monsanto’s use of rBST in cows was upsetting since they could not win the case because of the inexistence of any law that says that news should not tell lies. The reason of their defeat is ridiculous, and how the Monsanto cares more about their profit than the health of Americans is appalling. This documentary told me that you can never win against powerful industries and their domination of the media. Now, I do not know where to look for trustworthy information since many of the media are censored by these companies.

It was difficult for me to look at the pictures of a distorted body, a dead bloody baby, and an old person carrying a heavily injured child because they were so devastating, but I felt that no matter how grotesque or inhumane they are, we need to see them because they capture the reality. I believe that a lot of censoring was done in the Iraqi war by the American government and weapon production companies to convince Americans that this was a meaningful war for both countries when in reality, it was hardly. Again, it frightens me how we are being manipulated by the government, who are supposed to be protecting us, and the insensitive, massive companies who lead us to our ignorance of facts that may significantly affect our lives, such as the danger of certain chemicals in the American milk, and that is simply unjust.