How have the different types of propaganda (white, black, grey) been Essay

How have the different types of propaganda (white, black, grey) been used to manipulate opinion - Essay Example In this context, two views can be positioned in contrast. The first is the view of the civil libertarian, which posits the rights of the individual to be most important and subsequently seeks to maximize individual freedom and minimize State control of all activities pertaining to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In contrast to this are societal forces, fascist in their most extreme form, that seek organization to limit and control others as a form of governance, either for minority social, cultural, and economic interests or for personal gain, power, ego, and other self-motivating factors, often using organized political violence as a tool to further ideological ends. Control is opposed to liberty, but organization in this context is ironically more associated with the controlling aspects of power than freedom as historically conceived. Indeed, as societal structures such as those in the military and government agencies of superpower States grow to unprecedented technolo gical and economic prowess, the absence of such agencies of control still exemplifies the libertarian approach. Within this duality is the traditional duel between Marxist critics and the apologists of Capitalism, with the â€Å"Western† ideal firmly based in the historical tradition of Greece and Rome, including both democracy and imperialism in the ideal Republic. In the context of critical theory and post-modernism, the historical approach can be used to deconstruct architectures of power to delineate types of State control through the analysis of media operations and propaganda techniques found both in totalitarian regimes and liberal democracies, to see what joins and differentiates the two approaches to government and media communications. The initial discussion of personal bias and political ideology when constructing an ideal by which to judge a process such as government communications or the proper end goals of society highlights that absolute objectivity or complet ely dispassionate review is not entirely possible in the context of political analysis, contrary to the appearance of historical fact. In order to judge and analyze the activities and processes involved in media operations of governments, there must be an a priori establishment of legitimacy and this inevitably involves a decision that introduces political bias into the argumentation. As such, the humanistic context of shared social and cultural values are assumed to be the base from which â€Å"true† judgment proceeds, as these are viewed as the best of historical values shared by diverse cultures across numerous countries in the course of the evolution of civilization, as well as those that are the most fair, egalitarian, and progressive for building the future of mass-society. Yet, at the very moment when these ideals are viewed as universal, critical inquiry based in Marxist philosophy particularly challenges whether these so-called Western ideals of supposed Greek and Ro man origin are really truth as universal and divinely ordinate, or actually another form of propaganda masking the â€Å"true†

Anorexia in the Fashion Industry Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Anorexia in the Fashion Industry - Research Paper Example The voluptuous curves which used to be admired in the past have been switched to straighter angles and lines on fashion model’s bodies. With these skinny fashion models gracing the covers of the most exclusive and trendy magazines, many teenage girls seem to be drawn to the idea that in order for them to be as beautiful and as accepted as these models, they have to look like them. This obsession has even created the psychological disorder known as anorexia nervosa. Anorexia is a life-threatening disease, which mostly involves the act of starving oneself in order to look as thin and as â€Å"beautiful† as the fashion models. Deaths have been reported for some anorexic teenagers and models, as the unacceptable image that these models and teenagers see in their mirrors never seems to reach acceptable standards. This paper shall now investigate how the fashion world and designers influence models and girls to become extremely thin, and how they cause these girls to be anorexic. It will also note the lengths to which these girls go to in order to be and to stay as thin as possible and the impact on these girls lives. This paper shall also discuss the changing trends surrounding weight issues and fashion modeling -- from the earliest days when such trends made an impact on the world and on contemporary times. This discussion shall cover opinions and scholarly studies conducted on the subject matter, focusing on the thin fashion models and celebrities and the impact of the skinny obsession on teenagers and on girls in general. The end of the First World War brought about the raising of the hems and the lowering of the waists in women’s fashion. Panati (p. 235) points out how the dresses designed in the 1920s called for women to be flat-chested and boyish, and those who had fuller breasts were also forced to bind their chest to flatten their chests.