despair could ravage you if you turn your head around to look down the path that's led you here, cause what can you change?

i've been super busy lately. which seems to be a great thing b/c i am so, so happy with my life. i feel like i can't keep up with all the reading, quizzing, and paper writing i'm supposed to be doing. but, i like the challenge. i feel exhilerated.

i had a propaganda test today (woo-hoo!). we began the semester with walter lippman's piece on/entitled Public Opinion. His writings on the pseudo-ennvironment and our perceptions of what is reality were an interesting read. perhaps, the idea i found most interesting was his statement that human minds are simple. a person uses symbols as a resource when attempting to understand concepts that are hard to grasp. these symbols become the manner in which they perceive information, and thus, the symbol turns to reality. in this manner, the same principles that can create a hero may also create a devil.

after lippman, we read harold lasswell--his propaganda techniques were based on WWI and his ideas of what the government can do to implement certain ideals within in the nation...my favorites were mobilize hatred against the enemy and demoralize the enemy by creating the image of them as the murderous beast standing in the way of the nation's fundamental ideals of goodness or liberty.

next, was ellul--he considered propaganda a technique that uses the sciences as a resource. by understanding man's thoughts, beliefs, desires, the propagandist can play off of these and reinforce or strengthen pre-exisiting attitudes or beliefs.

lastly, we read chomsky and herman...manufacting consent. their claims of the 5 filters that prove US media dominance, and therefore, propgandistic tendencies are adequate and fundamental for media critique. a quick list of them: conglomeration of corporations (thus, profit drives content/coverage), advertising (major source of income for media), sourcing (journalistic acceptance of corporate and government sources as credible), right-wing corporate flak (the hassle to follow-up on corporations), and anti-communist ideology (amid this fervor info is not questioned).

we also read about the use of propaganda beginning with alexander the great, through imperial rome and up until today. very interesting theories, practices, etc. i wish i could get into more detail, but...i don't have time.

anyway. classes are going well. we've begun work on our group projects (an advertising campaign) for latino/a in the US media (comm 375). our group's target city is chicago and we are particularly targeting pilsen and our focus is in promoting awareness among the latino/a population of the wonderful campus of UIC, as well as the many corporate scholarships for that particular demographic. hopefully, everything will fall together quite nicely.

i'm sleepy. so much more work i should be doing....

sweeter dreams.
k


a little picture of my birthday weekend with the ladies...makes my heart happy to think about it....