In response to: “Creating Identity, Defining Culture, and
Making History from an Art Exhibit” by Professor Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde
When
reading this article, Chau’s comment “I really knew nothing about those who
left Vietnam,” lead me to wonder how much is truly hidden from us and how much
power the media holds over us.
It’s no secret that news
organizations and media sources bend the truth or how they only tell us what
they want us to hear. Media organizations create posed pictures to elicit
certain emotional responses from their readers. Propaganda posters, for
example, were and still are wildly used to justify war. Around the 1940s,
children cartoons often portrayed much loved characters, like Bugs, attacking the
Japanese. What does this do to the minds of the children?
American news organizations, as
much as they like to deny it, report very one-sided news stories. They only
show the American side of the story. They create a very negative image of the “enemies.”
I remember in my 10th grade social science class, we were discussing
the fine line between “terrorists” and “freedom fighters.” Americans may see
the Taliban as soulless, evil monsters. But the same people are regarded as
heroes and destined to sit next to Allah in other nations (Note: I do NOT
support the Taliban). Unfortunately, news organizations report stories in a
very black and white way. Americans are good, the Taliban are bad.
In class, we learned how news
organizations are affiliated with the American government. I don’t know if the
American government is paying these companies to tell only one side of the
story. And in light of the Art Shibayama story, I wouldn’t be surprised if they
did. What scares me even more is that there are probably thousands of stories
that have been hidden by the American government.
Do you trust news organizations/channels to provide you with
completely unbiased stories?
Is it okay to create propaganda cartoons directed towards
children, like the Bugs Bunny video?
Linda Wei
Section A01
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