Propaganda and You

Now that we have really discussed how propaganda works, at least according to Adolph Hitler, think about how you can recognize propaganda when you see it.  First define it and then give examples of how you might have been influenced by propaganda and when you recognized it and resisted it.

Is Freud Valid?

As a reminder, the first post for this prompt is not due until 3/24.  I hope you all have a restful Spring Break.

When we discuss the ideas of Sigmund Freud, we tend to focus on his quite controversial ideas about sexuality.  He does, however, have some valid points about how the mind works.  What connections can you make between his ideas about the validity of dreams as ways to understand the self and the values of the WWICM?  

The Sorrow of War

I was particularly struck by last week's discussion in that most of you focused on the values associated with motion, or the mechanistic values, but one person said that in our culture we want or need to believe that organic values still exist. I think that idea is particularly apropos to our discussion of the poetry of the First World War. The poets seem caught in despair when looking at a world that seemed to be out of control--where the mechanistic values all trumped the organic values with disastrous results.

We saw the human side of war and battle in the poetry we discussed in class. Do you feel that war today is humanized or is it dehumanized? Are we more sensitive to the horrors with the instant communication we have today--or are we desensitized? Whatever your reaction, what does that tell you about our values? Do we need the organic values?

Btw, I took the title of this post from a novel on the Vietnam War by Bao Ninh.