Sixteen Military Wives" by The Decemberists

What is the song about (subject matter)?

                The song is about sixteen military wives, who have lost their husbands; celebrities, who the American people look up to, whose lives we follow intensely; and the news reporters of America.

What is the theme of the song?

                The theme of the song is that Americans focus on the lives of the “celebrities”, like Lindsay Lohan. When, the real celebrities should be the military folk who fought for our country.  The song talks about “Fourteen cannibal kings, Wondering blithely what the dinner bell will bring, Fifteen celebrity minds, Served on a leafy bed OF sixteen military wives.” This stanza is talking about how the fourteen cannibal kings, the news reporters, are waiting for some drama to occur in a celebrities life. That drama would be the main news story in the 6 o’clock news, where a minor story would be the sixteen military wives.  

Duck and Cover

     The overt message in "Duck and Cover" is that atomic bombs are dangerous and you can get badly burned by one. These bombs can fall at any moment; you should always be ready. When you see a bright flash, a atomic bomb exploding, you should duck and cover. This is the overt message because it was repeated over and over again in the video. In order to get people to duck and cover they used appeal to fear and bandwagon. They made it sound like it was definite that an atomic bomb was going to fall and that everyone else would duck and cover so why don't you.
     There is not a covert message in "Duck and Cover". The video was only created to inform people of what to do in case an atomic bomb were to fall.
     Since there is an overt message but no covert message this video was purely informative. Some messages may have come out of this video accidentally. For example, the civil protection agency, government and adults are there to help you always do as they say. (Sounds like the government is trying to say that if something happens, no matter what it is, you should always do as they say. Even if it is harm full to you are someone else.)

Destination Earth

     The overt message in this clip was that oil and competition are good and need for everything in America to run, and that the chance of finding oil is low (1 in 9 wells find oil and 1 in 44 find enough oil to support itself). The covert is basically the same as the overt message: oil is needed and chancy, which is bad.      By having a convert and overt message that are as similar as they are this clip is persuaion, not propaganda. The clip did not hide anything, everything positive and everything negatice about oil was shared. Gliterring Generalities were used to help persuade the audience that oil is needed. The aliens said that "all Americans have cars." This is not true there are plently of Americans who do not own a car, but saying all allowed oil to appear a nesesicity.

The Kitchen is the Key to Victory. Eat Less Bread (WWII 1941-1945)

            What is the overt message in this piece? What is the covert message? Explain how the disparity in the two of those makes it propaganda, and not simply persuasion.

            The overt message is that Americans need to eat less bread, which is a way to win the war. The covert message is that if you don’t eat less bread you are taking away from the victory of America. Something odd about this piece is that it says nothing about how eating less bread is the key to victory; this makes it propaganda. It makes the viewer think, “In order for my country to be victorious, I must eat less bread” without directly saying so.

Clampdown by The Clash (1979)

            Look at the lyrics to this song. What are they about? How do you know (what is your proof from the song)? What musical elements (volume, tempo, instrumentation) helps to push your lyrical interpretation of the song? Find me something in the song that relates to propaganda, persuasion, deception, rhetoric, or argument and explain it.

           

            This song is about believing in yourself and being able to rebel against something higher, even if you are beat down. The song says, “Stop wasting your time, there’s nothing coming.” To me this means you need to stop trying to be what you aren’t, believe in who you are and work with that. Also, I know the song is about rebelling but not winning because in the beginning of the song the character is rebelling against working for the Clampdown. But, when the end of the song comes the character fell and is now working for the Clampdown.

            The intense and rough sounding instrumentation and vocals creates a sense of something falling. Originally, it sounds like the Clampdown is falling. In the end, however, it is the character that has fallen.

            “We will teach our twisted speech” shows that someone (we) is persuading someone else with a twisted speech. The “we” is using rhetoric to persuade someone something that may or may not be entirely true.

Propaganda, Persuasion, Rhetoric, and Argument

Choose four quotes that you like and understand from this document (identify them by number you don't have to write them all out). Choose one of the four quotes from this document to analyze. Don't just pick the first one. You need to find one that you understand and can analyze in depth, using real world or personal examples as support for your views. Be sure to relate what they are saying to what we are talking about in terms of propaganda, persuasion, rhetoric, and argument.

            Four quotes I like: 161, 166, 170, 178

170. Can there be a more horrible object in existence than an eloquent man not speaking the truth. ~THOMAS CARLYLE.

            In this quote Thomas Carlyle is describing a man who is good with rhetoric in persuading people to believe false information. This eloquent man could be The Party in 1984. The Party made up lies every day, and changed history every day. Then, they told the people these lies. These people believed the lies out fear of what would happen to them if they didn’t. The false information presented to the people could easily be believed. The historical documents were changed. The historical pictures were changed. There was nothing for the people to look back to in order to find truth. This eloquence allowed The Party to have the total control they had.  

            Another example of eloquent men not speaking the truth is Santa Claus. Santa does not exist; however, parents do everything in their ability to make their children believe, and they succeed. Now, believe in Santa is not an awful thing, but it does show an example of eloquence. Children all over the world believe in Santa because their parents persuaded the children he exists.

            A horrible example of an eloquent man not speaking the truth is Hitler. He convinced the Nazi’s, and other countries that Jews were evil and that he could created the perfect Aryan race. He convinced some Jews that they were evil, too. To be able to make a group of people believe they are bad and evil takes eloquence. What Hitler did was terrible; approximately 11 million people, not just Jews, died in his reign. His rhetoric abilities had to have been strong to support his largely incorrect opinions.

            One must have rhetoric skills to support their facts and arguement, and facts to support what they are saying. If a person has strong rhetoric abilities, are eloquent, they can persuade many people to believe what every they want to say, whether or not truth is contained.

Final Brave New World Post

1)      What would happen in a society where everyone was an alpha? Epsilon?

            Brave New World has a highly developed caste system, and everyone is happy within their caste. If there was a society strictly alpha, people with the highest level of intelligence, the society would fail. . Mond states that “The land wasn't properly worked; there were strikes in all the factories; the laws were set at naught, orders disobeyed; all the people detailed for a spell of low-grade work were perpetually intriguing for high-grade jobs, and all the people with high-grade jobs were counter-intriguing at all costs to stay where they were. Within six years they were having a first-class civil war.” () The civil war resulted in the death of nineteen out of the twenty-two thousand people placed on the island. Alphas consider themselves to be above everyone else. They would not do dirty jobs that are necessary for a society to function. On the flip side, a society was strictly Epsilon, people with little human intelligence, would fail. An epsilon society would have no one to take control responsively. There would be chaos. Societies need people on all levels of the system. Someone is needed to run the law and do medical work. Someone is needed to clean the city. Even if it is unfair for people to be conditioned the way they are, Brave New World’s society is dependent on it.

2)      John moves out to the lighthouse and whips himself. Soon, crowds of people and reporters come to see him, chanting “we want the whip.” Why would people want to see this act of emotion? Is it a rebellion? Did it have any impact on the society?

            People want to see this act of emotion because it is not something they are used to and it is like entertainment of them. Watching a wiping is similar to Americans of today watching any action movie. Most Americans do not have the same action packed life shown in Salt or Avatar, two movies both popular among modern day Americans.

            If people in Brave New World started to whip themselves as John does, they would feel pain and emotion. Any emotion, except happiness, is looked down upon. So, yes. If people fallowed through with what they had started, watching John whipping himself could be an act of rebellion. However, John hung himself. It is difficult for a rebellion to occur if there is not a central leader who understands why people are fighting.

3)      Why would sex be view in different ways in 1984 and  Brave New World?

            Clear contrast is shown between the views on sex. One books view sex as fun; the other as a duty.

            In Brave New World, sex is viewed as a game. Children, young children, play such games on the playground. Women and men go around having sex for the fun of it. If one person stays with another person, they are considered strange. Fanny cannot believe that Lenina can possibly only be with Henry Foster, and later John, for such a long time without any other men. Physical attractions, or at least physical actions, are highly encouraged in Brave New World.

            1984 portrays sex as one’s “duty to the party.” Duty always has a negative connotation: It is you duty to the Party to make love. Almost sounds like, it is your duty to pay taxes. The Party, however, did not want physical attraction. A council would decide if two people could be married. No couple receive permission if they had any sort of physical attraction to each other.