Commentaries

Posted on December 16, 2012 by paul

I thought that the rough drafts and in class peer review sessions were really helpful and valuable. This process aided in organizing my thoughts and receiving feedback on my writing style, organization, and content through my peers and gave me insight on how to improve my writing skills overall. The first paper was challenging and I got a low B but was able to grasp the question and met the expectations although it was a bit lacking. The second paper was difficult for me because I had misunderstood the question and had a completely different thesis than the one I should have had, but even this challenge helped me prepare myself for the next paper and motivated me to work harder. On the third paper, I hope that I got the idea of the paper correct because I discussed it with my professor and two peers. I hope that it was a significantly better written paper than my previous two as it required a creative part, which I thought I wrote pretty well and in the style of the original writer, and analysis of the rewrite and the original.

Overall I would do my best to ask as many questions as possible so that I have a clear understanding of the task at hand and strive to do more complete and better research. I would hopefully start earlier on the papers and understand that I get out as much as I put into the process.

The comments were very helpful in that I was able to correct little errors such as grammatical and organizational ones to the huge conceptual and writing style ones. I was also able to read other people’s papers and get a better sense of what I should be doing for the topic at hand. This further facilitated trading of ideas and helped improve my papers. I would continue to exchange papers with as many peers as possible,but avoid the ones that are bad at giving constructive criticism.

The notes and findings from my researches were very helpful, even if they did not directly work into my papers. Most of the visuals I found were very useful in helping me understand influence of specific topics such as Nazi propaganda or imagining a scene from a novel such as the setting of The Road. I will continue to do extra research beyond just scholarly documents to areas such as pictures and videos because it can further enrich my knowledge for future topics. I would avoid any untrustworthy sources such as homemade videos or documentaries on youtube, but will focus on resources from educational sources.

The annotated bibliography and the final drafts were very helpful in that having a rough draft before the final drafts made me polish my paper as much as possible. The annotated bibliography taught me how to create an actual annotated bibliography and taught me the essential skills necessary to write college papers. Also, through this I was able to remind myself of how to cite correctly.

Annotated Bibliography

Posted on December 16, 2012 by paul

1) McLeod, Saul. “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” SimplyPsychology: n. pag. Print

This article summarizes Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, gives characterization of self actualized people, and gives criticism on the idea of the hierarchy.

This article was useful in explaining Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and what the lowest part of the pyramid requires. I was able to use this and the criticism against the hierarchy such as altruistic behavior before the person is self-actualized when explaining the argument of the original work and then explaining my rewritten dystopia.

2) Gorman, Don. “Maslow’s Hierarchy and Social and Emotional Wellbeing.” Aboriginal & Islander Health Worker Journal (2010): 27-29. Print.

The article talks about ,mental health, or more broadly, social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) and how it is dependent on many factors, both internal and external. It discusses how the external factors such as socioeconomic disadvantage are fairly well documented and generally their link to SEWB are fairly easy to understand, although the degree of impact they have may be debated. Then it discusses the internal factors such as motivation is much more difficult to explain. It talks about how this framework (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) suggests that people are motivated by different needs that can be classified in a hierarchy with the lower level needs having to be fulfilled before the higher level needs can be and how better understanding of the link between cultural disconnection and SEWB may offer clear solutions to how it can be addressed. This paper argues that those higher level needs are closely linked to culture and that consequently any disconnection from culture can impede, if not make impossible, their attainment.

This source was useful when I was discussing the connection between or lack of connection between self-actualization and behaviors such as altruism has nothing to do with community or culture in the original work but how the connection is utterly strong and true in the rewritten dystopia.

3) Knox, Paul D. “Okay Means Okay”: Ideology and Survival in Cormac McCarthy’s THE
ROAD.” The Explicator: 96-99. Print.

A literary critique is presented of the post-apocalyptic novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, focusing on the metaphysical ideologies of the characters and how they came to adopt them. The author suggests that the characters see a binary world of good characters and evil characters that is constantly reinforced through saying the word “okay.” The author discusses reassuring language, community and mental health, and complex morality.

This article was useful in connecting the dialogue between the man and the boy with the repetition of okays to confirm the fact that in the end, the main argument of the book is that the redemption is not the survival or mankind nor restoration to its former glory, but the preservation of the longing of personal connections and desire to create a community.

4) Chabon, M. (2007) ‘After the Apocalypse’, New York Review of Books, vol. 54, no. 2

The article discusses the boy’s symbolism as the hope for mankind or the chance for human kind’s redemption. It discusses how the boy is supposed to carry on the “fire” whatever it may mean.

This article was useful in stating the author’s original intent as described by the scholars which is to use the boy as a symbol of redemption for mankind. I was able to use some of his quotes to better describe or state my thoughts.

5) Cooper, Lydia. “Cormac McCarthy’s The Road as Apocalyptic Grail Narrative.”
Studies in the Novel 43 (2011): 218-34. Print.

The author focuses on Cormac McCarthy’s novel “The Road.” She posits that the novel examines apocalyptic fears and uses motifs from “grail narratives,” such as the Fisher King. She offers an overview of the grail themes. The author examines apocalyptic elements in “The Road as well as the relationship between the father and the son, themes of morality, and elements of grail narratives, including the boy as the grail and grail-bearer.

This article was useful because I was able to use it to discuss the symbolism of the kid and his innate goodness which is common in the main characters of the grail narratives. I was able to use the traits to describe the altruistic behavior of the boy and then use this to contrast it to the behavior of the changed boy in the rewrite.

6) Warde, Anthony. “Whatever Form You Spoke of You Were Right: Multivalence and Ambiguous Address in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.” Language and Literature 20 (2011): 333-46. Print.

This article focuses on the workings of second-person pronoun forms in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Its analysis emphases the examples of ‘doubly deictic you.’ It shows how the novel uses the uncertain deictic, referential and address functions of this particular pronoun form to create a ‘post-apocalyptic poetics.’ It tries to explore and the spatial and temporal dislocations that occur in the fictional apocalypse. The article also demonstrates how the novel’s indeterminate use of narrative you creates profound uncertainty for readers. It forces them to often suspend any attempt to fix the positions from and to which the story is addressed.

This article is useful because by understanding McCarthy’s unclear use of the terms you and your throughout the novel, I can successfully replicate the writing style and intentions while rewriting a portion of the book from a different character’s point of view.

7) Caruth, Cathy. “After the End: A Response.” Studies in the Literary Imagination 41.2 (2008): 121–29.Print.

The author comments on the argument of Shelley Rambo on the survival of a father and his son in the book “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. She thinks that Rambo’s description of the destruction of the world made it impossible for the child to live on after the death of his father, which is contrary to the intent of the author. She argues that Rambo removed the theological meaning of redemption in the literature.

This was useful because it talks about the changed meaning of redemption which is the argument I changed in my rewrite of the dystopia. I was able to utilize the information in this to give definite ways in how redemption existed and now no longer exists.

8) Charles, Ron. “Apocalypse Now.” The Washington Post 1 Oct. 2006: n. pag. Print.

The article discusses the connection between nuclear war and the setting of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. It talks about the devastation caused by the calamity and how the main characters cope and survive in this harsh world.

I was able to use the threat of nuclear war that is prevalent in our modern society to connect the paper to the modern times.

9) Gray, W. Russel. “Navigating Propaganda’s Sea Lanes: A Fresh Look at Action in the North Atlantic.” Journal of American Culture (2004): 81-85. Print.

Even though American combat films were intended as source of entertainment, they served as mediums of propaganda during World War II. By learning from Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, the director of the U.S. Office of War Information decided to place propaganda in film. The numerous layers of censorship of the media by the government made it almost impossible for the film industry to know the truth about the military performance. In consequence, the public was also kept in the dark.

The article talks about the effectiveness of American propaganda and censorship through the medium of film. It conveys how American citizens were kept in the dark about the war. They were not even informed about the effectiveness of the American submarine missions even though it was a plus for the Allies. This article is able to show the extent of propaganda and how it was layered so much that even the film industry did not know the truth and in consequence neither was the public. It shows that knowledge was kept from the public in order to ensure order and to prevent riots and uneasiness which could have led to chaos. It brings into light how thorough American propaganda and censorship was that the citizens were fed propaganda without knowing that it was happening. It shows the extent of manipulation that it affects even the innocent entertainment provided by film.

10) Rankin, David. “Orwell’s Intention in 1984.” English Language Notes (1975): n. pag. Print.

The article comments on the intentions of author George Orwell for publishing the book ’1984′ in Great Britain. It asserts that Orwell did not condemn socialism or the British Labor Party. It contains exposition on the perversions of the centralized economy and reasons for choosing the country as the scene of the story.

The source was used to explain the purpose of the novel and its relevance to the topic. The work itself was written to warn against a totalitarian world that could arrive and take hold in this world. The work was written to address this issue of totalitarianism and mindless loyalty of the masses to the dictators. This source was used to connect the literature to the thesis in which Big Brother and O’Brien is compared and contrasted to Hitler, as a charismatic leader with propaganda and military might.

11) Lepsius, M. Rainer. “The Model of Charismatic Leadership and its Applicability to the Rule of Adolf Hitler.” Totalitarian Movements & Political Religions (2006): n. pag. Print.

The article focuses on the model of charismatic leadership and its applicability to Adolf Hitler. It proves detailed information on the two opposing theses of charismatic leadership and gives description of the model of charisma developed by political analyst Max Weber. It also thoroughly explains the steps of transition from a manifest charismatic situation to charismatic leadership.
The description and the analysis of charismatic leadership and it’s applicability to Hitler was useful in proving that charismatic leaders attract the public. The thorough explanation of the creation of a support group and how that happens with the public helps show the connection between charismatic leadership, Hitler, and his popularity. The step by step process in which Hitler fulfilled all the requirements of a charismatic leader and how he used that to awe and attract the masses were very useful.

12) Diken, Bulent. “Huxley’s Brave New World – and Ours.” Journal for Cultural Research 15.2 (2011): 153-72. Print.

The article discusses the significance of The Brave New World in present time in which “a passive nihilist version of ‘happiness’ is elevated to the level of a political and ethical ideal and ‘freedom’ is taken for granted.” Huxley himself did not follow the political and ethical consequences of his own critique and the article seeks to map these consequences. It does this by rethinking the maxims of the brave new world in relation to three main themes: biopolitics, nihilism and network society.

The article is useful in that it emphasizes the important traits or values advocated by the society which can be compared and contrasted to those values important to the society of Nazi Germany. In addition, it discusses how the government in Brave New World brainwashes the people and controls them through manipulation and propaganda in their daily lives much like that of Nazi Germany. Furthermore, the structure of the society and its castes are described and how this structure reinforces obedience and empowers the rulers.

13) Vargish, Thomas. “The Authority of Crisis.” War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities 20.1/2: 121-37. Print.

The article presents a literary criticism of several books and films reflecting on
the social authority of crises and explores their impact on military and
political decision making. The works mentioned include Aldous Huxley’s
“Brave New World,” Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd,
Sailor,” and the Stanley Kubrick film “Paths of Glory.”

This article will be useful when making the comparison between the crisis
of Hitler’s Germany and the Crisis in the world of Brave New World.
It’ll support the argument that there needs to be a crisis for a
charismatic leader to arise and take over the country and shape it into a
dystopia. It also describes the effects of the crisis on political and
military decision making which can be compared to those of Nazi Germany.

14) Varricchio, Mario. “Power of Images/ Images of Power in Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Utopian Studies 10.1 (1999): 98-113. Print.

The article analyzes the dystopic novels Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both of them utilizes cinema and television to create an utterly pessimistic picture of humanity’s future. It directly addresses the representation of cinema in Brave NewWorld, the main use of cinema in 1984 and discusses the visual metaphors in Nineteen Eighty-Four.’

This article was useful in analyzing the symbols used in 1984 such as the Big Brother, Goldstein, and others and creating a parallel between this use of propaganda through symbolism in the novel with Hitler’s use of the symbols in propaganda. Also, it was useful in analyzing the purpose of the novel itself.

Comments/Response & Extras/Commentary for Stage Three

Posted on December 16, 2012 by paul

Peer Comments:

1) Make the ending of the rewritten dystopia even more dark and gruesome.

2) Elaborate on how the events change overall when the boy is made cold and distant in the introduction paragraph after you talk about the original characterization of the boy.

Response:

The ending of the rewritten dystopia of The Road became even darker than before. At first, the boy was shot and left alone, but after the rewrite, he lay in his blood and cerebral matter and the man looked up to the dark sky in solemn silence.

I added more detail and analysis on how the change in the character of the boy completely changed his interactions with different people in the major events I chose to alter. It made the analysis richer and better over all.

1) I learned how to successfully incorporate and use three fictional sources.

2) How to write an appropriate introduction with the right amount of historical and background information for the topic at hand.

3) I learned how to better organize an essay to keep the paper interesting and easy to read and understand.

Extras:

The boy and the man

landscape in The Road

The Road Trailer

The first two images were very useful in using to describe the characters and the environment that they are placed in. I was also able to get a fresh sense of what the apocalyptic world might look and feel like through the trailer. The words in the novel came alive and I could understand and use that feeling to rewrite the novel as closely as possible in both writing style and atmosphere to the original.

Third Stage Topic and Outline

Posted on December 16, 2012 by paul

Novel: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Argument: The relationship between the father and the son and the son’s reaction and altruistic behavior during certain incidents in the novel proves that through the kid’s survival in the end there is redemption for mankind in the form of perseveration of desire to create a community and to make interpersonal connections. It also disproves Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Rewrite the dystopia:

1) Meeting of the dog and the boy.

cares about the other boy and dog.

asks about them as they travel on.

2) Ely the old man

offers food.

stays the night and gives provisions.

3) The cart thief

cries for him cause the thief will die

asks the father if they will the thief

4) The end

cries for the father

is saved = redemption

Change: the father becomes more like the son and is empathetic whereas the son is cold, distant and focused on survival. Instead of going against Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it confirms it.

1) Meeting of the dog and the boy.

doesn’t care about the dog nor the boy.

wants to eat the dog to survive.

doesn’t wanna meet other people cause then they would have to share rations.

2) Ely the old man

deems Ely useless.

Does not want to give him food.

3) The cart thief

wants to kill him for endangering them

4) The end

father dies but boy shows no emotion

duel with the man and dies

= no redemption

Comments/Response & Extras/Commentary for Stage Two

Posted on December 16, 2012 by paul

Peer Comments:

1) Need to make clearer and better connections with 1984 and Hitler.

2) Uses the same words too frequently. Word Choice.

Response:

Used the thesaurus and restructured sentences in order to make it more interesting and engaging. Replaced words that were being used too often.

Made sure to connect charismatic aspects of characters in 1984 such as Big Brother and O’Brien to those of Hitler in order to make a connection and analyze it.

1) I learned how to write better transitional sentences between supports in the essay.

2) How to use better fitting and efficient words.

3) How to work in quotes to further enrich the supports without leaving it as a free-range quote..

Extras:

possible inspiration for Big Brother

Telescreen from movie representation of 1984

O’Brien on Power

The first image was interesting but not useful because it really did not contribute to the paper. The fact that it could be the origin of Big Brother was very intriguing. The second image of the telescreen was not useful because it really did not have any details or information to add onto the paper, but it gave me a sense of what a person in 1984 might actually feel faced with constant supervision from such device. The link to O’Brien’s speech on power was useful because it showed first hand how O’Brien uses the charismatic characteristic to win over Winston and how O’Brien fits the charismatic leadership model like Hitler.

Second Stage Draft

Posted on December 16, 2012 by paul

Paul Kwon

Dr.Bezio

First Year Seminar

1 October 2012

Stage One: Explication and Analysis

There are many great leaders in the history of mankind. Leaders, who, countless people have fervently followed, sometimes even into death during a crisis. People follow the leader passionately whether or not the leader is good or evil. Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler were great leaders of two different sides: the good and the evil. During World War II, these two leaderships clashed and each moved his own country against each other for the sake of their ideologies. Churchill represented Democracy and Hitler supported Facism. In the case of Hitler’s leadership of Germany it is evident that people will follow even an immoral leader as long as he has charismatic leadership, supportive propaganda, and fearsome military power.

Hitler’s leadership can be labeled as charismatic. Adolf Hitler displayed strong qualities that made him charismatic, which Max Weber defines as “an extraordinary quality of a person, because of which he is perceived as the leader” (Lepsius). According to Weber, the first requirement is that the leader must claim ultimate authority and that those who follow must accept this unquestioningly. The second requirement is that the leader must not restrict himself to rules of conduct and forms of organization. According to Weber, “The more a leader aspires towards ultimate authority, the less he can accept such controls” (Lepsius). Because the leader wants ultimate power, nothing should be able to hold him or the followers down. The third requirement is that the community developed around the leader is one of emotion and devotion and that the organization of the group is by the ones the leader has chosen. The group must be paradoxical. “A charismatic group is therefore rigid and loose, authoritarian and anarchic, unified and fragmented, centralized and uncoordinated” (Lepsius). The group must be paradoxical for its structure to be determined by ad hoc interventions and random promotion of officers by the leader. The last requirement is that the leader must provide proofs of success. Elaborate and high promises do not eliminate the reality of the world. According to Weber, “Messianic hopes do not completely eliminate the perception of reality and interests of followers.” One last precondition is that there must be a crisis or a perceived crisis that the leader can promise to solve.

Hitler falsely created the precondition and he himself fit all the requirements of Weber, which, in consequence, made him irresistible to the Germans. The precondition he created was that there was a conspiracy amongst the evil and that they were incapable of solving this problem. He labeled himself and his ideologies as good and asserted that the evil powers must be destroyed in order for Germany to be reborn. He was able to win the support of the Germans without addressing the specifics of his programs because he appealed to the simple ideas of survival, honor, self-respect, and justice. Hitler understood that “A charismatic mission can only be based on the pursuit of ultimate values- not on the practical solution of everyday problems” (Lepsius). After Hitler convinced the country of this problem, he moved on to fulfill the other requirements of charismatic leadership that would make his people follow him without any objection or second thoughts. He gained control of the Nazi party by forcing them to give him limitless power or threatened to resign and destroy the power of the party. Then, on February 14, 1926, at a meeting in Bamberg, he created a community based on his leadership and personal devotion and loyalty from its members. He delivered a five hour speech to the district chiefs and managed to win their personal loyalties. Then gradually he became the Führer and gained ultimate power. He converted all of his direct opponents to his side and proved his Führer genius, gaining the trust and personal loyalties of many party members and people of power. With his charismatic leadership he easily won over the people in the government, and through propaganda and fear he won the support of the masses.

Hitler rallied tremendous amount of support through his charismatic leadership and gained control and loyalties of the people in the government, but it was only through propaganda that created a sense of unity that further convinced the masses to follow Hitler. One of the core parts of Hitler’s propaganda was how to package and politicize grievance to promote unity and hatred of the enemy. As stated by O’Shaughnessy, it is surprising “how dexterously grievance, legitimate and illegitimate, can be turned into a sense of tribal or national oppression so powerful that it bursts out into a rage of nihilistic aggression against the claimed perpetrators of the injustice.”The point is that injustice, whether real or fake, can be fed to people and lead them to conviction. Hitler provided hope, source of anger, sense of justice, and stability that was so attractive to the masses. He offered “a vision of rebirth, an enemy to hate, the righting of historical wrongs, a job, a home, bread on the table and cash in the bank” (O’Shaughnessy).

Another theme of the Nazi propaganda that appealed to the public was its concentrated on the theme of solidarity. To be of one a group has to look beyond its individual differences and search for commonality in something greater. The importance of this emphasis on solidarity is that an “individual was no longer alone in the world, but a member of tribe to which he was united by ties of blood, of inherited folk wisdom, culture and history, and passionate antagonism to all that threatened these bonds” (O’Shaughnessy). Not only is a broader context of unity needed, but to achieve total solidarity a terrible enemy that threatens the group to extinction is necessary. Whether the enemy was real or fake did not matter. In addition, the idea that the nation as a whole should look after each individual helped act as agent in holding the people together as a nation and distinguish them from other nations and groups of different ideologies. “The national family would look after him and prize his life far above those of the alien and the out-group” (O’Shaughnessy). In countless films, documentaries, and books, interdependence was stressed.

The idea of utopia was another idea that attracted the masses. By constantly bombarding the public with ideas of a perfect world, Hitler became even more appealing. Its conditions were those of solidarity and social community. They advocated regression to form of native authenticity and promised salvation of the German race from so called “racial pollution” ( O’Shaughnessy). The Nazi party underscored the fact that in this utopia, the man or woman will be cared for and valued as long as they conformed, further sinking in the idea of supporting Hitler and his regime. The idea of utopia was irresistible to the public and helped Hitler win public support.

Ordinary was another crucial theme of propaganda. Hitler and the party worked hard to make their dystopian society seem as if it was normal to fool the people into believing nothing was wrong. Twenty percent of the movies shown in the Third Reich were Hollywood, the social character of Nazi journalism was light, easy-going, gossipy, mildly inquisitive and even comedic and there were images of life in Vichy, or a day in the life of Propaganda Ministry with its official cars, international communications, and the office of Goebbels. Their aim was to create a sense of invitation, as if one had been invited in. “There was a cult of the light, the trivial and the everyday, the idle chatter of the ordinary, of an innocent parish” (O’Shaughnessy). This feeling of happiness and ordinariness was accentuated by strong appeals to altruism. The regime disguised itself and its true motives towards authoritarian and dystopian control and kept hidden the want to destroy individualism and critical thinking through the continuity of the consumer culture and deceptive openness to the world. Hitler and his regime’s appeal was that through propaganda, it seemed to be a place for everyone. A place that presented unity, ideals of utopia, and a sense of ordinariness. “It offered something for everybody, including simplicity for the simpleminded” (O’Shaughnessy, 62).

Most citizens willingly followed Hitler because of his charisma and the sweet promises of the propaganda, but still others followed him out of fear. Hitler used the Gestapo, his secret police, to spy on and eliminate any potential dangers. Germany was a police state under National Socialism. It was in a state where the police power, especially that of the Gestapo and Sicherheitsdienst, was basically unchecked. The people lived in fear of arrest and interrogation and possibly death. No one dared to resist Hitler. The secret police had authority over security and justice. The Gestapo had its secret operatives everywhere in the public and so did the Sicherheitsdienst. The agents were basically ubiquitous.“ The SD had agents, known only to the chief SD officers, in every department of the German government, in the armed forces, in the Nazi party, among chief industrial executives, and among the Gestapo itself” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition). The powers of the Gestapo, the Schutzstaffel, and the Sicherheitsdienst were far reaching and dangerous. Anyone suspect of disloyalty to the regime or Hitler could be quickly and wordlessly arrested, executed, or sent to a concentration camp. The people who were opposed to Hitler were quickly silenced and so many decided to keep quiet and follow the rules of the regime.

The esteemed novel, 1984, by George Orwell, supports this idea. In the novel, the issue is presented by analyzing the symbol of Big Brother. Big Brother is charismatic symbol that has the power of controlling propaganda and military power, which, like Hitler makes it appealing to the masses. The work was written to warn against a potential totalitarian future. George Orwell stated, “I do not believe that the kind of society I describe necessarily will arrive… something resembling it could arrive…. Totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere” (Rankin, 189). The work was written, to address this issue of totalitarianism and mindless loyalty of the masses to the dictators.

O’Brien is the manifestation of Big Brother who is charismatic, intellectual, and charming. He is so similar to Big Brother that when “[Winston] tried with a little more success than before to summon up the image of O’Brien …. the face of Big Brother swam into his mind, displacing that of O’Brien” (Orwell, 80) According to Rae, Big Brother’s image displaces that of O’Brien because, Big Brother controls everyone Winston has met. Winston, who represents the common man, is hopelessly attracted to Big Brother paralleling the attraction the Germans attracted to Hitler. Both are charismatic leaders with propaganda and power. Winston is charmed by O’Brien intellect similarly as the public was mesmerized by Hitler’s appeals to something greater than logic and procedure. In the same way, Hitler successfully created a group that praises him, so did Big Brother. The inner party and the outer party simply admire Big Brother because of the endless propaganda fed to them. The parties are given Goldstein to hate and this hatred brings about unity under the leadership of Big Brother who fearlessly opposes the devilish Goldstein. Furthermore, by focusing the attention to the war, which is in fact quite harmless, Big Brother was able to meet the precondition of needing a crisis to rise in power over everyone else with the reasoning that he has a plan and only he can lead the country to victory, just as Hitler did when he convinced Germany that it needed his leadership to fix the financial crisis and rid of the perpetrators, mainly the West.

Propaganda is basically ubiquitous in 1984; it is in films, posters, and everyday items. The impressive picture of Big Brother is on a poster on every visible that in the novel it is described that “Big Brother’s huge face is to be found everywhere, on stamps, coins, and posters in all streets and buildings” (Varricchio, 106). Likewise, Hitler had posters of himself spread throughout his country portraying him in a positive light as the “ascetic” Adolf, People’s Kaiser, mystical diviner of public will, priest-king, heir to Bismarck and Frederick the Great, Marshal and soldier to make the people follow him in awe and not realize that they themselves are actually “followers.” In addition, Hitler and his propaganda lived under the motto of the party of 1984: “Ignorance is Strength.” He fed false information and half-truths the public in order to keep them ignorant. Furthermore, ordinariness was emphasized, but not in the same way as it was in Hitler’s regime. In 1984, there were reports from the telescreen that made reductions in rations seem as if it had never occurred and the new reduced amount was the norm. By keeping a false sense of ordinariness, Big Brother was able to keep most people ignorant and satisfied. Also, the theme of unity was prevalent in Big Brother’s propaganda. Unity under Big Brother was formed amongst the citizens of Oceania by providing hate week, one minute hate, and the scapegoat Goldstein. All the intense anger against Goldstein, who threatened the stability of Oceania formed the tribal, unbreakable bond like the one formed amongst the Germans under Hitler against the Jews and the Ally forces.

In the same way Hitler had military might, Big Brother and the inner party had a secret police that wielded its power by striking terror into the hearts of the people. The Thought Police spied on everyone in Oceania just like Hitler’s Gestapo, the Schutzstaffel, and the Sicherheitsdienst. The Thought Police took any person of interest or intellect and made them disappear paralleling the similar disappearances in Germany under Hitler. If people were not mesmerized by Big Brother, they were scared into submission and in Germany, if they were not awed by Hitler and worshiped him; they were forced into acceptance out of fear.

Hitler and his Nazi party were able to gather the support of the elites through his charismatic leadership which charmed his opponents and made them his allies, massive amounts of propaganda that spread the ideas of utopia, ordinariness, solidarity, and grievance to appeal to the masses, and his secret police units to crush resistance and retain his support. It was almost as if the people could not but help be attracted to Hitler. The good and inevitably the bad leaders will rise time and time again, and we can only prevent another evil regime from rising by educating the public and teaching them to resist charismatic leadership and look into the leader’s motives, see through false promises, and to rise fearlessly against an oppression.

Works Cited

Columbia University Press. “Secret Police.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 6th ed. N.p.: n.p., 2011. N. pag. Print.

Lepsius, M. Rainer. "The Model of Charismatic Leadership and its Applicability to the Rule of Adolf  Hitler." Totalitarian Movements & Political Religions (2006): n. 175-190 Print.

Orwell, George. 1984.N.p.: Penguin Group, 1961. Print.

O’Shaughnessy, Nicholas. "Selling Hitler: propaganda and the Nazi brand." Journal of Public Affairs (2009): n. 55-65 Print.

Rae, Patricia. "Mr. Charrington's junk shop: T.S. Eliot and modernist poetics in 'Nineteen Eighty-Four.' (character in book by author George Orwell)." Twentieth Century Literature 43.2 (1997): 196+. Professional Collection. Web. 7 Oct. 2012.

Rankin, David. “Orwell’s Intention in 1984.” English Language Notes (1975): n. 188-192 Print.

Varricchio, Mario. “Power of Images/Images of Power in Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Utopian Studies 10.1 (1999):98-113. Print.

Word count: 2570

I pledge that I neither received nor given unauthorized assistance during the completion of this work. Paul Kwon

Comments/Response & Extras/Commentary for Stage One

Posted on December 16, 2012 by paul

Peer Comments:

1) Should bring in counterpoints when compare the similarities between Nazi/1984 propaganda and American propaganda

2) Stated earlier that part of purpose for Nazi propaganda is to “lower enemy morale” and degrade enemy, but I don’t see similar reasons in US propaganda

Response:

The whole topic of the paper was changed so these comments were not applicable.

1) I learned how to cite properly with the author’s last name and page numbers for in-citations.

2) How to do a correct bibliography page with the right formatting.

3) How to write an effective thesis.

Extras:

propaganda director

Nazi Propaganda

Nazi Propaganda Machine

The two youtube video links were very useful in understand the actual effects of the Nazi Propaganda. By learning about the propaganda and watching actual ones it was easier to grasp the concept of its influence. The two pictures, one of a propaganda director, and the other of a victory parade, was not helpful because it really did not contribute to my knowledge of the topic but was just nice to see what Nazi Germany and its people were like.

First Stage Draft

Posted on October 22, 2012 by paul

Dystopia paper

Nazi propaganda of the Axis forces during WW II and now the use of propaganda in American government are we moving towards Orwell predicted future?

Thesis: information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely tohelp or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation,etc.

Quote of importance on propaganda/mind.

Needs: better wording, transition sentences, overall everything needs to be improved XD.

Issue: Propaganda justifies war which is a disturbing and just chaotic thing no matter how noble the cause. Human lives are lost in millions. This propaganda warps the true history and nature of war/bloodshed and makes people support it. Citizens are left in the dark. Helps the totalitarian government stay in power the spread of Nazism created close to dystopian societies. So are we on our way to this state of chaos and oppression?

Benefits: true perspective on wars/others how to stop this.

Relevance: dystopia is the result of people rising to power during crisis such as war that is on a global scale. Propaganda to maintain power and support. Relate/parallels to 1984.

Problem: Privacy vs. Safety, freedom of speech/knowledge vs. order.

Intro:

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” This quote of George Orwell from his famous novel 1984, is a short, but brilliant summary of what propaganda does to the thought. Propaganda, according to the Webster’s dictionary, are ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause. During World War II, a global war that occurred between 1939 and 1945, the two alliances that formed amongst the worldwide countries, the Allies and the Axis, both sides used extreme amounts of propaganda to raise morale of their own troops and country, to lower the enemy morale, and to just spread detrimental rumors and to dehumanize the enemy. Both sides were in a state of total war which meant that they utilized their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the war. Millions of people died, and unspeakable horrors such as the Holocaust and the atomic bombings occurred. Nazism thrived during this time and through the masterful use of propaganda and force led to the rise of Hitler.

Hitler’s Reign (how it is supposed to be organized)

-ideologies

-techniques /execution (how to spread/maintain propaganda)

-consequences (how it affected the citizens/etc)

To Hitler and the Nazi Party, propaganda was the governing philosophy, not merely a means to an end but an end in itself. The Nazi idea of propaganda encompassed everything. It was actually what the regime was founded on. The Nazi party depended completely on a sophisticated mixture of ideology and methodology. Everything was related to propaganda. Military strategy in itself was an exercise in propaganda, and it also explains why at the battle of Stalingrad the Nazi made the decision to hold it to the last because of its symbolic resonances. The propaganda controlled the political and military strategy. It was more than a tool. Considered to be an essential core to the survival of the regime, the party even made groups designated to spreading grafﬁti and spreading rumors. They wanted complete dominance of the idea in the country. What was created was in the end a parallel universe of imagery and symbolism that brought confusion and left the citizens in the dark who were only fed the fake stories or the half-truths. All forms of intelligence were warped for the sake of propaganda and to make sure that people would not rebel. Education, for instance, with its classes on race theory was a branch of propaganda that was instrumental in the drive to an all-embracing militarism. With mathematics classes could be focusing on calculating the angle of attack of a dive bomber. The German campus was thoroughly de-intellectualized. The only reason for advancement or for knowledge is for war.

A key aim of Nazi propaganda was to project Hitler’s carefully crafted images. He was the center of the propaganda. He conveyed himself as the ‘ascetic’ Adolf, the austere bachelor with Germany as his bride, the People’s Kaiser, mystical diviner of public will, priest-king, heir to Bismarck and Frederick the Great, Marshal and soldier which was all implied in the idea of the Fuhrer. One major goal of the propagandists was to make the image of Hitler ubiquitous in Nazi Germany through posters, magazines, newsreels and entertainment. Through propaganda they also made sure that the grievances that surfaced were packaged and used for their own means. They created a feeling of unity through the hatred. Part of the contemporary relevance of the phenomenon of the Selling of Hitler is that it shows us how easily grievance, legitimate and illegitimate, can be twisted into a sense of tribal or national oppression so powerful that it bursts out into a rage of destructive aggression against the so called “perpetrators of the injustice” which in this case was the Allies.

CORE IDEAS: l

-leader (big brother/hitler), solidarity .

-To be cohesive, a group has to have an identity of purpose and a perceived commonality of origin – at least to gain the extreme cohesion that the Nazis cultivated

The individual was no longer alone in the world, but a member of tribe to which he was united by ties of blood, of inherited folk wisdom, culture and history, and passionate antagonism to all that threatened these bonds,

- UTOPIA,

-MODERNISM

-ORDINARY

-CONSUMERISM

- they were capable of deftess, nuance: a balletic performance in the manipulation of human psychology

(elaborate on above ^ and tie it to the horrors committed by the Nazis)

Big Brother’s Reign (how it is supposed to be organized):

-ideologies

-techniques /execution (how to spread/maintain propaganda)

-consequences (how it affected the citizens/etc)

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

(Need transitional sentence) War Is Peace is the belief that when two countries are perpetually at war they are actually at peace. The war never brings real danger to any of the mainland of Oceania. In this state of war, all the sides’ citizens are at peace. The only reason for war is to be used as a destruction of produce. Propaganda is used to make people believe that production rates have gone up when the rations and such are constantly decreasing. (Overprotection of goods can cause equal distribution of them which is bad because it will lead to socialism. Believes that throughout all of recorded history there has been three distinct classes of citizens: The High, The Middle, and The Low. The High always wishes to stay high. The middle is never contempt with being the middle, and eventually displaces the high. The middle then breaks off into the high and middle again and the process is started over again. The Low usually wants to destroy all such classifications and create true socialism. INGSOC knows what it wants. It is the high, it wishes to stay high.) <- shorten. The way it does it is by keeping it’s middle and low in constant drudgery. Falsify information (propaganda) to make it seem as if it is always getting better (through double speak it is).

Freedom Is Slavery means that as an individualism will kill you (promoting unity within the state and hatred against the enemy). When you join the Party you are immortal. You are part of a collective culture that will live on forever.

Ignorance Is Strength is the idea that by keeping the people ignorant, they will not realize what is really going on.

Destroys all data that could prove the situation otherwise.

The Party keeps The Proles ignorant by keeping them content.

-liberties like love, having a family, and sexual relations

How they control using propaganda:

- Posters everywhere

- Telescreens

- Hateweek/2 minute hate for an outlet

- Scrape goat of Goldstein for unity of state

- The ministries:

- (these are definitions found online make into own words)

Ministry of Peace (Newspeak: Minipax)

- Minipax supports Oceania’s perpetual war.

- The primary aim of modern warfare (in accordance with the principles of doublethink, this aim is simultaneously recognized and not recognized by the directing brains of the Inner Party) is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living. Ever since the end of the nineteenth century, the problem of what to do with the surplus of consumption goods has been latent in industrial society. At present, when few human beings even have enough to eat, this problem is obviously not urgent, and it might not have become so, even if no artificial processes of destruction had been at work.

Ministry of Plenty (Newspeak: Miniplenty)

- The Ministry of Plenty rations and controls food, goods, and domestic production; every fiscal quarter, the Miniplenty publishes false claims of having raised the standard of living, when it has, in fact, reduced rations, availability, and production. The Minitrue substantiates the Miniplenty claims by revising historical records to report numbers supporting the current, “increased rations”.

Ministry of Truth (Newspeak: Minitrue)

- The Ministry of Truth controls information: news, entertainment, education, and the arts. Winston Smith works in the Minitrue RecDep (Records Department), “rectifying” historical records to concord with Big Brother’s current pronouncements, thus everything the Party says is true.

Ministry of Love (Newspeak: Miniluv)

- The Ministry of Love identifies, monitors, arrests, and converts real and imagined dissidents. In Winston’s experience, the dissident is beaten and tortured, then, when near-broken, is sent to Room 101 to face “the worst thing in the world” — until love for Big Brother and the Party replaces dissension.

- Enforces the idea of double think:

The keyword here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink. Doublethink is basically the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

- — Part II, Chapter IX — The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism

- Thought police

Orwellian Aspects of American Government (how it is supposed to be organized) :

-similarities with nazi/1984 in terms of propaganda

- reasons for propaganda

-techniques

-possible consequences/problems

It is noted that while lobbyists amplified their constituents’ power and influence, the methods they employed using false and misleading information cast doubt on the ability of ordinary citizens to participate in democratic politics.

- Money/lies/citizens in the dark

- Use surveillance cameras/phonetaps/etc

- Safety vs. privacy and freedom of speech/thought vs order.

- Need to find more sources directly on American propaganda.

- Modern technology is great

can be a dangerous weapon of mass destruction/mass control.
In 1984 Orwell showed a world in which the people are under the control of the government through surveillance.
Thought Police watch the people through telescreens, microphones and helicopters.
Many people do not believe this will come true because they do not see it happening. But if you look at the current state of technology you will easily see that it is being used, and that it is easier than ever.
Many private companies are using these systems to watch both their property and their employees.
Surveillance devices so small that it is now possible to make a camera and a microphone fit into a very small hole in the wall. Some companies are selling cameras disguised as smoke detectors. Police admittedly use small microphones as ‘wires’ to get confessions in undercover operations.

- The “Internet” is the newest buzz word running around, and with it comes new controversies over online surveillance.

- In 1984 the government, or “The Party,” controlled the past. They were able to destroy all proof that something did or did not happen.

- Do this with even greater ease today. Since most information is now kept ondisk, and backed up onto even more magnetic media, one could simply destroy all areas where the data said that someone had existed.

- The only problem would be finding the newspapers and other references, which could be taken care of by agents of the government.

- The Social Security System. We now are required to receive serial numbers before a certain age so that we can be catalogued for this service

- This seemingly innocent indexing of people has turned into a major privacy crisis.

- Our Social Security number is now used for everything.

- We now have problems with people looking up our credit history using this one number.

- They do not even need our permission.

- At the time it seemed like a great idea.

- If it isn’t bad enough that they admit they want to catalogue their citizens, our government basically admits that they need to watch them as well.

- A bill sent through Congress which would force telecommunication companies to place a chip called the Clipper Chip into all of their products.

allow the government, with two electronic keys, to watch our telecommunication transactions.
An act called Digital Telephony. This bill states that the government will give a certain amount of money to large telecommunication providers to rework their networks so that the government’s men can attach themselves and listen to our private conversations

- Conclusion: