Liberty Cabbage: Culture and Propaganda Essay -- Media Government Pape

Liberty Cabbage: Culture and Propaganda I happened to live in two countries with opposite political regimes – socialism in the USSR and democracy in the USA. I was growing up in the USSR, usually finding myself obedient to the will of the ruling Communist Party, sincerely thinking (as well as many people of my age) that my country has the most humane regime in the whole world. When I got older and the Iron Curtain fell, the unadorned reality confronted me: the Soviet Union was not a peace-loving democratic country but a totalitarian regime with a explicit goal of replicating itself all over the world; in short, a monster in sheep’s clothing. What made me believe back then that my former country had such a perfect regime? A one-word answer is: propaganda. The Soviet government skillfully manipulated cultural values of the Russian people to create an illusion that we live in the country of our dreams. The bravest of us allowed ourselves to have another opinion. They listened to Radio Liberty and dreamed of livi ng in the United States (although nobody expected the Soviet regime to fall). What is it like, we wondered, to live in a country where the government does not feed deliberate lies to its own people distorting cultural traditions and history? I dreamed about living in the United States because it was our guiding light to a real democracy. However, as it seems now, the government of the United States, just like the Communist Party in the USSR, plays on cultural values of its people to make them agree to the agenda of the dominant political and social structures. The majority of American people would argue that they are absolutely independent in their opinions, that the United States is a leading democratic country in th... ...oam. Interview. Redeye Collective. By Chris Spannos. 24 May 2002. Filatov, S. â€Å"Thrown Out on the Street.† Pravda 10 Dec. 1979: 5. Grigoriev, Oleg. A Bird In a Cage. Saint Petersburg: Ivan Limbach, 1997 Hunt, Michael H. Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy. Yale: Yale UP, 1987. Nunberg, Geoff. †The language wars.† Fresh Air. NPR. WHYY. Philadelphia. 23 Apr. 2003. Operation Iraqi Freedom. The White House. 21 Apr. 2003. Parenti, Michael. â€Å"Methods of Media Manipulation.† The Humanist 57 (1997): 5-7. ISU Expanded Academic ASAP. 22 Apr. 2003. Schabner, Dean. â€Å"Conservative Backlash.† ABCNews.com. 12 March 2003. 22 Apr. 2003. Liberty Cabbage: Culture and Propaganda Essay -- Media Government Pape Liberty Cabbage: Culture and Propaganda I happened to live in two countries with opposite political regimes – socialism in the USSR and democracy in the USA. I was growing up in the USSR, usually finding myself obedient to the will of the ruling Communist Party, sincerely thinking (as well as many people of my age) that my country has the most humane regime in the whole world. When I got older and the Iron Curtain fell, the unadorned reality confronted me: the Soviet Union was not a peace-loving democratic country but a totalitarian regime with a explicit goal of replicating itself all over the world; in short, a monster in sheep’s clothing. What made me believe back then that my former country had such a perfect regime? A one-word answer is: propaganda. The Soviet government skillfully manipulated cultural values of the Russian people to create an illusion that we live in the country of our dreams. The bravest of us allowed ourselves to have another opinion. They listened to Radio Liberty and dreamed of livi ng in the United States (although nobody expected the Soviet regime to fall). What is it like, we wondered, to live in a country where the government does not feed deliberate lies to its own people distorting cultural traditions and history? I dreamed about living in the United States because it was our guiding light to a real democracy. However, as it seems now, the government of the United States, just like the Communist Party in the USSR, plays on cultural values of its people to make them agree to the agenda of the dominant political and social structures. The majority of American people would argue that they are absolutely independent in their opinions, that the United States is a leading democratic country in th... ...oam. Interview. Redeye Collective. By Chris Spannos. 24 May 2002. Filatov, S. â€Å"Thrown Out on the Street.† Pravda 10 Dec. 1979: 5. Grigoriev, Oleg. A Bird In a Cage. Saint Petersburg: Ivan Limbach, 1997 Hunt, Michael H. Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy. Yale: Yale UP, 1987. Nunberg, Geoff. †The language wars.† Fresh Air. NPR. WHYY. Philadelphia. 23 Apr. 2003. Operation Iraqi Freedom. The White House. 21 Apr. 2003. Parenti, Michael. â€Å"Methods of Media Manipulation.† The Humanist 57 (1997): 5-7. ISU Expanded Academic ASAP. 22 Apr. 2003. Schabner, Dean. â€Å"Conservative Backlash.† ABCNews.com. 12 March 2003. 22 Apr. 2003.