Monique

“Regrets, I’ve had a few; But then again, too few to mention.” – Frank Sinatra


About me


Let's get the pleasantries out of the way and admit that i'm a broken Asian. Although most know me as a fashion conscious polyglot, I am the worst at maths and sciences. It seems I only have the mental capacity to handle languages and that's fine by me. I love to travel, am a huge foodie and experience everything that life has to offer, even if it means jumping out of an airplane. Jokes on my mom, someone told me to jump off a bridge and I DID (more like bungeed off). I'm not fearless but I do not let it rule me. Instead of facing my fears, I like to dive into them before I have the chance to hesitate and I would suggest the same for others. Though I may seem like a drama queen at times or easily excitable, I mean well and will always be honest in conveying things that I like or dislike. When i'm not dorking out or potatoing, i'm just an Asian who proves that breaking out of the mold is not a bad thing.

I agree with the inappropriate quote but reading is essential!!

Wanderlust (symptoms include):

  • Getting lost
  • Waking up in different countries
  • Eternal wallet cancer

Basic enough to eat, dress, pose and follow concepts for the Gram

20180730_155535.mp4

We can't all be like Andrea Boccelli but a girl can dream.

Brief history of propaganda (Merriam Webster)

Propaganda is today most often used in reference to political statements, but the word comes to our language through its use in a religious context. The Congregatio de propaganda fide (“Congregation for propagating the faith”) was an organization established in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV as a means of furthering Catholic missionary activity. The word propaganda is from the ablative singular feminine of propogandus, which is the gerundive of the Latin propagare, meaning “to propagate.” The first use of the word propaganda (without the rest of the Latin title) in English was in reference to this Catholic organization. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that it began to be used as a term denoting ideas or information that are of questionable accuracy as a means of advancing a cause.

Example: Tribute to Basquiat by Banksy

The picture above was taken when I attempted to go on a Banksy hunt in London. This art piece was specifically a tribute to the late artist named Jean-Michel Basquiat. The Barbican Centre which is one of the largest performing arts centers in Europe, had held an exhibition of Basquiat's work. Prior to the grand opening of the show, Banksy had gratiffitied the outer walls of the building with a character (presumably Basquiat) surrendering to the police who are patting him down. The collaboration of the primitive characters (Basquiat style) and the detailed policemen (Bansky style) was partially taken from Basquiat's work " Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump). This is to denote the type of artist Basquiat was, his life experiences and the fame he was denied due to being a man of color. Basquiat had suffered at the hands of racism and fame, so much that he unfortunately died at the age of 27 due to heroin overdose.

Banksy did an amazing job of acknowledging the social and political issues surrounding Basquiat's life and works. I included this as an example of the many forms propaganda can take on. Propaganda wears many masks, yet, the underlying concepts generally gear towards one common goal.

For more information:

fineartmultiple.com/blog/banksy-jean-michel-basquiat-collaborate/

www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/arts/design/banksy-jean-michel-basquiat-barbican-center.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Basquiat

Propaganda

Definition (according to Merriam Webster):

the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person

: ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause

Travel Intermission

(Beauty of conflict)

Parc de la Ciutadella

Built in 1714 by Felip V. What began as a fortress later became a prison. It symbolized the Bourbons (a historial french clan) and the central government in Madrid. It is the cruel proof of power and dominion over the Catalans.

Le Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg

Religious art is one of the oldest examples of propaganda. This painting is "Christ leaving the Praetorium" by Gustav Doré. It depicts Christ crossing a war-torn crowd for his journey to Golgotha, where he was to be cruxified. Think about how many wars were waged in the name of religion.

WANDERLUST

WHERE WILL I BE NEXT?

Preliminary research

I have found one academic journal thus far that outlines the control of information in certain countries (primarily China) and how language is used to persuade and oppress the masses.

Further reading:

Upon reviewing the journal, it dissects how communism affects the control of information in China. By narrowing the information transmitted to the media can the government control the masses. Huang writes, "The term "signaling" here thus refers to the indirect provision of information..", to introduce the idea that propaganda is often not straightforward. The Chinese government censors and filters what kind of media their population has access to to ensure that they do not have any ideas that go against communist policies.

This is a well-known case study example. Ironically, despite the censorship in China, we (north Americans) have a near infinite supply of information on what goes on in those communist societies and how they re-interpret the messages to suit their political stance.

Huang, Haifeng. “Propaganda as Signaling.” Comparative Politics, vol. 47, no. 4, 2015, pp. 419–437. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43664158. Accessed 4 Feb. 2020.

Through further research, I learned how China maintains their online integrity. They produced a system called "The Great Firewall of China" that acts as an information filter. It sifts information and western influences so the general populace will not doubt their government. Any information that reaches the public should not harm the image of the government. They are so strict that they demanded the search browser Google to further restrict access in their engine. Google did not comply and was consequently terminated from China. Later on, China developed their pro-China/communism search engine named "Baidu".

Case study

This case

Below is a link to a previous project on the Vietnam war (includes dates and political figures)

Vietnam War references and Pulitzer photo

I was interested in this topic because it was related to part of my heritage and family history. It is still mentioned today in the recollections of my family members.

There are two examples of propaganda to be studied from the Vietnam war (consult the emaze link for further clarification). A basic overview on the topics discussed is: "Liberation Day" (Ngày Giải Phóng) versus "Day we Lost the Country" (Ngày mất nước) and the Pulitzer photo which sparked a lot of controversy.

The war was based on the fact that the northerners wanted to implement communism as the new governmental structure whereas the southerners fought for democracy. The day the capital was taken by the communists, the war ended. Only the communists will refer to the 30th of april as "Liberation day", while those of the south will protest that it is "The day we lost the country".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Saigon

Above was a photo taken by Eddie Adams. The photograph depicts a man who was publicly executed (presumably) by the hand of a Vietnamese soldier. It is considered as the image that summed up the war. However,It sparked a major controversy. Despite the fact that Adams won a Pulitzer prize for his work, he could never live with his actions. The reason being that at first glance we "pity" the victim. Adams unconsciously glorified a murderer/rapist/war criminal who was being executed for his crimes AFTER the executioner had evacuated civilians so that no one would be injured by stray bullets.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/02/01/a-grisly-photo-of-a-saigon-execution-50-years-ago-shocked-the-world-and-helped-end-the-war/

Dissecting Propaganda

This academic journal provides an overview: on the ideology of propaganda, how it is applied, case studies and how it is problematic.

Further reading:

As the name suggests, this academic journal explains propaganda as a science. Silverstein breaks down propaganda or "doublespeak", with logical explanations detailing the changes in attitude due to increased exposure to a certain political stance. Examples pulled from the journal on how a massage can be considered propaganda are: Linguistics/semantics, media and censorship. Linguistics/semantics play a huge role in propaganda. The choice of words used to convey an idea can have an impact on how the general population may interpret the information and why do they have a similar stance. It also explains why we develop a similar point-of-view on certain topics.

I decided to use this journal because Silverstein provides clear definitions on the topic. He also makes references to many newspaper articles or cases that can support or clarify his ideas. I like the fact he made it a science because its not all based on just developing biased opinions from how we feel from when we see an article at face value, there are a lot of things happening in the background that determine the outcome of our political stances/ideologies.

Silverstein, Brett. “Toward a Science of Propaganda.” Political Psychology, vol. 8, no. 1, 1987, pp. 49–59. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3790986. Accessed 18 Feb. 2020.

Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes By Jacques Ellul

Additional studies on the topic yielded such results:

There exists 2 types of propaganda, agitation and integration propaganda. The former is born from festering hate and resentment whilst the latter is planned accordingly. It is a pseudo-science as everything is studied through psychology and observation. Ellul also affirms that in order for it to work, it requires the collaboration of the masses whether it is against their will or not. He further explains that intellectuals are the most susceptible to the affects from propaganda. We are malleable enough to take in an incredulous amount of information and even process it in our minds. It is in part a weakness because we learn and learn and possess subjectivity. Eventually, one may think they are capable of a "judgement". Even our so-called judgement is malleable and that provides an opportunity for a propagandist. Those individuals seek to bend us at their will and shape us into what they believe is progress (personal or for the populace).

Hitlerism was an obvious example of agitation propaganda. He used his own resentment and reflected it onto his society by apparently sympathizing with his fellow countrymen. It is sad to say that we do not truly know the origin of the hate Hitler had towards the Jews. He used them as a scapegoat for all the suffering and helplessness the Germans felt. As a race that has been persecuted for so long without a stable settlement, they were easy targets. The Austrian government was also blinded by the hysteria and believed that the Jews would never really be "Germans". This sub discipline feeds off of blinded anger.

Integration propaganda is a slippery slope. It can be ambiguous as we cannot always tell if messages come across as objective or manifest in an obvious form. Refer to the legislations section below as it provides an institutional example of how this type of propaganda may manifest.

http://www.inlimbo.ie/summaries/long/formation.pdf

Travel Intermission

(Bitter Gastronomy)

"Let them eat cake"

The infamous line said by Marie Antoinette to her subjects who were enduring a famine. Ignorance was obviously not bliss.

(A dessert I had from Cafe Pouchkine in Paris)

Slave to coffee

Did you know that some of the coffee sold in the world today is still harvested by slaves?

(coffee break in Strabourg, France. not affiliated to caption)

An important note is that: laws should come to pass with respects to justice and equality, however, personal motivations cannot always be easily discerned.

Dura lex, Sed lex

The quote above is in latin meaning "The law is hard but it is the law". This section will focus on legislations, how they come to exist/pass and how is it interconnected with propaganda. Legislations are a set of rules that a society must abide by. They are often interconnected with religion and culture but most of all how to uniformly constrict movement/ideologies across any society.

Further reading:

Fallon mostly makes references on american values and legislations but the journal can be a great example for the methodology behind propaganda. If we can understand how laws come to pass, we can also understand how to control a population. The restriction of movement or expression affects how or what kind of opinion we develop towards an idea. In the journal, an example we can easily relate to or understand is abortion. Should it be legal/illegal, who decides and why? Is it political or personal motivation? It does not mention anything related to propaganda but laws only come to pass depending on a collective political stance. I think this is a great supporting topic in which we can see how one of the most important aspects of a society is influenced by political ideologies.

Fallon, Richard H. “CONSTITUTIONALLY FORBIDDEN LEGISLATIVE INTENT.” Harvard Law Review, vol. 130, no. 2, 2016, pp. 523–589., www.jstor.org/stable/44072386. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.

Knowledge

Is

Power

COVID-19 intermission

(Yellow Fever)


What should I do? : (FIGHT) (BAG)(POKEMON) >(RUN)

Real Talk

  • Covid-19 hit us hard. No lie.
  • We are essentially confined at home and its depressing.
  • Trump and a bunch of other radios keep calling it the "Chinese virus".
  • Woohoo! I'm so happy my research is used against me (sarcasm intended).
  • Just before Covid hit, I had a bad cold and was avoided like the plague. The lady who sat next to me cringed and scooted to the edge of her seat.
  • Went grocery shopping for sustenance and had one of my new occasional encounters (My salty edited picture to the bottom left)
  • I was queuing behind a man and his child to get into the IGA . He was staring at me as I walked into the line and eventually faced me full-on while pushing his child behind him. After I voiced the awkwardness, he abruptly grabbed his child and left with a huff saying how "it's not worth getting sick to stay in line". THANK YOU SIR. I GOT IN A BIT FASTER.....
  • Ladies and gents, the Chinese government does not represent the entire Asian race. Please don't let a group of problematic people decide the fate of an entire race.
  • Places of worship and our iconic dragon guardians have been defaced.
  • I'm half-vietnamese and half-chinese as if that wasn't politically exhausting enough. Now, many asian communities joke (and a few insist) that it's maybe time I choose a "side" or just identify as vietnamese. The Chinese blood is strong in me. I can't fake until I make it. My eyes literally give me away.
  • This is real propaganda happening live. Its not only some paper I have to write about anymore or minor references like publicity to study. I'm living it. I know it sounds a bit dramatic but before the virus, these encounters happened only a few times a year; currently it's a weekly event.
  • (Please excuse the HEAVY disdain in this intermission)




Manzaria and Bruck address where propaganda thrives in today's culture. They explain that every media outlet that exists will transmit propaganda. With the internet and electronic devices becoming so readily available, it's no wonder humans are so exposed to suggestion. With such a constant stream of information, they explain that we have become susceptible to it.

They also bring up the topic of media and population control. He who controls the media, controls the people. The manipulation of information is a powerful asset for any propagandist. They can choose what we are allowed to know and misinformation is the worst outcome.

Example:

  • James likes to play in the park with Joey.
  • James likes to play with Joey.
  • James likes to play.
  • James likes Joey.

The last one especially, could be interpreted as James having romantic feelings for Joey or simply on friendly terms with him. This is just a basic example. Apply that technique to politics and it could make or ruin lives. Refer back to the Vietnam Pulitzer Prize photo. Instead of capturing the suffering during the Vietnam war, it glorified a murderer/rapist. People pitied him and felt his execution was unjust because all they saw was a picture of a man, tied, and shot at point blank. Note this as a manipulation of perception. We will not fully know the entire picture unless we witness it firsthand, that goes for anything. Humans cannot do, see or experience everything the world has to offer in a lifetime. It is inevitable that everyone plays their part in the sharing of information but sometimes, what it sums up to is a product of the telephone game.

Last thing concerning this journal, there is an innate need or instinct to obey to authority.

https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/war_peace/media/hpropaganda.html


https://books.google.ca/books?id=ThhcDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&ots=FkFyN-BLw5&dq=study%20of%20propaganda&lr&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=study%20of%20propaganda&f=false



Berlin Victory Column

Inaugurated in 1873 to commemorate the unification wars. It was modeled after the Roman Goddess of Victory, Victoria.

This section is briefly based on the book, " The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda", by David Welch.

I used this book as a reference and case study for Nazi Germany. I specifically focused on the passages that pertained to: Goebbel, Hitler and the inauguration of the Nazi Party. It even highlights legislative restrictions that Hitler placed onto the Jews in order to decimate and segregate them. One of his known goals was to create a "pure race" and a part of that was ridding the lineages of Jewish influences, be it religiously or otherwise.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=PA7zUN4_844C&lpg=PR1&ots=7w0gNlZMvR&dq=study%20of%20propaganda&lr&pg=PA14#v=onepage&q&f=false

Final Intermission

(Quarantine Diary)

Feel free to skip my moods

AH BOREDOM

I let myself go

Went through stages of boredom

Felt pudgy

Result of attempt

Master of the bed and takes me for a walk. I just hold the leash the sake of social norms (this potato is my lump of love)

Tsuki the pup-tato

  • His name means moon in Japanese.
  • My only real companion during these times of social distancing.
  • Suffered through the stages of boredom with me.
  • We BOTH need the exercise.
  • This is the "I'm cute and quiet so gimme food face"
  • This kind of propaganda and manipulation towards me is fatal. Those eyes force me to feed him.
  • I can't even run away from his food oppression anymore because of quarantine.

Propaganda: The Art of Suggestion (My paper)

Propaganda is a discriminate technique used to manipulate and control a bias. Its existence stems from a generalized idea or concept in which a collective of individuals will biasedly propagate it into a lifestyle. It is considered as a form of psychological warfare, though the genre is considered heavy, its effects are seldom harmless and is classed as such. For centuries, it has strategically been used to undermine political opponents. The mind is a palace of complexities and corporal adjustments, however, if one can implement one’s belief into another’s consciousness through continuous suggestion, they may gain a willing subject. These subjects may carry out horrific or underhanded acts in the name of their said beliefs. The same can be said for the direction of the media. What people can see, read and hear is often subjective and may sometimes lack explanatory content. In the pursuit of propaganda, the devil is truly in the details. Therefore, the science of propaganda is realized through biases, censorship in the media and legislations.

Propaganda is a biased omnipresence based on political dogmas. Any community or society functions with a set of rules but most importantly with the support of assembled individuals. At the top of every hierarchy stands individual(s) who politically reign over the rest. Today, they are most commonly known as government officials and corporate heads. The literal meaning of said term according to The Merriam Webster dictionary is as follows, “: ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause.”, the latter may concern: an individual, race, religion or political regime. In the academic journal, “Toward a Science of Propaganda”, by Brett Silverstein, he notes important factors that prove this ideology exists and the forms it can take on. Firstly, there existed an Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA) which operated in 1937-1942. The IPA as its name suggests was founded to study propaganda in further detail by making connections with many human/sociological interactive fields of study (sociology, psychology, communications, semantics, etc.). They were able to determine and witness the effectiveness of disinformation (50-52). Secondly, political figures use said disinformation to control the flow of media and communications. Those in power are known for having political agendas. These agendas are tailor-made to fit each individual into their own packaged “brand” or “image” of sorts. These officials continuously feed the media with their subtle influences that become akin to sending subliminal messages. With the near-impossible aversion to the online world:

Modern propaganda uses all the media available to spread its message, including: press, radio, television, film, computers, fax machines, posters, meetings, door-to-door canvassing, handbills, buttons, billboards, speeches, flags, street names, monuments, coins, stamps, books, plays, comic strips, poetry, music, sporting events, cultural events, company reports, libraries, and awards and prizes. […] Indeed, propaganda is so powerful because everyone is susceptible to it.” (Bruck, Manzaria).

The excerpt confirms how far the power of information control can extend; seemingly limitless. Lastly, the former two combined brought forth a sub-technique called “Censorship”. Additionally, the ever-prominent eastern country of China provides conceptual insight on informational conformity.

The media has become readily accessible to the general public, yet, the Chinese government permits their population to see only what they are allowed to see. There is a vast difference between what is seen firsthand versus what media outlets report. A known discipline of agenda propagation is Journalism. Often, a journalist is tasked with a topic/theme they are required to research and write about but editors have the final say on what is permissible to be printed or whose agenda they should be “supporting”. A drafted column may be substantially "censored” of information the company considers “harmful” for the politician/corporation or not biased enough to attain readers, after all, they are still profit based (Silverstein 50-51). China is known for its communism and amendments to output of information. In contrast to Western culture, they strictly monitor communications and media so that their population will not doubt their political ideology. If they do not have access to “compromising" data (the support of foreign ideologies), they theoretically would not fight against their regime. Parallel to that notion, it is ironically considered to be a double-edged sword. The pillar of media redaction in China is named “The Great Firewall of China” and serves as a, “vast digital barricade that prevented Chinese users from seeing newspaper stories critical of China’s leaders or reports from human rights groups.” (qtd. in Osnos, 2014, p. 30). The firewall is comprised of many servers that work neverendingly to filter and detract content that does not pertain to China’s social or Marxism values. An example is: on March 22, 2010, China requested the acclaimed Google to further purge information relating to pro-democracy movements from their search engine; the latter eventually rejected the request and were subsequently ejected by the firewall (Jowett, O’Donnell, p. 14). Since Google did not cede to their bidding, they supplied their own demand with a customized Chinese pro-communism search engine named Baidu. The fact that the country showcased how it could be self-sustainable; it reinforced the concept that the government is by no means weak and leaves no room for rebellion. On the subject of societal and political acquiescence, it is largely due to the weight of the law.

Legislations are the foundations of moral and social conduct, by which it determines the general constraints of the populace. Having said that, one can infer the propagandistic properties. A Government will oversee the passing and dismissal of constitutions. If said Government has the influence to set the limits on how one could act, speak or think, it is equivalent to providing the propagandist with a “sword” and “shield”, ergo a strategy of subject control and defense. To consolidate political influence, the individual(s) must innovate methods to sway the majority of a populace into “willingly” submitting to their ambitions. In other words, a better method being the law, can conform the participants into supporting whichever cause the propagandist(s) desires. A known stain in history is Hitler’s, “anti-Jewish legislation. […] the ‘Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour’ ” (Welsh, p. 95), which prioritized the ideology of a “pure race”. At the head of the Third Reich, stood Hitler also known as the Führer. He used his faction and influence to persuade his fellow Germans into horrific acts against Jews and later, the world. His laws were discriminatory and every form of media present in that period belittled his political opponents to ease the burden of murder from his soldiers and to justify it. Though it is unfathomable, legislations are supposed be “[…] doctrines that currently purport to rely on measures of objective intent as embodying substantive, not intent-based, constitutional norms.”, however, one could argue “specifically, […] that courts should apply elevated scrutiny when it can be shown that a majority of the legislators who supported an enactment did so based on forbidden motivations. This test is appropriately difficult, but not in all cases impossible, to satisfy.” (Fallon, p. 534). On one hand, it could be said that the inquiry for justice should be objective but according to the latter reference, one cannot always discern personal motivation from objectivity. Altogether, the potential of suggestion also lies in the laws we abide by, the very ones that supposedly protect us.

In conclusion, propaganda is an authoritative multi-disciplined strategy. It manifests in all forms in the general public. It is always visible, always audible and always present. It serves to constrain people to a singular ambition, whether it pertains to a person, religion or political ideology. Propaganda hides information and seeks to rule under the guise of the law. It is a bias whose existence is known, yet, in the age of information, incurs indifference and susceptibility.

Works Cited

Fallon, Richard H. “CONSTITUTIONALLY FORBIDDEN LEGISLATIVE INTENT.” Harvard Law Review, vol. 130, no. 2, 2016, pp. 523–589., www.jstor.org/stable/44072386. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.

Huang, Haifeng. “Propaganda as Signaling.” Comparative Politics, vol. 47, no. 4, 2015, pp. 419–437. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43664158. Accessed 4 Feb. 2020.

Jowett, Garth S. and Victoria O’Donnell “Propaganda and the Containment of Information.” Propaganda & Persuasion, 7th ed., Sage, 2018, pp. 13–14.

Manzaria, Johnnie, and Jonathon Bruck. “Media's Use of Propaganda to Persuade People's Attitude, Beliefs and Behaviors.” Media's Use of Propaganda to Persuade People's Attitude, Beliefs and Behaviors, web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/war_peace/media/hpropaganda.html.

Silverstein, Brett. “Toward a Science of Propaganda.” Political Psychology, vol. 8, no. 1, 1987, pp. 49–59. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3790986. Accessed 18 Feb. 2020.

Welch, David. “RESTRUCTURING THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.” The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda, illustrated, reprint, ed., Routledge, 2008, pp. 28–57.

Thanks for putting up with me!

I collaged, edited and used a lot of my personal pictures for this blog.

I tried to follow my aesthetic scheme despite the heavy topic and you've probably noticed the censored pictures. For a touch of color and pun-sorship, I put flowers to complement the BLOOM theme.