Propaganda

In 2011, propaganda still exisits. Even though it may not seem as extreme as was in the past, it most deifintely still exists. It is seen in political, religous and social situations.  The propaganda of the past was often seen as a way to entice people into following the beliefs of certain groups. It was a way to make people think a certain person, group or idea was correct.  Today propaganda is not always as obvious as it was in the past. Propaganda in current times is often played out through the social media that exists today. Social networking sites such as Facebook encourage people to support causes. There are many Facebook pages encouraging people to support various causes such as cancer research, fundraising events, etc.  As recently as Januaury of this year, Facebook was the propaganda media source for the events that took place in Egypt.  The people of Egypt organized through Facebook and coordinated demonstrations in protest of the current government.  The propaganda displayed on the Facebook page encouraged people to participate in the demonstrations and the end result was resignation of the President of that country.  Various religious groups are also currently using propaganda to encourage people to continue participation in their group or to join their religious groups.  The propaganda is shown through the television ads as well as newsprint ads for these religious groups.  Propaganda most definitely is still in existance today and I imagine it will always be!

Black Boy

The novel Black Boy follows the life of Richard Wright as an autobiography. It follows what is going on the mind of Richard throughout his early years (when he is like four/five) to his twenties. He goes into great detail of things going on in the early twentieth century. When the reader is reading the beginning of the book, it seems a little unrealistic that a four/five year old was aware of all the terrible things happening and how he would know that doing certain things would get in trouble, but do it anyway. I think because he obviously wrote this when he was older that he wrote through the eyes of his current age and how he would think if the things were going on his present time. He writes beautifully and clear, don't get me wrong but, sometimes it is hard to believe that a four year old is very world consicous.

Hungry for Attention

Throughout Black Boy, Richard is getting into trouble often. He does stupid things such as lighting the curtains on fire which ended up burining down the house. He is also describes having this hunger. I think it is a hunger for attention. He is doing all of these things to get attention from someone. His family does not watch him all the time and he wants to be noticed. He has this need to noticed and wants people to pay attention to him. He needs people to see him. By doing stupid acts, he knows he will get reprimanded, but he gets noticed by it. It is the only way for him to be seen by his family and anyone else. Richard is kind of a attention hog. He needs to be noticed and says he has hunger for it. He is attention hungry and does things so that he can be noticed by someone.