Blog 1: About Me and Defining Terms

Part I: About Me

My name is Rachel Brown. I am an air force brat, so I'm not really from anywhere other than the United States. I've lived in Utah, New Orleans (that's where I learned to talk, so I used to have a really cute Southern accent, but it's gone now...), Northern California, Maryland, Las Vegas, Central Coast California, Germany, and, last (for now, anyways...), but not least, San Antonio. I am 24 years old (I turn 25 in a few weeks). I am a Statistics major with a second major in Mathematics. I want to go to grad school and study Epidemiology, and work in medical research. I am a very spiritual person, and God, religion, morals, and ethics are really important to me. I am a really empathetic person, so reaching out and doing things for others is really important to me as well. This has led me to serve as a missionary for my church, teach math and ESL, and has fueled my passion to be involved in research that can improve the lives of others. I could not do without God, especially the peace I've found in times of trial. I know that sounds cliché, but it's the most honest answer I can give.

Part II: Defining Terms

My favorite definitions of…

Media: (For the purposes of this class, I am going to interpret this as mass media.) a method of conveyance or expression in order to communicate, intending to reach the mass of the people (combination of several definitions from Merriam-Webster)

Social Changes:   Social process whereby the values, attitudes, or institutions of society, such as education, family, religion, and industry become modified. It includes both the natural process and action programs initiated by members of the community. (Webster’s Online Dictionary)

Propaganda: the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person (Merriam-Webster)

History: a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events (Merriam-Webster)

I think that media and propaganda have a great deal of influence on large-scale history, such as the history of an entire country.  On a personal level, personal relationships are the most influential in one’s history, but when you look at a state or country, one can’t have personal relationships with the entire group, so means of communication become vital for group identity and decision-making, which in turn affects actions and events, which become recorded as history.  Also, since records are so vital to history, at times media is history.  Everything about propaganda is important to history, such as the reasons it becomes necessary, the groups executing it, the ideals behind it (and usually the controversy surrounding those ideals), the propaganda itself, its credibility among the target audience, and their reactions to it.  Each of these aspects both reflect the flow of history and direct it.  With propaganda and other forms of media, the cause/effect relationship with history is confused; sometimes changes in history cause changes in media, and sometimes it is the other way around.