“THE DOOR is everything! All that once was and all that will be! THE DOOR controls time and space, love and death! THE DOOR can see into your mind! THE DOOR can see into your SOOUULLL!” (Courtesy of Charlie the Unicorn 3).
In this case, THE DOOR is Wikipedia. Really, where would high school students be without Wikipedia? But, on to the topic.
As defined by Wikipedia (see, there was a reason for my tribute), propaganda is “a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position”. And I have an example that might not be very important but just might be perfect.
High School open houses. They are the definition of propaganda. High schools invite prospective students into their midst and try to persuade them to apply (come to the dark side; we have cookies). I’ll use Whitney Young as an example, not that I’m condemning the dolphin habitation.
So. We wait for about an hour until the doors are opened. We walk through the school to either the orange-n-blue bedazzled gym or the orange-n-blue bedazzled auditorium. We hear a speech. And the basics of that speech are “Join us! We’re super awesome! We’ve won AAALLLL these competitions. We have qualified teachers! Etc., continuations, and blah blahs”. Admittedly, we are kinda awesome. But at open houses, you don’t hear about the BAD. You don’t hear about gross lunches, crazy teachers, and any bullying going on. And why would the bad be told? That’s no way to attract buyers- excuse me - students.
Again, I’m not disagreeing with the way that open houses are run. I’m just saying there’s some propaganda-nizing going on.
So Charlie and the Unicorn encouraged you to write about "opening doors", huh. I see.
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