Fuzzy Concepts Discussion Posts - Essay Example

I’m Fuzzy About this Week’s Readings This week’s readings were both interesting and fuzzy. Interesting in the sense that Iwas introduced to a lot of information that I did not know exists. For instance, the techniques nations used to woo civilians into the military like the use of enticing and catchy posters. The readings were also fuzzy due to the fact that the war was glorified in posters and this encouraged so many people to join it and this led to millions of deaths. Despite adopting the idea from Britain, U.S.A produced many posters than any other nation in the world.

This is a shocking fact since America joined the war later, but was able to outshine other nations that had been fighting for at least three years.Apart from recruiting civilians into various factions of the army, the posters were also used to raise war finances through the liberty bond scheme. The reason I’m fuzzy about these posters is that they lied to innocent civilians. The government through posters gave the people a false sense of pride in their countries and they readily accepted to risk their lives.

Many were comical and casual and did not reflect the true situation that was at hand. This may be the main reason why many civilians willingly put their lives in an unworthy cause that saw many of them lose their lives. For instance, there is a poster where a young lady wishes that she was a man so that she could join the army. Such a poster was strategically used to invoke the feelings of all men to partake on the war. Some even have explicit undertones like ‘I Want You’ that could only be described as either vulgar or having poor satirical taste.

Friend’s Response (4)I have to agree with you that Lord Kitchener’s poster was the most copied poster at the time. At the onset of the war, Britain’s army comprised of mostly the trained forces and the country needed to recruit more people into the army. They therefore invented the poster propaganda that was soon copied by other nations. Most British posters had the symbol of St. George slaying a dragon- which represented German. And the messages ranged from honor and pride for the nation to shameful mobilization of civilians.

For instance, the poster with the message: ‘Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?’ is using children to blackmail their parents.The American approach was not open, direct and blatant as the British posters; however they all served the same purpose. In America, they were chiefly used in raising war funds. The main theme in these posters was portrayal of money as an important ingredient in military engagement. For instance, there is a poster with the message: ‘Turn Your Silver into Bullets’ that called upon Americans to contribute their financial resources towards servicing of the war.

The posters also called for civilian participation in the war. Use of nationalistic slogans, prominent personnel and patriotic calls were used to instill pride among the people. The situation was not different from German and other European countries. Though they also participated in propagating propaganda posters, the method was not deeply ingrained into their campaigns like in Britain and the US.