~Propaganda Today~

Propaganda-information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

 

Today, we see many examples of propaganda, from the smallest advertisement in a magazine to the biggest political endorsement commercial whenever some election comes around. Propaganda has been around for years, and there's definitely no shortage foreseeable in the near future. Propaganda today has the connotation of being something bad. We don't see much propaganda helping people in a positive way anymore. The only way it "helps" people is by making everyone else look bad, thus putting them in some pathetic kind of "hero spotlight" for everyone to look up to.

 

Propaganda usually comes in the form of something relating to politics or our country. For instance, there was the HUGE bp oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. That had just about everybody up in arms about it in some way or another. And what was right beneath the surface of that accident? You guessed it: politics. See more bp logo redesigns here: http://twistedsifter.com/2010/05/funny-creative-bp-logos-competition/

Politics always seems to somehow squirm its way into anything and everything that comes up in the news these days. No matter where you go, you can't avoid it. The worst are those TV advertisements where politicians running for an office blatantly put down their opposition by bringing up instances where their opponents stated this or that, making them seem bad in the public eye. I personally hate those. I just don't understand why people can't go and talk about all the "great" things they could do if elected instead of bashing their opponent to make themselves look better. We could really do without all the mud slinging.

 

Let's face it: propaganda is something we will all have to deal with, probably for the rest of our lives. It has become something so "vital" to the political scene today that politicians can't seem to run for anything without it. They physically cannot be elected if they don't go out, drag their opponents' names through the mud, and make it seem as though they have a deal with the devil. What ever happened to go ole' honesty and showing people what YOU can do to fix things instead? It went down the drain, along with the economy and our country.

~Hungry For Attention~

There are times in everyone's life when they want attention. A lot of times it is because something or someone has taken away the attention from you, attention that you're very used to getting. But then there are times when you might feel neglected. You want attention merely to let people know that you are still there.

Richard is more of a combination of both. He starts off wanting attention because he feels that he isn't getting enough from others. That's why he set the curtains on fire. He thought his grandmother was getting more attention than him because she was sick. And then later he wanted attention because he had basically been abandoned by everyone he saw as family. Richard didn't grow up the way normal kids do. Most six year-olds don't earn money by going to saloons, getting drunk, and telling people things for others in the saloon. Richard was getting attention, but it was from the wrong type of people.

Attention is something most people enjoy getting, but sometimes not for the best reasons. Richard is young, so it's normal that he would want attention, but he got it from the wrong places. It's not a childhood anyone would wish on even their worst enemy. Attention is something that can truly go to your head.