Many different ideas were covered throughout the class of Modern World History this semester. But, imagine living a life completely controlled by the government, where citizens are brainwashed to accept beliefs and ideologies without questioning. From events in WWI to the atrocities in WWII to the brutal Cold War, this class thoroughly went over many important lessons that has happened in our past. However, despite the many topics, the one idea that stood out the most was the method of enforcing control through indoctrination, a powerful way of ruling where leaders are able to make citizens believe anything, regardless of morality. Indoctrination is the most important theme learned in class due to the huge impact it made on the manipulation
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First, indoctrination allowed for the manipulation of many innocent children in various countries. As stated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the infamous Hitler Youth had increased to over 2 million children by end of 1933, winning millions of young Germans with its extracurricular activities. Then, by 1936, the camp became mandatory to attend, and Hitler had 5.3 million children indoctrinated. In these camps, children were brainwashed with biased views of the world, with false ideas were implemented into their minds. From day one, children were told about how amazing Hitler was and excitement of a child, of first meeting their leader. The youth were bombarded with ideas that Aryans were the superior race, while Jews and non-Aryans were parasites incapable of creating civilization, bringing destruction towards the Germans. Hitler was attempting to raise young “race-conscious, obedient, self-sacrificing Germans who would be willing to die for Führer and Fatherland” (www.ushmm.org, 12/18/16). Children would celebrate Hitler’s birthday, which became a national holiday during his rule, and the youth would pledge to serve its nation and become a soldier under the leader in the future. Toys and board games would serve as a tool of propaganda by influencing them into militarism. These camps also had fun extracurricular activities like sports and outdoor games, luring in even …show more content…
A totalitarian government is one in which the government takes complete, central control over every aspect of public and private lives. Leaders such as Stalin used this type of government to brutally and effectively control the nation. For instance, Stalin completely controlled the media that was being sent out to his citizens. Many pictures were altered to remove or add people to emphasize his importance and newspaper articles were twisted and changed to his liking. Another example of indoctrination in Russia was propaganda, mainly through the use of posters with Stalin’s image on it throughout Russia. These posters were placed everywhere, and so Stalin was able to build up his image because anywhere the civilians were, there would most likely be a poster of Stalin. Additionally under a totalitarian state, people were brainwashed that they were part of the country as a whole instead of being an individual, and that everyone is working together for the greater good of the nation. Ideas from the enlightenment, such as reason, freedom, human dignity, and the worth of the individual was completely lost. (Dove, 10/3/16) Since Stalin was able to control media, the citizens were only able to see the positive parts about their ruler and not the negative changes that are impacting their country. The less they knew, the more control Stalin had over them and could continue to
First, indoctrination allowed for the manipulation of many innocent children in various countries. As stated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the infamous Hitler Youth had increased to over 2 million children by end of 1933, winning millions of young Germans with its extracurricular activities. Then, by 1936, the camp became mandatory to attend, and Hitler had 5.3 million children indoctrinated. In these camps, children were brainwashed with biased views of the world, with false ideas were implemented into their minds. From day one, children were told about how amazing Hitler was and excitement of a child, of first meeting their leader. The youth were bombarded with ideas that Aryans were the superior race, while Jews and non-Aryans were parasites incapable of creating civilization, bringing destruction towards the Germans. Hitler was attempting to raise young “race-conscious, obedient, self-sacrificing Germans who would be willing to die for Führer and Fatherland” (www.ushmm.org, 12/18/16). Children would celebrate Hitler’s birthday, which became a national holiday during his rule, and the youth would pledge to serve its nation and become a soldier under the leader in the future. Toys and board games would serve as a tool of propaganda by influencing them into militarism. These camps also had fun extracurricular activities like sports and outdoor games, luring in even …show more content…
A totalitarian government is one in which the government takes complete, central control over every aspect of public and private lives. Leaders such as Stalin used this type of government to brutally and effectively control the nation. For instance, Stalin completely controlled the media that was being sent out to his citizens. Many pictures were altered to remove or add people to emphasize his importance and newspaper articles were twisted and changed to his liking. Another example of indoctrination in Russia was propaganda, mainly through the use of posters with Stalin’s image on it throughout Russia. These posters were placed everywhere, and so Stalin was able to build up his image because anywhere the civilians were, there would most likely be a poster of Stalin. Additionally under a totalitarian state, people were brainwashed that they were part of the country as a whole instead of being an individual, and that everyone is working together for the greater good of the nation. Ideas from the enlightenment, such as reason, freedom, human dignity, and the worth of the individual was completely lost. (Dove, 10/3/16) Since Stalin was able to control media, the citizens were only able to see the positive parts about their ruler and not the negative changes that are impacting their country. The less they knew, the more control Stalin had over them and could continue to