Propaganda in Children's School Book: The Power to Poison Children's Mind

Counterfeit History: A Tool for Power Abuse and Mind Control

 

"'Who controls the past', ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.''' -- George Orwell

On June 8, 1949, George Orwell released the 9th and his last book entitled 1984. It was written as a warning and even an oracle about the condition of the world in the future led by tyrants. Orwell lived during a period when totalitarianism was a reality in Spain, Germany, the Soviet Union, and other countries, where governments ruled with an iron fist, and there was little freedom, poverty, work coercion, and mass killings. Orwell's traumatic experience in Spain in 1936, along with the European political climate during and after World War II, was the beginning of his writing in 1984. This Novel, tells about a man named Winston Smith who lives led by a totalitarian government, Big Brother. Winston himself worked in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth to manipulate the contents of magazines, reports, archives, the contents of speeches, and others. Everything he fabricates and manipulates is according to the request of Big Brother. Winston is dispatched to erase existing history and reveals a manipulation of what is true and what is wrong, which is a lie and which is real. Therefore, people have lost track of the true history.

1984 gave birth to a new term called "Orwellian". Orwellian itself is an adjective that describes a situation, idea, or condition of a society that was controlled by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, resistance to truth, and an embodiment of the past whose existence has been erased from records and public memory carried out by a totalitarian government.  By this time, 39 years have passed since the year 1984, and 74 years have passed since the publication of the first novel 1984. However, is this novel still relevant to be discussed and discussed again? Why do we need to discuss a literary work that talks about a past that has been missed? What about today's world? Is Orwellian still relevant?

The History of Propaganda and How it Corrupted The Truth

If we trace back to 1622, The word propaganda has its first appearance in Congregation de propaganda fide or congregation for propagating the faith. At that time, propaganda was originally an operation delegated by Pope Gregory XV to spread the doctrine of the Catholic Church to non-believers. However, in the early 20th century, around the time of the First World War, this concept started to change.  The word propaganda began to define political rather than religious indoctrination, reflecting the shift in societal power from Church to State (Fellows, 1959) [1]. From here we can say that propaganda has always been used as an instrument of control and conformity by the dominant social power. Edward Bernays in his book, Propaganda, recalled propaganda as an invisible government that tends to control opinion and action in the interest of any who can use its techniques on a large scale [2].

History is one of the various mediums that may be used to disseminate propaganda. History is used as a political vehicle by certain groups to consolidate their dominance, which results in wars, massacres, or losses that affect many people. In Wahyu yang Hilang Negeri yang Guncang, Ong Hok Ham argues that falsification of historical knowledge often occurs. This cannot be separated from the function of history in society, such as the function of legitimacy or the function of setting an example for the younger generation [3]. 

Ideological Indoctrination through Teaching and Curriculum

Students in elementary and secondary schools may be more vulnerable to propaganda since their critical thinking skills are still developing. Because of this, propaganda and indoctrination may be spread simply through instruction, textbooks, and curriculum. Indoctrination means teaching someone to accept a set of beliefs without questioning them. When students become indoctrinated, students lose their ability to assess the merits of the ideas they are studying and find themselves locked into particular beliefs and assumptions in such a way that they are unable to critically evaluate opposing viewpoints because their minds have been closed.

From this, we can conclude that educators shouldn't manipulate their authority to push particular views and beliefs upon their students. As a consequence, young students will become incapable of assessing such views for themselves. On the other hand, teaching should serve as a platform to help students develop their critical thinking abilities, which call for constructive skepticism, questioning, examination of opposing viewpoints, the use of evidence, and a willingness to follow an argument wherever it may lead. Therefore, rather than instilling ideological conformity, our energies should be directed toward building the capacity and disposition to educate in this approach [4].