Manipulation In Animal Farm

The media has been around forever from the town crier to a commercial on the radio. While it can expand your knowledge, it can also make us over think useless things and be manipulated or controlled. Of course, they do this to draw in listeners and cause conversations. We see that the media affects the characters’ thoughts and knowledge in the allegoric novel, Animal Farm, by George Orwell. By reading Animal Farm, it shows us that we must be aware of the media’s reports, for they can easily manipulate us for the worst. A lot of the time, the media can exaggerate stories for us to be intrigued. For instance, Napoleon makes up a story that is so much more than what happened when he said “‘...Do you know the enemy who has come in the
night and overthrown our windmill. SNOWBALL!’ he suddenly roared in a voice of thunder. ‘Snowball has done this thing! In sheer malignity, thinking to set back our plans and avenge himself for his ignominious expulsion, this traitor has crept here under cover of night and destroyed our work of nearly a year’” (Orwell 82). It was just terrible weather that knocked down their windmill with too thin of walls. Napoleon does not want to discourage the animals and he wants Snowball to look bad mainly. We may not realize it, but the media can easily inflate the situation. We should look into topics if it seems very important. If we only listen to the media, we can lead ourselves to being scared or confused. Also, the media can tell us to do things and they’ll create a “bandwagon”. The pigs used the sheep to be propaganda as we see in the following “But just at that moment, as though at a signal, all the sheep burst out into a tremendous bleating of-- ‘Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better!’”(Orwell 132). Squealer taught the sheep to say that, for the animals to hear it all. They would continue saying it for minutes! If the media keeps bringing up a subject, we can get sucked into believing it. The more we see or hear it, the more we want it. Our peers will begin to talk about it, and soon, we’ll find ourselves talking about it, too, even if it isn’t very good. Lastly, the media can cover up important stories and the truth by making up a convincing story.
In the book it reads that “Three days later it was announced that he had died in the hospital at Willingdon, in spite of receiving every attention a horse could have. Squealer came to announce the news to the others. He had, he said, been present during Boxer’s last hours...Some of the animals had noticed that the van which took Boxer away was marked ‘Horse Slaughterer,’ and had actually jumped to the conclusion that Boxer was being sent to the knacker’s” (Orwell 124/125). Squealer made up a story that Boxer was in a great care, but in reality, he was sent to be killed. He was sent to the glue factory/horse slaughterer! Squealer did not let the animals believe the truth. The media can cover up things that the government does not want out. They can even distract us with other not-so-important things. We must be careful of their reports to help ourselves. Overall, the media is a smart but sly business. They can easily influence us in bad ways, just like in Animal Farm, when Squealer lied to the animals many times for the pigs to have their way. From exaggerating stories to creating propaganda to covering up stories, the media can really control us without us realizing. Although it may be helpful sometimes, we need to be cautious of what we are
told.