reflection - 8

Personally, I do not actually know very much about the time period when the Declaration of Independence was written. I actually know quite little. I did not take World History like most other students did in freshman year, and I am not in AP History like some other students are this year. In American History class, we are currently learning about the Puritan Era, and have not yet moved onto the Rationalism period. This is the first time I have read the declaration of independence, and it actually came as quite a shock to me. All I knew of the Declaration of Independence was that it was a document that declared America's freedom. So clearly, I did not have an extensive knowledge of what it was, nor do I still. But upon reading the Declaration of Independence, I have a different perspective on it. I know that many people view the Declaration of Independence as a great document and something that people can look back on as a great literary work as well as a neat historical document and something that we can keep in mind as we look at our country today. However, when I was reading the Declaration of Independence, I did not see any of those things. I am sure why I did not see those things was because of my lack of knowledge of the topic, or something like that, but as blindly reading the document, I interpreted it as quite the opposite. Honestly, when I was reading it, instead of seeing what many Americans see, instead I kept getting hung up on all of the propaganda techniques and errors of faulty logic that the writers of this document used. To me, it seemed like an immature way to write a document. I guess the writers could have been all amped up about America when they were writing it, but I still do not think that gave them good reason to slander other countries in the document that founded our country. One of the first propaganda techniques I see in the Declaration of Independence is the use of a glittering generality. In the second paragraph the writer says "all men are created equal" (Jefferson 120). I believe that all men are made in God's image, but to me things get a little trippy when someone says all men are created equal. Especially when the someone saying it calls the King of Great Britain a tyrant a few paragraphs later. In this time, Jefferson, and other men like him who were founding America were killing Indians so that we could own the land. That is such a selfish thing to do and shows that they certainly did not think the Indians were as good as they were, yet they had the audacity to claim that they believe all men were created equal. And the fact that they called the King of Great Britain a tyrant, multiple times in this document, in itself is the propaganda technique of name calling. There are many Propaganda techniques used in this document as well as errors of faulty logic. I do not think that those things cause the document to lose its credibility, but in my book it makes me question the character of the men who wrote it.

Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 120-124. Print.

"Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic." Cuesta College. 06 Mar. 2011. Web. 27 Sept. 11