Government propaganda in visual novels

cedec0 · July 30, 2013

I was reading Grisaia no Kajitsu and I felt compelled to start this thread to highlight an issue some people might not be aware of.

So the purpose of this quick thread is:

A) Make people about the common practice of inserting government propaganda into TV shows, movies, and other media (like visual novels.)

B ) Point out a few examples of blatant propaganda in visual novels.

C) Quick rant about how this propaganda seriously degrades readers’ enjoyment of visual novels (whether they are aware of it or not).

--------------------------------

Part A: How government propaganda secretly inserted into TV shows

Here is an example of anti-drug propaganda inserted into TV shows:

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-end-of-the-above-the-influence-campaign-the-office-of-national-drug-control-policy-loses-its-media-budget-2011-12?op=1

Government propaganda secretly inserted into TV shows like 'ER'

A six-month investigation by Salon in 2000 revealed that the ONDCP was paying networks millions of dollars to secretly embed anti-drug messaging into their regular programming.

The money came out the Congress approved $1 billion allocation for ad-buys. Networks embedded ONDCP approved messages in their television scripts in lieu of ad slots owed to the government.

"ER" received $1.4 million worth of ad time in exchange for several episodes featuring anti-drug subplots, for instance.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Use filed a complaint against the practice, and the FCC eventually ruled that the networks would have to identify the ONDCP as a sponsor of the television programs.

The federal government went into the scriptwriting business

The ONDCP gave networks a total of $25 million to add anti-drug related subplots, but did it have control over what actually appeared in the programs' scripts as well?

While many networks denied giving over control of their scripts, a contractor at the WB told Salon at the time that their storylines did change, using an episode of "Smart Guy" as an example. While teens drinking at a party were originally depicted as cool, their social status changed after the ONDCP saw the script.

“We showed that they were losers and put them [hidden away to indulge in shamed secrecy] in a utility room. That was not in the original script."

Here is an example of global warming propaganda inserted into TV shows:

http://hauntingthelibrary.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/cdc-funding-fictional-warming-propaganda-on-tv/

CDC Funding Fictional Warming Propaganda On TV
Posted on January 28, 2011

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an American government agency, is funding attempts to persuade people of global warming through fictional TV shows.

Climate Pravda reports that a organization called Hollywood Health and Society (HHS) which is funded by the CDC “and several other government sources” as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will work with writers to introduce ideas into TV shows and movies to help push the line that global warming is man-made and catastrophic. It explains that this will not be acknowledged in the credits, as it will be entirely “behind the scenes”:

The folks at HHS do not produce or write TV shows or movies. They don’t appear in the credits. They don’t do public advocacy or political lobbying. They work almost entirely behind the scenes, directly with writers, who come to them to make sure the health issues portrayed in their stories are accurate, or to get ideas for compelling stories based on real health problems.
…
Just to be absolutely clear on what the CDC and other government bodies are funding here through HHS: this isn’t documentary or factual television we’re talking about, but inserting references to global warming into fictional TV shows and movies.

See also this.

July 30, 2013

and i was mocked on twitter for saying how in ojou-nana they were teaching ppl that there's no need to be scared of the massive japan debt and that it's completely sustainable. that is propaganda. using debt to pay off interest on previous debts is not sustainable and they will run the country into the ground.

for the amount of "Help the Neet get back to work!" propaganda in anime and VNs, is it not obvious that they can use the same propaganda to target other "needs"?

also Rewrite has strong global warming propaganda messages in it, something to watch out for.

neonie · July 30, 2013

To know more about the disgusting things governments have been allowing into our food, try googling

No.... Why would anyone want to know that?

Is it killing people? Because unless it is causing quick and lethal death, knowing what goes into food is absolutely pointless.

The things you need to know about food:

1.Does it taste good?

2.Is it edible?

3.Am I starving?

I guess there's more if you're a super health nut but hey, food is food. There are lots of people without food or very little food of any description. I don't care about 'pink slime" or whatever. Ignorance is bliss.

As far as the government putting messages into things, yeah I'm sure they are. I also don't really care. As a human I was given a brain with which to process and dissect information and no matter what that information is, whether or not I agree with it is and will be my choice. I am not a mindless drone who can't make my own decisions and no amount of governmental brainwashing is going to change that.

July 30, 2013

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change

if you are a climatologist, where do you find employment?

the government.

these people know who butters their knives.

if you pay a scientist several times the amount she can make if she worked in the private sector, you can make any scientist endorse you.

and also it is not a majority opinion game, and even if it is...

31,487 American scientists have signed this petition,
including 9,029 with PhDs
http://www.petitionproject.org/

cedec0 · July 30, 2013

also Rewrite has strong global warming propaganda messages in it, something to watch out for.

How could I forget to mention Rewrite! I nearly stopped playing in disgust once I realized the entire visual novel was based on a false premise (man-made global warming is threatening to destroy the world).

A pity, because rewrite's common route was pretty good.

cedec0 · July 30, 2013

Is it killing people? Because unless it is causing quick and lethal death, knowing what goes into food is absolutely pointless.

Yes, it is killing people. Read Tuna Scrape Salmonella Outbreak Over, CDC Says, But More Sickenings Possible

Jakeman77 · July 30, 2013

whether or not I agree with it is and will be my choice. I am not a mindless drone who can't make my own decisions and no amount of governmental brainwashing is going to change that.

unless you know the brainwash techniques, you can't actually resist it

neonie · July 30, 2013

unless you know the brainwash techniques, you can't actually resist it

In order to brainwash someone, you have to assume they'll follow your philosophy in the first place.

I am so dead set in my own philosophy, moral stands and way of thinking that there's no way in hell I'm going to change it for anyone else's.

Yes, it is killing people. Read Tuna Scrape Salmonella Outbreak Over, CDC Says, But More Sickenings Possible

That is an entirely different issue then.

Iro · July 30, 2013

In order to brainwash someone, you have to assume they'll follow your philosophy in the first place.
I am so dead set in my own philosophy, moral stands and way of thinking that there's no way in hell I'm going to change it for anyone else's.

it doesn't work that way

neonie · July 30, 2013

Forgive me Aaeru, but I'm not about to sit through 3 hours of video about something I have a very waning interest in -w-

Joshyan · July 30, 2013

For those who like Sushi and sasimi.

Radish and Wasabi have anti-bacteria property. :lol:

shcboomer · July 30, 2013

I personally read everything with a grain of salt, I don't necessarily mind having some placement. Just don't hide the message behind something bigger than necessary. All things in moderation though.

Steve · July 30, 2013

Removed the game name from the topic name so it doesn't strike everyone who visits the forum with spoiler (not sure how big or small of a deal in the game it is but it is still a spoiler that can be easily avoided by mentioning it inside the thread itself, and if it is bigger spoiler [it is big part of the game], then preferably also in spoiler box)

again, no idea how big part of the game this is so I will just remove it just to be sure, information like what exactly you mean should only be inside the topic

not like topic name: "I hate when the main villain becomes the main hero's father - like in STAR WARS"

oh btw spoiler alert for 40 years old movie

but yeah, even if this is minor thing, try to keep it all inside the topic as you don't know what others might consider spoilers.

Thank you.

also btw, I'll not be reading this topic any further.

Darklord Rooke · July 30, 2013

Governments have been allowing cheap unhealthy/dangerous food substitutes into the food distribution in order to keep down inflation. Meat that was formerly used in dog food is turned into “pink slime” and served in school lunches. Leftover tuna that was formerly used in cat food is turned into “tuna scrape” and served as suchi.

To know more about the discusting things governments have been allowing into our food, try googling:

“pink slime”
“meat glue”
“tuna scrape”
“crushed cochineal beetles” + Starbucks
“horse-meat scandal”
“dog-meat scandal”
“fish fraud”
Etc…

I'm not trying to be rude, but it's hard to find a sentence in the above paragraph that is actually accurate. Take a deep breath, calm down, things aren't as bad as they seem.

Firstly, every part of an animal (well, most animals anyway) can be eaten without experiencing any problems. However, western nations are on the whole rich, spoilt, and wasteful, so half the meat that comes off a carcass usually ends up in a landfill or in our pets dinner bowl. Bottom line though, there's nothing wrong with these pieces of meat, and there is nothing dangerous or unhealthy about pink slime or tuna scrape (tuna scrape isn't second grade meat, it's the pieces of fish that are hard to get at.) The article you linked to talks about how the fish is eaten raw, there's a high risk of contamination, and Indian tuna-scrape producers are not too diligent about safety standards. But rule of thumb, raw fish is always medium-high risk. Tests were recently done in Australia, and about 10% of sushi outlets were not safe. Some of the sushi places tested had bugs crawling in the chicken teriyaki roll... it wasn't even the fish!

Secondly, concerning inflation, America's inflation at the moment is less than 2%. It's low. In fact it's TOO low. They're trying to get it higher, not devise nefarious policies to keep it rock-bottom. Going to Europe, Greece doesn't HAVE an inflation rate, its has a DEFLATION rate. That's how much trouble they're in and no, they didn't do it on purpose. Similar stories with Spain, Italy and the rest of western europe.

Thirdly, the horse meat scandal had nothing to do with what Governments are secretly feeding their citizens. The horse meat in Europe came from Romania. What most people believe is that when the Romanian Government passed a law banning horse drawn carts from the streets, people had no more need for their horses. A lot of them were abandoned to roam the streets and if they weren't claimed then they were sent to Romanian slaughterhouses (it's legal to slaughter horses in Romania.) Poor people could also sell their horses to slaughterhouses if they so wished. This created an abundance of cheap horse meat. Now, the Romanian Gov claim that all of the horse meat exported from their country was properly labelled..... Ha ha, of course it was.

Fourthly, concerning Starbucks and the crushed bugs episode, it's a non-incident. Before synthetic food dyes hit the market, ALL food dyes of a certain colour were made from crushed bugs. How did you think they got those lovely colours? Organic red dyes made today are still made from crushed bugs, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that *yum yum*

Fifthly, meat glue is dishonest but not harmful, and again a relative non-issue. It's blood. What do you think comes out of meat to begin with? The supermarkets habit of injecting chemicals to make their meat look redder is probably a bigger concern.

Now, if you had mentioned Japan's habit of substituting whale meat with dolphin meat, and then serving it up to school canteens I would have agreed with you. Because dolphin meat contains mercury. But everything you mentioned isn't much of a concern, and the idea that America is allowing you to eat dangerous foods to drive down inflation flies in the face of good economic policy. I believe America and Europe are trying to drive UP inflation at the moment.

cedec0 · July 30, 2013

In other words, it's not what the product is, it's how they handled it.

That is not correct. You missing two key points:

1) Tuna scrape is fundamentally different product from normal tuna and is highly prone to contamination. The passage below is from the other article i linked to:

The frozen scrape blocks are supposed to be held at subzero temperatures throughout shipping. Even so, they pose a safety risk. They combine the scrapings from many fish. One contaminated scraping can contaminate the entire lot.

And subzero freezing may kill some salmonella, but large fractions can survive, remain viable, and multiply when the blocks are thawed.

2) Since the primary selling point of "tuna scrape" is its low cost, it is inherently risky because it is will manufactured and cooked as cheaply as possible, with safety being the first thing sacrificed to cut costs. Again, from the same article:

Cheap sushi is made with cheap ingredients - hence, Nakaochi scrape - by chefs with far less training. A typical certification program for sushi chefs in this country can be completed in two or three months. Some offer certification online. Although these programs address safe food-handling procedures, the training is necessarily superficial.

Compared to normal tuna, "tuna scrape" is inheritely prone to contamination and is handled in ways that make that contamination more likely. Trying to claim there is no difference between tuna and "tuna scrape" is a flat out lie.

-------

You'll find sensational overhyped articles for fearmongering, and more rational scientific analyses. What sticks more in the minds of most people? The former. Believing them is as foolish as believing the material of urban legends.

I love how you are essentially insulting me while completely ingnoring the certral point I made when starting this thread. I am not agry because there is propaganda in visual novels. I am angry because the quality of that propaganda is SHIT.

Here I was enjoying reading Grisaia no Kajitsu, then suddently the quality drops to shit. I then spend fifteen minutes reading about "tunafish man" because some government scriptwriter wanted to promote "tuna scrape".

The tunafish man segment had no redeeming features that would warrent its inclusion in the game:

1) There were no plot developments. The segement had absolutely nothing to tie it to the rest of the common route.

2) There was no character development. Rather the cast was horribly out of character. Yuuji doesn't make a single snide or sarcastic comment (or even thought). Makina is shown to be interested in something that is retarded even for her. Finally, the fact that tunafish man is the only thing Sachi has been shown to have an genuine interest in (besides the kitten and serving others) is even more disturbing.

3) It was badly writen. It wasn't humours. Nothing interesting happened. It was just retarded (without any of Yuuji's funny comments on the absurdity).

4) It was in poor taste. Watching tunafish man rip himself appart to hurl his organs at the enemy was gross.

Compared to rest of the game (especally compared to 'the precious pouch" segment), the tunafish man segment was SHIT. I am angry that SHIT was put into my game by a government scriptwriter.

SO IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU BELIEVE "TUNA SCRAPE" IS SAFE OR NOT!

Instead talking about fearmongering and urban legends, why don't you address the central point. Do you enjoy having 15+ minutes of SHIT added to your visual novels? Even if you can convince yourself that "tuna scrape" is "healthy", did you enjoy reading about tunafish man?

Finally, if you are going to try to defend tunafish man segment, Please point me to a part of the common route that you thought was worse. If you can't do this, then you are admitting the tunafish man segment is the low point of the common route (ie: SHIT).

SlashZero · July 30, 2013

Hey guys maybe this is big news to you but writers tend to use contemporary ideas and issues in their works to make them seem "real" or relevant to the contemporary reader, regardless of what their personal opinions are. On the flip side there is no rules or laws forbidding writers from using their works as mouthpieces for their personal opinions.

Avoid your eyes if that was a surprise to you, because now I'll tell you humor is subjective.

Also another spoiler alert: Most VN writers are not good.

You are projecting onto the medium.

atchikotchi · July 30, 2013

In my opinion, i know there are propaganda's in tv shows... but government propaganda on a Visual Novel? that's just silly. About the "Global Warming propaganda" in Grisaia no Kajitsu, it could be easily identified as a joke and not propaganda. The Tuna scrape? its probably yet another sarcastic joke for comedy. About the UFO's? here's a little article that might be interesting, as the articles says:

Ever notice how UFO sightings tend to conveniently happen on or around military bases? Yeah, that's not a coincidence. Be it weather balloon, aerial spy cam, or rogue aircraft, people are more than happy to assume that the mystery circling overhead is alien—rather than military-made—especially during times of national paranoia.

now, im not saying people that believe in them are crazy or such, but there definitely is extraterrestrial life in other planets (in organism ,to be exact)

government propaganda in video games seems silly to me i guess, ok so to make it clear, imagine if someone said this:

"Breaking News: Bethesda is rumored to support communism!"

now that would be silly wouldn't it? :lol: Just because they use a topic which may be deemed as "propaganda", it doesn't mean they support or encourage such, it may be used to fuel the games story basically.

note: the "communism" propaganda posters are from Fallout 3.

neonie · July 30, 2013

Also another spoiler alert: Most VN writers are not

This statement is not only largely subjective, but also incredibly confusing.

Question: who's going to slog through a 15-25 hour long story just to see a naked picture of a male or female? Answer: no one becuase we could all just go look that up on the Internet.

Secondly, ,any vns have fantastic stories, well thought out universes and characters. Again, that is a largely subjective statement , but people don't buy things, and things don't become popular becuase they are bad. There are of course some out liers but I really don't think you're giving vn writers a fairs shake here.

Note: that's not to say there aren't a lot of bad vns, but there are also a hell of a lot of bad games, bookes, movies and songs also. Every medium has its stinkers.

Sparkker · July 30, 2013

..... I really don't want to read this wall of text.... Though I'd love someone to summarize it>> XD

Down · July 30, 2013

Wow, it took like, 20 posts before someone pointed out that there's no way in hell the japanese government could possibly insert propaganda into VNs. Why would they give a fuck about a niche medium aimed at people that will largely never hold any kind of relevance to the politics in the country and won't care much about it anyway?

What you see in VNs is just the expression of the author trying to convey his convictions or making an attempt at humor. And, believe it or not, most VN writers are not good writers.

I kinda lol'd when I saw that the American government was introducing propaganda into their TV series though.

cedec0 · July 30, 2013

In my opinion, i know there are propaganda's in tv shows... but government propaganda on a Visual Novel? that's just silly.

Before you say something stupid, try doing a TINY bit of research (one google search for "video games propaganda" for example). You would find articles like:

Government Pushes Propaganda Through Video Games

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-01-17/government-pushes-propaganda-through-video-games-0

Saying "i know there are propaganda's in tv shows... but government propaganda on a Visual Novel? that's just silly." makes about as much sense as saying "i know the mafia is involved in drug trafficking... but mafia using extortion too? that's just silly."

To thinks that the government would insert propaganda on TV shows, movies, books, etc but leave video games untouch... Now THAT is just silly.

-------

About the "Global Warming propaganda" in Grisaia no Kajitsu, it could be easily identified as a joke and not propaganda.

NO . IT . CAN . NOT!

As, i said before:

Finally, if you are going to try to defend tunafish man segment, Please point me to a part of the common route that you thought was worse. If you can't do this, then you are admitting the tunafish man segment is the low point of the common route (ie: SHIT).

You can't point to a pile of SHIT and say "it could be easily identified as a joke". The Tunafish man segment is just sad, wrong, and completely out of place in Grisaia no Kajitsu. It would be impossible to mistake it for a joke.

Read the tunafish man segment and see how bad it is before you try to defend it. Otherwise you will just embarrass yourself.

--------

Why would they give a fuck about a niche medium aimed at people that will largely never hold any kind of relevance to the politics in the country and won't care much about it anyway?

WTF. Do you realize that just insulted everyone on this forum? You are basically saying that all visual novel readers are jobless neets with no ability to impact the world around. So according to you no polititians or successful businessmen play or have played visual novels, only pathetic losers...

Just because YOU are someone "will largely never hold any kind of relevance to the politics" DON'T AUTOMATICALLY ASSUME THAT APPLIES TO EVERYONE ELSE. It is a little insulting.

neonie · July 30, 2013

You are basically saying that all visual novel readers are jobless neets with no ability to impact the world around. So according to you no polititians or successful businessmen play or have played visual novels, only pathetic losers...

Except that's not at all what he said or was implying.

Visual novels, whether or not you accept it sir, are a niche. This applies both inside and outside of Japan.

A niche means, in essence, that there are more people who do not play visual novels then ones who do. A large quantity of the modern population do not play them. They cater to a specific audience, and often times that audience are not people who go out in vote, and even if they were, the people who don't play VN's who vote would still outweigh the people who do play VN's and vote, because there are far more elderly and old people then VN players.

Darklord Rooke · July 30, 2013

Before you say something stupid, try doing a TINY bit of research (one google search for "video games propaganda" for example). You would find articles like:

Government Pushes Propaganda Through Video Games
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-01-17/government-pushes-propaganda-through-video-games-0

Saying "i know there are propaganda's in tv shows... but government propaganda on a Visual Novel? that's just silly." makes about as much sense as saying "i know the mafia is involved in drug trafficking... but mafia using extortion too? that's just silly."

Video games have a bigger audience than Visual Novels, a much bigger audience. There's very little point in spreading propaganda through a medium when that medium's idea of a runaway success is moving 50 000 copies (which almost never happens.) According to your article, the Army game alone has 1.5 million subscribers and games like call of duty and skyrim move more than 10 million copies each. Online games like World of Warcraft have 10 million people playing over a decade. These sorts of figures make the idea of propaganda and advertising worthwhile. Visual Novels are a niche medium, a medium who's small audience is still shrinking. It makes the idea of Government propaganda unlikely because they can't reach enough people.

That's not to say that there isn't propaganda in the visual novel, just that it wouldn't be sponsored by the Government. 'Dies the Fire' is a pretty damn good novel by S M Stirling, unfortunately it is packed with wiccan propaganda which makes reading it a chore. It wasn't put there by the Government, it was inserted by the author, it was obvious, and it was boring.

Maybe the devs of grisaia are greenies (environmentalists).

Down · July 30, 2013

Except that's not at all what he said or was implying.

Visual novels, whether or not you accept it sir, are a niche. This applies both inside and outside of Japan.

A niche means, in essence, that there are more people who do not play visual novels then ones who do. A large quantity of the modern population do not play them. They cater to a specific audience, and often times that audience are not people who go out in vote, and even if they were, the people who don't play VN's who vote would still outweigh the people who do play VN's and vote, because there are far more elderly and old people then VN players.

Basically this.

I don't mean to insult anyone here, the fact is that the number of people playing VNs is incredibly small and therefore the impact of a VN on the population is ridiculous compared with that of a TV show.

AND, a lot of VN players are indeed japanese otaku who, honestly, I don't think care much about politics, and are not regarded as a population to be targeted for propaganda by the government.

Sign In

Government propaganda in visual novels

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Recently Browsing 0 members