Download Propaganda

Propaganda is a specific type of
message presentation directly aimed at
persuading the opinions of people, rather
than impartially providing information.
Inherent in propaganda is an active
manipulation.
Techniques Used in Propaganda
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Name-Calling Device
Glittering Generalities
Transfer Device
Testimonial Device
Plain Folks Device
Card Stacking Device
Band Wagon Device
Name Calling
• make us form a judgment without
examining the evidence
• appeals to our hate and fear
• giving “bad” names to those individuals,
groups, nations, races, policies, practices,
beliefs, and ideals
• ex. Fascists, terrorist, dictator,
Glittering Generalities
• identifies his program with virtue by the
use of “virtue words”.
• appeals to our emotions of love,
generosity, and brotherhood.
• uses words like truth, freedom, honor,
liberty, social justice, public service, the
right to work, loyalty, progress,
democracy, the American way, etc.
Transfer
• carries over the authority, sanction, and
prestige of something we respect and
revere to something they would have us
accept.
• a white jacket in a commercial will make
us consider that it is a doctor speaking,
etc.
Testimonial
• uses the notoriety of people in positions of
power to “promote” ideas, etc.
• can be misleading if the person being
used is hardly an ‘expert witness’
Plain Folks
• used by politicians, labour leaders,
businessmen to win our confidence by
appearing to be common like ourselves
• they make the public think they are just
“one of the boys” or “one of the
neighbours”.
card stacking
• tells us only part of the truth
• under-emphasis and over-emphasis to
dodge issues and evade facts
• manipulating the truthiness of an issue by
revealing only part of the picture
Band Wagon
• makes us follow a crowd
• “everybody’s doing it; come along and
follow the great majority, for it can’t be
wrong.”
How does it work?
• plays on our emotions
• the job of the propagandist is to make us
feel a certain way about an issue, a detail
or a group of people
How to deal with it?
1. Suppress It
2. Answer It with Counter-Propaganda
3. Analyze It and Reveal Its Faults