Not a story, article on propaganda
May 3, 2017 15:44:33 GMT
Ozarks Tom, paisley, and 4 more like this
Post by blackfeather on May 3, 2017 15:44:33 GMT
Wanting to review my understanding of propaganda I wrote up an article to refresh my memory an thought I'd share it with you folks. I'm sure I am influenced by propaganda and thought that you might be concerned about this as well. This seemed the best place to post it even though it isn't a story. Feel free to comment, share or repost since this is just a summary of what I found on the inter-net and is not copyrighted.
Propaganda
Newscasts, government statements, commercials, even common people in there daily lives, all use elements of propaganda as a part of their communications to others. In an effort to remind us of the tools of propaganda so we can be more aware of how we are being influenced, a recap of the techniques used to influence people would be beneficial. Some are widely different from each other and some are just slight shades of color in difference. All are used to try to convince us of accepting a message that business, government or the media want us to believe. So here is a list of the tools.
Bandwagon:
The purpose is to influence a person to join a real or imagined crowd. To take an action or a belief that everyone else is taking. This can be exhibited as join us were on our way to victory, or taking a certain action is what all patriotic Americans do (flag waving.) People want to win, they want to be with the winners so the bandwagon tool of propaganda makes people feel safety in numbers, all these people can’t be wrong, it is the patriotic thing to do, it is good for our country, or community, or church, or school, and it is good for ourselves too. Generally people don’t like to swim against the current, they like to go with the flow. The bandwagon effect takes advantage of this desire.
I remember a story about a campaign to get a road put through that some thought would benefit a certain town. It was to come to a vote at a town meeting. In advance of the meeting those in favor of the road went around to different people in the community to gauge there enthusiasm for the idea. They found three men who were very much for the idea, so they conspired that when a call came during the meeting for public input, the three would stand up one after another and speak glowing words about why they were for it and commit to being all in favor. This was getting the bandwagon rolling, one after another got up to speak so that when the three were done it created a mood that many must be for it then others felt like it must be the right thing to do and went along with it.
Euphoria:
During the above campaign one of the other tricks used to get the excitement stirred up was the use of the tool of euphoria. Euphoria is used to generate excitement, happiness, or boost morale. In the case of this road project a band was hired, and free food was available, and a general party atmosphere was created. In other cases it could be a military parade, marching bands or declaring a holiday. All with the purpose of stirring up excitement and happiness to put people in the mood of following a specific path.
Testimonial:
Again in our example above, prominent members of the community spoke out in favor of the project. Testimonial is a propaganda tool where a famous person, an actor or actress, is cited to favor a project or a product. This is sometimes called a cult of personality, where a heroic or famous figure is hired to promote products or ideas. One fascinating case I recent saw was a company using a scandal to promote it’s product. If you recall during the Clinton server investigation it was alleged that a product called “Bit Bleach” was used to clean the server. Not long after the makers of “Bit Bleach” used that famous incident as a sort of testimonial about the effectiveness of their product. The unwritten idea was if Mrs. Clinton thought it was good enough to erase anything that might be questionable it will be good for you as well. Testimonials are used to cause the audience to identify with or accept the authority of a famous person’s, use of a product, or acceptance of an idea.
Appeals to Authority:
Testimonial can be expanded to include “appeals to authority” which may include government, military or scientific authorities. These are testimonials from not necessarily famous people, but respected people in their fields. Sometimes this exhibits itself in a tool called “third party technique.” This is where an alleged independent source is used who is said to have no stake in the outcome. In many cases these so called independent sources are in fact hired to report findings that are favorable to the product or idea being promoted.
Dictate:
“Appeals to Authority” may take on the appearance of “ Dictate” where an authority chooses to make any decision simple for the audience by just telling them what to do. The picture of Uncle Sam with his finger pointed out to the audience saying “I want you” or “Buy war bonds” is a classic example. In advertising a simple “go buy some today” may be heard at the end of a commercial
Beautiful People:
In the subject of testimonials there is one other technique that needs mentioning. It is called “Beautiful People” This uses usually famous or attractive people happily buying a product or following an idea suggesting if you do the same you’ll be happy like they are. We are all familiar with the scantly clad woman standing next to or seated in the fancy automobile. Suggesting if you buy this vehicle you’ll attract this sort of woman to your car. In politics you may see a poster or commercial of happy people thronging around a candidate suggesting if you also support this candidate you’ll be happy as well.
Common man:
Also called “Plain Folks,” “Common man” is the tool where the audience is being persuaded that an idea or product makes common sense, or identifies with the point of view of the average man. It communicates the message in plain language, using normal everyday surroundings, and people dressed in normal everyday cloths. In advertising you often see a hard working American dressed in work cloths eating a certain brand of sausage in the family kitchen. The idea being we hard working Americans start our day with “x-brand” sausage. In a sense it is a common man’s testimonial.
In politics, a commercial might show a candidate dressed in regular cloths doing daily tasks to appear to be a common person. Or as highlighted recently a certain politician put on a fake southern accent to sound like they belong to the people of the south. One might even suggest that our current president appealed to the common man due to his rude, off the cuff, not politically correct, behavior. He said things the common man felt to be true and identified with.
Transfer:
Transfer is associating one image or idea with another for both positive and negative reasons. For example, when the president speaks, he speaks in front of an American flag, or on a factory floor, or in front of a new missile. Each back drop transfers an image or idea, the flag is patriotism, the factory floor showing he represents hard working Americans, or in front of a new missile so that he is seen as powerful. Negative transferal is the same, for example posting an advertisement of your opponent’s picture over top a Nazi symbol, to imply they are a Nazi or posting a opponent’s picture next to a chemical dump, implying that they will turn your community into a polluted wasteland. Transfer is used to evoke a deep seated emotional response.
Loaded language:
Sometimes using loaded language is used to assist in the transfer of ideas. By using certain words one can super impose one idea on another. For example to say “the leader goose stepped off his air plane,” transfers the idea of him being a Nazi. One might say “the dentist ripped my tooth from my mouth” rather than saying “he extracted my tooth,” implying he was a brute. Loaded language is using descriptive words to create a usually negative emotion in the listener.
Virtue words:
Opposite of “loaded language” is “virtue words.” Virtue words are words that transfer a positive impression. Words like, peace, happiness, security, wise, freedom, truth and justice are just a few. “Vote for Mr. X he has your security in mind.” “Support this legislation so all have equal Justice.” Some evoke religious words to carry a cause. In the last election using words like “Christian” and “Prayer” to lend virtue to a candidate, who wanted or may have needed a boost among certain religious groups of people. In war it is common to use the name of God to justify going to battle.
Euphemisms:
Along these lines are the uses of “Euphemisms.” A euphemism is an inoffensive word or phrase used to replace an offensive one. We are familiar with nuclear bombs being called “peace keepers” or drug dealers are called “street pharmacists.” The government is great for the use of euphemisms; your not poor your “economically disadvantaged.” We don’t torture we use “enhanced interrogation methods,” we don’t kill civilians we have “collateral damage.”
Minimization:
Another technique is to use “Minimization,” this is where when something can’t be denied it is rationalized as not being as great as it is. The famous case recently dealt with the non-secure Clinton server, where it was used to pass secure information. The breach of security was minimized by the claim that at the time the messages were sent they were not coded as secret which of course some did turn out to be classified. People often use minimization “Yes I lost 20 dollars on betting on the horses but Joe, he lost 500.” Thus implying what I did was less important than Joe and changing the focus to someone else.
Exaggeration:
The opposite of minimization is exaggeration. This usually occurs when the basic statement is true but then the truth is “stretched.” It makes a statement or event appear stronger or more important than what it was. For example, Mitt Romney claimed he had been a hunter all his adult life, yet he actually had hunted only twice. My favorite is the young teen age boy who claimed, “I have been shaving for two years.” To which his mother pipes in, “and he cut himself both times.” Of course exaggeration can also be used to make a bad situation seem worse. Politically, the recent case of Jeff Sessions, he was reported to have met with the Russians during the Trump campaign. What was not mentioned was the job he held at the time required he meet with various ambassadors from many countries including Russia. Thus a couple of simple meetings were exaggerated into consorting with the enemy.
Name Calling/ Labeling:
Name calling is just what it sounds like, “Trump is a Nazi,” “Clinton is a crook.” Our current president Trump is famous for his name calling and put downs. This gets into “labeling” so close to name calling there isn’t much difference. This last campaign was rife with it. Again Trump was the master of labeling. For example Marco Rubio was labeled “bought and paid for by lobbyists,” “failed presidential candidate,” and “all talk no action” among many others. On occasion it is considered better to label a group rather than an individual. Label an individual you may be sued, labeling a group may be safer. Republicans are hard hearted and stingy , or liberals like to spend other people’s money. Once labeled then associating some one with that group indirectly labels the person.
Stereotyping:
Married to labeling is “stereotyping.” A current example, “if he is Muslim he is violent.” One that personally angered me was on the show, “Barney,” the purple dinosaur. They had a farmer come on, and he played the stereotypical role that farmers are stupid, passing down that stereotype to children. Germany during the last world war is famous for stereotyping the Jew as malevolent, using prejudice to replace fact, emotion to override logic.
Fear:
All of these types of name calling can be used to evoke prejudice and fear in people. Fear, uncertainty and doubt are used to influence the public by spreading negative and many times false information designed to undermine the beliefs of people. As above the term Nazi or crook, calling a person failed or violent , or passing someone off as stupid creates a prejudice in people, and hits an emotional cord. Examine the news and see how many are fearful that Trump will lead us into Nazism, or during the campaign that Clinton would sell out America, hoping to turn supporters into enemies by undermining their belief in a certain candidate. Visually, by picturing the enemy as violent or looking satanic can create a fear of the enemy. During World War 2 propaganda videos depicting the Japanese as evil were shown to the troops, when my father arrived in Nagasaki, he found the Japanese to be polite and basically like any other people. They were nothing like what he was lead to believe by the videos. The propagandists used the emotion of fear and hatred to motivate the troops to fight, and cement support in the home front.
Demonizing the enemy:
We see this demonizing of the enemy today. Whether it is Assad in Syria who seems to still have the support of his people, or Putin of Russia who also seems to have the support of the majority. Lately we have the so far unproved accusations that Russia hacked the election or that Russia hacked and leaked sensitive information. We have the unproven accusation that Assad gassed his own people. An enemy must be demonized through propaganda to get the support of a nation’s people especially leading up to and during war. It is important to rally one’s nation to believe the enemy is subhuman, immoral or worthless. Just as the derogatory slang used during the last world war when we called our enemies, Japs, Krauts or Dagos to imply they were lower than us and even possibly subhuman.
Guilt by association:
Once an enemy has been demonized, then anyone that can be associated with that group can be demonized a well. Take a look at recent articles out by the main stream media targeting the independent media. PropOrNot a self acclaimed watchdog claimed that around 200 media websites were Russian propaganda websites. Some of these web sites desired to report on what they though might be the truth. They were demonized because they may have had some talking points in common with Russian media. They were guilty by association. Independent media is labeled as Russian in an effort to persuade people to disapprove and ignore what they are reporting.
Ad Hominem:
Ad Hominem is Latin meaning to attack ones foe instead of attacking their arguments. This is the sum purpose of name calling, labeling, stereotyping, and guilt by association. It is easier to attack the messenger than the message. If a liberal or conservative publication prints an article it is easier to attack what is said by painting the broad brush of “of course they’d print that because they are the opposing party.” In the court of law, lawyers commonly try to bring up past behavior or a person’s appearance to destroy that person’s testimony. Politically, rather than argue a point of policy, politicians would rather call an opponent a name, associate him with something unsavory, or label him as something of little worth. They may even bring up some eccentricity all in order to reject a message but never addressing the real facts of the argument. All these tricks are used to trigger an emotional response rather than a logical one.
Scapegoating:
In Nazi Germany, Jews were the scapegoat for many of the problems the people suffered. Blaming someone else is often used to distract from the failure of someone in power’s inability to fix a problem. By blaming someone else shifts the guilt off of one party on to another. In recent election we saw the Democrat party blame the Russians for the failure of their party to secure the presidency. The “we failed because of Russian interference ” was the excuse used to avoid the wrath of high dollar donors to the party.
Glittering generalities:
Glittering generalities use emotional appealing words. They pour praise on an individual, product, or idea with nice words but have no concrete analysis or argument. In advertising you get phrases like “things go better with coke” or “Ford has a better idea” a glittering generality but no real substance.
Rationalization:
Rationalization, is where people use favorable generalities, vague or pleasant phrases to rationalize questionable beliefs or acts. For example when using drones to bomb terrorists, children would be referred to as “bite sized terrorists.” It is easier to justify bombing children if you rationalize that those children will grow up to be terrorists. “Bite sized terrorist” put the actions of those who commanded the strike, in which children are killed, in a more favorable light. Another example, a person suffers some injustice but by saying “it is for his own good” rationalizes away the harm done.
Over simplification:
Uses again favorable generalities to provide simple answers to complex problems. In politics, we often hear of solutions like “cutting taxes will bring prosperity to the economy.” while ignoring larger issues of debt, and excessive government spending. A simple idea that sounds favorable yet ignoring the problem is far more complex.
Intentional Vagueness:
When generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience must supply its own meaning it is called Intentional Vagueness. The purpose is by using undefined phrases to cause the audience to draw their own conclusions rather than given a specific idea. While trying to solve the ambiguities of the propaganda, judgment of the ideas are largely ignored . How many times have we heard politicians say “vote for me and we can solve America’s problems and create a brighter future.” What problems, what kind of future? People supply there own idea of what the problems might be and what kind of future they want to see. These interpretations vary from individual to individual. While supplying there own ideas, ignored is the “how will they get it done,” the “why hasn’t it been done before,” and “what is the probability of anything really happening?” Judgments like these are ignored or at least suppressed for a time.
Thought terminating cliché:
Using a general phrase, sometime passing as folk wisdom repress the discomfort by holding conflicting ideas, beliefs, values or emotions. Like “don’t judge”, “everything happens for a reason,” “it’s common sense,” or “you only live once” among many others. These phrases are not supported by any logic but makes an excuse for accepting the propaganda without question.
Operant Conditioning:
Repeated learning though imitation is Operant conditioning. When watching a famous or otherwise appealing person buy or endorse a product or idea teaches a person to buy or believe the product or idea. This can include repetition of slogans, symbols, jingles, images, including subliminal phrases or subliminal images repeated over and over so the audience remembers.
Slogans:
Slogans are a brief usually catching phrase repeated over and over. Although they may include logical ideas they most often rely on emotional appeals. Recently we had the political slogan “Make America Great Again.” The last president’s slogan was “Hope and Change.” Hillary Clinton used the slogan “Stronger Together.” All these slogans strum an emotional string. Using unflagging repetition of a slogan or idea repeated enough time may cause the slogan or idea to be taken as truth. This technique is called “Ad nauseam.”
Managing the News
Managing the news is a propaganda technique where one confines an idea to a few points and repeats them over and over. Sometime called staying on the message. An example today is the constant repetition claiming Trump is unfit for office. Before the election it was claimed he didn’t have the temperament, and after the election, claims are made he is mentally incapable to rule. The message being repeated may have elements of truth or may be a lie but the hope is by repeating it people will accept it as fact without question.
Big Lie
Hand in hand with managing the news is a technique called the “Big Lie.” The premise is to repeat a lie often enough it becomes believed as fact. One example recently is the unproven claim Russia hacked the election. Using all the tools of media the accusation was repeated over and over by TV, magazines and newspapers in the hope that even though there was no real proof people would accept it as fact. Again, the unproven accusation that Assad gassed his people, was repeated widely in the main stream media and even false government reports were generated to lend credence to the accusation even though no real proof has been forthcoming.
Card Stacking:
Makes a product or idea appear better or worse than what it is by using unfair comparisons or omitting facts. A recent example happened when Jeff Sessions was accused of contact with the Russian ambassador while the campaign was waged. By omitting the fact that his job at the time required him to meet with various ambassadors including Russian. Unfair comparisons occur all the time, calling someone or something Nazi is a common example. In advertising phrases like no one out performs our dish soap. The fact they omit is many perform just as well. Or 9 out of 10 doctors recommend our aspirin. What is omitted is what choices the doctors had and for what were they recommending it for. These businesses were stacking the advertising cards in their favor
Cherry picking:
To selectively choose truth that promotes a cause and ignoring truth that is against your cause is called cherry picking. A good propagandist uses selective truth as much as possible so the audience is convinced they are hearing the truth that they the audience wants to hear. A recent example might be North Korea, it is true that the government is excessively repressive and hostile and news reports bear it out. The audience hears that truth and would be in favor of that problem being dealt with. What the news chooses to ignore is the mentality of the government as to why they are so hostile. Kim Jung Un may be crazy, but what motivates his paranoia? Is there a certain fear that being a small country, he has to appear to be more fierce so as not to be invaded by larger countries around? Much like a small animal puffing themselves up to appear bigger or more violent than they are to deter any attack from a predator? Any information that may even remotely considered beneficial to an enemy is then ignored because it doesn’t fit the intent of the propaganda.
Disinformation:
Disinformation is simply the creation or deletion of a public record, so that a false narrative of an event can be created. This might be photo shopping, or making fake movies or broadcasts. Recently a YouTube reporter was caught in Egypt making a video that was supposed to be taking place in Syria. The people in the video were actors and the story fictitious. Along the lines of forging documents, we have the Obama birth certificate (which experts have deemed falsified) that was posted on the White House web site, posted in order to lay to rest his qualifications for president.
Half Truths
A half truth is using a deceptive element to deceive, blame or misrepresent, this is done by picking only a part of a statement, a quote out of context, using a double meaning, or use of miss-punctuation. A double meaning can be where a word or phrase can be used to imply a secondary meaning. For example to say “I found her walking the streets.” can have two meanings, one she was just out walking or two, she was out seeking illegal temporary employment. Tone of voice can sometimes be used to differentiate the intended meaning. Miss-punctuation is simply adding, moving or removing a period or comma which gives the sentence a new meaning. For example a leader might say “I’m telling you now, we are going to war,” or is it “I’m telling you, now we are going to war.” Both imply war but one can be interpreted as immediate war and the other interpreted that war is inevitable but not necessarily immediate. By moving the comma a propagandist might use the statement to discredit a leader when it appears he hasn’t taken immediate action like he was supposed to have claimed.
Red herring:
Using compelling data to bolster an argument, but is irrelevant to the argument, but claims it validates that argument. An example might be to use an animal die off as an example of factory pollution causing deaths when in fact it is a regular cyclical event caused by natural algae blooms.
Straw man:
A straw man argument is when a similar idea is substituted for the opponents position, then that new position is attacked and refuted but the original position is not refuted. This happens often in Congress. For example Senator A wants to make food stamp eligibility more difficult, Senator B says Senator A is against the poor, and the poor need our help. The food stamp eligibility argument is substituted for an appeal for the poor in order to leave the law alone, where as Senator A was concerned with food stamp fraud, not harming those in true need. Another is immigration. Some want our boarders tightened, laws enforced. Others say we are a nation of immigrants, and immigrants should be welcome. Ignoring that it is the illegal immigrants that are in question not the legal immigrants, but argue by lumping the two categories together .
Black and white fallacy:
Offering only two choices with one being the obvious better choice. For example “America, Love it or leave it.” This is used to squash protests or arguments about national policy. The opposing side offered their own version “America, change it or lose it.”
Non sequitur:
An argument where a conclusion is made but the logic doesn’t justify it. For example when Romney was asked if he was inconsistent for flipping his stance on certain issues, he replied that in fact he was steady since he had been married to the same woman for 42 years and kept the same job 25 years. His statements and his conclusion had nothing to do with his changing stance on issues.
Gish Gallop
Since we're on political debates, Gish Gallop is where a political opponent is bombarded with extremely complex questions in rapid fire usually while debating to make it look like he doesn’t know what he is talking about, because he doesn’t have time to properly answer them.
Unstated Assumption:
An Unstated Assumption is used when a concept would seem less credible if it were blatantly stated. We will use Trump as an example, Trump tweets insults and demeans people, therefore Trump shouldn’t be president. The assumption is that insulting people disqualifies one to be president, which in itself is a weak argument so it is left to be assumed rather than stated, hoping that it isn’t thought through by the audience.
Framing:
Framing is the process of selective influence over a person’s understanding of the meaning of word, phrases or events usually constructed by the media, social or political movements. Some call it creating a narrative. For example a news report might include “We must take action to use government stimulus to improve the economy.” Thus framing an argument that stimulus is the way out of the problem. Then from this base all other arguments grow from that foundation. The narrative is created and any other possible solution is now ignored. Another example might be “Immigration is good for America.” A narrative is created and the word immigration is framed as positive, thus ignoring the concept that illegal immigration, or unchecked immigration might be bad.
Milieu Control:
Controlling the social environment and ideas through using social pressure. This uses dogma, rules, punishments, innuendo, criticism and threats to influence people. Political correctness is one such method. In many government circles for example, it is no longer allowed to criticize the Muslim religion, or promote Christianity and anyone not obeying the rules are publicly criticized, or even punished by job loss, demotion or harassment. Religious cults use this sort of control on their followers. They cut off individuals from their existing families and friends and replace with members of the cult, usually swamping them with affection from within the group so as to isolate that new recruit from his past associations. This is sometimes called “Love Bombing.“ In everyday life peer pressure is a type of this control. Years ago how many children started smoking because peer pressure said it was “cool” to do?
Foot in the Door Technique:
The foot in the door technique is when a victim is made to feel that they owe a psychological debt to the perpetrator. The most common example we saw depicted in the movie “Airplane.” When a representative of the Church of Religious Consciousness gives a flower as a gift in an airport then expects a donation in return. In the mail I often receive a gift of mailing labels in the hopes that a little gift to me will indebt me to give a donation to them. Politicians use the “look what I have done for you, you need to vote for me” as a method of indebting the voter.
Classical Conditioning:
Classical conditioning is where if a certain thing is always present with another and one is bad the other has to be bad as well. The Nazi war machine killed many people including civilians, the Nazis were for nationalism, thus propagandist try to make nationalism evil since it was associated with the evil Nazis.
Cognitive Dissonance:
Cognitive Dissonance is like Classical Conditioning, people desire to be consistent. People don’t like to have conflicting thoughts or beliefs. A propagandist would use the desire to be consistent to their advantage. One common example is using famous well liked people to endorse a candidate. If I like a certain actor and he likes a particular candidate that I don’t care for, this causes an inconsistency that needs to be resolved, either I decrease my liking for the actor or increase my liking for the candidate.
Latitude of Acceptance:
If a message is outside the bounds of acceptance there are two ways to move an audience, the first is to take an excessively extreme point of view so that the once out of bound idea is more acceptable, and the second it to take a less extreme stance on the boarder of acceptability then slowly move to the more extreme. The first is used in sales often. A sales man will ask a higher price than what he wants to sell for and is talked down to the price he wanted in the first place. This is also called “Door in the face technique.” Trump seems to use this technique when negotiating, he asks for what he ideally would like to have but will compromise for what is acceptable with him. On the other hand the acceptance to gays in the military started with “don’t ask don’t tell” in 1994 and slowly expanded till transgender soldiers were accepted 22 years later. What was once considered and extreme position, has slowly become acceptable one step at a time.
Conclusion:
Much of propaganda includes lying and deception and the telling of half truths, personal attacks, and psychological operations. Many times it is used to evoke a emotional response rather than a logical response. This is done in order to convince an audience of a particular message, whether for the purpose of selling a product or to convince an audience to support an idea. Hopefully now that these tools are exposed we will be more mindful of how businesses, governments and the media influence our minds.
Propaganda
Newscasts, government statements, commercials, even common people in there daily lives, all use elements of propaganda as a part of their communications to others. In an effort to remind us of the tools of propaganda so we can be more aware of how we are being influenced, a recap of the techniques used to influence people would be beneficial. Some are widely different from each other and some are just slight shades of color in difference. All are used to try to convince us of accepting a message that business, government or the media want us to believe. So here is a list of the tools.
Bandwagon:
The purpose is to influence a person to join a real or imagined crowd. To take an action or a belief that everyone else is taking. This can be exhibited as join us were on our way to victory, or taking a certain action is what all patriotic Americans do (flag waving.) People want to win, they want to be with the winners so the bandwagon tool of propaganda makes people feel safety in numbers, all these people can’t be wrong, it is the patriotic thing to do, it is good for our country, or community, or church, or school, and it is good for ourselves too. Generally people don’t like to swim against the current, they like to go with the flow. The bandwagon effect takes advantage of this desire.
I remember a story about a campaign to get a road put through that some thought would benefit a certain town. It was to come to a vote at a town meeting. In advance of the meeting those in favor of the road went around to different people in the community to gauge there enthusiasm for the idea. They found three men who were very much for the idea, so they conspired that when a call came during the meeting for public input, the three would stand up one after another and speak glowing words about why they were for it and commit to being all in favor. This was getting the bandwagon rolling, one after another got up to speak so that when the three were done it created a mood that many must be for it then others felt like it must be the right thing to do and went along with it.
Euphoria:
During the above campaign one of the other tricks used to get the excitement stirred up was the use of the tool of euphoria. Euphoria is used to generate excitement, happiness, or boost morale. In the case of this road project a band was hired, and free food was available, and a general party atmosphere was created. In other cases it could be a military parade, marching bands or declaring a holiday. All with the purpose of stirring up excitement and happiness to put people in the mood of following a specific path.
Testimonial:
Again in our example above, prominent members of the community spoke out in favor of the project. Testimonial is a propaganda tool where a famous person, an actor or actress, is cited to favor a project or a product. This is sometimes called a cult of personality, where a heroic or famous figure is hired to promote products or ideas. One fascinating case I recent saw was a company using a scandal to promote it’s product. If you recall during the Clinton server investigation it was alleged that a product called “Bit Bleach” was used to clean the server. Not long after the makers of “Bit Bleach” used that famous incident as a sort of testimonial about the effectiveness of their product. The unwritten idea was if Mrs. Clinton thought it was good enough to erase anything that might be questionable it will be good for you as well. Testimonials are used to cause the audience to identify with or accept the authority of a famous person’s, use of a product, or acceptance of an idea.
Appeals to Authority:
Testimonial can be expanded to include “appeals to authority” which may include government, military or scientific authorities. These are testimonials from not necessarily famous people, but respected people in their fields. Sometimes this exhibits itself in a tool called “third party technique.” This is where an alleged independent source is used who is said to have no stake in the outcome. In many cases these so called independent sources are in fact hired to report findings that are favorable to the product or idea being promoted.
Dictate:
“Appeals to Authority” may take on the appearance of “ Dictate” where an authority chooses to make any decision simple for the audience by just telling them what to do. The picture of Uncle Sam with his finger pointed out to the audience saying “I want you” or “Buy war bonds” is a classic example. In advertising a simple “go buy some today” may be heard at the end of a commercial
Beautiful People:
In the subject of testimonials there is one other technique that needs mentioning. It is called “Beautiful People” This uses usually famous or attractive people happily buying a product or following an idea suggesting if you do the same you’ll be happy like they are. We are all familiar with the scantly clad woman standing next to or seated in the fancy automobile. Suggesting if you buy this vehicle you’ll attract this sort of woman to your car. In politics you may see a poster or commercial of happy people thronging around a candidate suggesting if you also support this candidate you’ll be happy as well.
Common man:
Also called “Plain Folks,” “Common man” is the tool where the audience is being persuaded that an idea or product makes common sense, or identifies with the point of view of the average man. It communicates the message in plain language, using normal everyday surroundings, and people dressed in normal everyday cloths. In advertising you often see a hard working American dressed in work cloths eating a certain brand of sausage in the family kitchen. The idea being we hard working Americans start our day with “x-brand” sausage. In a sense it is a common man’s testimonial.
In politics, a commercial might show a candidate dressed in regular cloths doing daily tasks to appear to be a common person. Or as highlighted recently a certain politician put on a fake southern accent to sound like they belong to the people of the south. One might even suggest that our current president appealed to the common man due to his rude, off the cuff, not politically correct, behavior. He said things the common man felt to be true and identified with.
Transfer:
Transfer is associating one image or idea with another for both positive and negative reasons. For example, when the president speaks, he speaks in front of an American flag, or on a factory floor, or in front of a new missile. Each back drop transfers an image or idea, the flag is patriotism, the factory floor showing he represents hard working Americans, or in front of a new missile so that he is seen as powerful. Negative transferal is the same, for example posting an advertisement of your opponent’s picture over top a Nazi symbol, to imply they are a Nazi or posting a opponent’s picture next to a chemical dump, implying that they will turn your community into a polluted wasteland. Transfer is used to evoke a deep seated emotional response.
Loaded language:
Sometimes using loaded language is used to assist in the transfer of ideas. By using certain words one can super impose one idea on another. For example to say “the leader goose stepped off his air plane,” transfers the idea of him being a Nazi. One might say “the dentist ripped my tooth from my mouth” rather than saying “he extracted my tooth,” implying he was a brute. Loaded language is using descriptive words to create a usually negative emotion in the listener.
Virtue words:
Opposite of “loaded language” is “virtue words.” Virtue words are words that transfer a positive impression. Words like, peace, happiness, security, wise, freedom, truth and justice are just a few. “Vote for Mr. X he has your security in mind.” “Support this legislation so all have equal Justice.” Some evoke religious words to carry a cause. In the last election using words like “Christian” and “Prayer” to lend virtue to a candidate, who wanted or may have needed a boost among certain religious groups of people. In war it is common to use the name of God to justify going to battle.
Euphemisms:
Along these lines are the uses of “Euphemisms.” A euphemism is an inoffensive word or phrase used to replace an offensive one. We are familiar with nuclear bombs being called “peace keepers” or drug dealers are called “street pharmacists.” The government is great for the use of euphemisms; your not poor your “economically disadvantaged.” We don’t torture we use “enhanced interrogation methods,” we don’t kill civilians we have “collateral damage.”
Minimization:
Another technique is to use “Minimization,” this is where when something can’t be denied it is rationalized as not being as great as it is. The famous case recently dealt with the non-secure Clinton server, where it was used to pass secure information. The breach of security was minimized by the claim that at the time the messages were sent they were not coded as secret which of course some did turn out to be classified. People often use minimization “Yes I lost 20 dollars on betting on the horses but Joe, he lost 500.” Thus implying what I did was less important than Joe and changing the focus to someone else.
Exaggeration:
The opposite of minimization is exaggeration. This usually occurs when the basic statement is true but then the truth is “stretched.” It makes a statement or event appear stronger or more important than what it was. For example, Mitt Romney claimed he had been a hunter all his adult life, yet he actually had hunted only twice. My favorite is the young teen age boy who claimed, “I have been shaving for two years.” To which his mother pipes in, “and he cut himself both times.” Of course exaggeration can also be used to make a bad situation seem worse. Politically, the recent case of Jeff Sessions, he was reported to have met with the Russians during the Trump campaign. What was not mentioned was the job he held at the time required he meet with various ambassadors from many countries including Russia. Thus a couple of simple meetings were exaggerated into consorting with the enemy.
Name Calling/ Labeling:
Name calling is just what it sounds like, “Trump is a Nazi,” “Clinton is a crook.” Our current president Trump is famous for his name calling and put downs. This gets into “labeling” so close to name calling there isn’t much difference. This last campaign was rife with it. Again Trump was the master of labeling. For example Marco Rubio was labeled “bought and paid for by lobbyists,” “failed presidential candidate,” and “all talk no action” among many others. On occasion it is considered better to label a group rather than an individual. Label an individual you may be sued, labeling a group may be safer. Republicans are hard hearted and stingy , or liberals like to spend other people’s money. Once labeled then associating some one with that group indirectly labels the person.
Stereotyping:
Married to labeling is “stereotyping.” A current example, “if he is Muslim he is violent.” One that personally angered me was on the show, “Barney,” the purple dinosaur. They had a farmer come on, and he played the stereotypical role that farmers are stupid, passing down that stereotype to children. Germany during the last world war is famous for stereotyping the Jew as malevolent, using prejudice to replace fact, emotion to override logic.
Fear:
All of these types of name calling can be used to evoke prejudice and fear in people. Fear, uncertainty and doubt are used to influence the public by spreading negative and many times false information designed to undermine the beliefs of people. As above the term Nazi or crook, calling a person failed or violent , or passing someone off as stupid creates a prejudice in people, and hits an emotional cord. Examine the news and see how many are fearful that Trump will lead us into Nazism, or during the campaign that Clinton would sell out America, hoping to turn supporters into enemies by undermining their belief in a certain candidate. Visually, by picturing the enemy as violent or looking satanic can create a fear of the enemy. During World War 2 propaganda videos depicting the Japanese as evil were shown to the troops, when my father arrived in Nagasaki, he found the Japanese to be polite and basically like any other people. They were nothing like what he was lead to believe by the videos. The propagandists used the emotion of fear and hatred to motivate the troops to fight, and cement support in the home front.
Demonizing the enemy:
We see this demonizing of the enemy today. Whether it is Assad in Syria who seems to still have the support of his people, or Putin of Russia who also seems to have the support of the majority. Lately we have the so far unproved accusations that Russia hacked the election or that Russia hacked and leaked sensitive information. We have the unproven accusation that Assad gassed his own people. An enemy must be demonized through propaganda to get the support of a nation’s people especially leading up to and during war. It is important to rally one’s nation to believe the enemy is subhuman, immoral or worthless. Just as the derogatory slang used during the last world war when we called our enemies, Japs, Krauts or Dagos to imply they were lower than us and even possibly subhuman.
Guilt by association:
Once an enemy has been demonized, then anyone that can be associated with that group can be demonized a well. Take a look at recent articles out by the main stream media targeting the independent media. PropOrNot a self acclaimed watchdog claimed that around 200 media websites were Russian propaganda websites. Some of these web sites desired to report on what they though might be the truth. They were demonized because they may have had some talking points in common with Russian media. They were guilty by association. Independent media is labeled as Russian in an effort to persuade people to disapprove and ignore what they are reporting.
Ad Hominem:
Ad Hominem is Latin meaning to attack ones foe instead of attacking their arguments. This is the sum purpose of name calling, labeling, stereotyping, and guilt by association. It is easier to attack the messenger than the message. If a liberal or conservative publication prints an article it is easier to attack what is said by painting the broad brush of “of course they’d print that because they are the opposing party.” In the court of law, lawyers commonly try to bring up past behavior or a person’s appearance to destroy that person’s testimony. Politically, rather than argue a point of policy, politicians would rather call an opponent a name, associate him with something unsavory, or label him as something of little worth. They may even bring up some eccentricity all in order to reject a message but never addressing the real facts of the argument. All these tricks are used to trigger an emotional response rather than a logical one.
Scapegoating:
In Nazi Germany, Jews were the scapegoat for many of the problems the people suffered. Blaming someone else is often used to distract from the failure of someone in power’s inability to fix a problem. By blaming someone else shifts the guilt off of one party on to another. In recent election we saw the Democrat party blame the Russians for the failure of their party to secure the presidency. The “we failed because of Russian interference ” was the excuse used to avoid the wrath of high dollar donors to the party.
Glittering generalities:
Glittering generalities use emotional appealing words. They pour praise on an individual, product, or idea with nice words but have no concrete analysis or argument. In advertising you get phrases like “things go better with coke” or “Ford has a better idea” a glittering generality but no real substance.
Rationalization:
Rationalization, is where people use favorable generalities, vague or pleasant phrases to rationalize questionable beliefs or acts. For example when using drones to bomb terrorists, children would be referred to as “bite sized terrorists.” It is easier to justify bombing children if you rationalize that those children will grow up to be terrorists. “Bite sized terrorist” put the actions of those who commanded the strike, in which children are killed, in a more favorable light. Another example, a person suffers some injustice but by saying “it is for his own good” rationalizes away the harm done.
Over simplification:
Uses again favorable generalities to provide simple answers to complex problems. In politics, we often hear of solutions like “cutting taxes will bring prosperity to the economy.” while ignoring larger issues of debt, and excessive government spending. A simple idea that sounds favorable yet ignoring the problem is far more complex.
Intentional Vagueness:
When generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience must supply its own meaning it is called Intentional Vagueness. The purpose is by using undefined phrases to cause the audience to draw their own conclusions rather than given a specific idea. While trying to solve the ambiguities of the propaganda, judgment of the ideas are largely ignored . How many times have we heard politicians say “vote for me and we can solve America’s problems and create a brighter future.” What problems, what kind of future? People supply there own idea of what the problems might be and what kind of future they want to see. These interpretations vary from individual to individual. While supplying there own ideas, ignored is the “how will they get it done,” the “why hasn’t it been done before,” and “what is the probability of anything really happening?” Judgments like these are ignored or at least suppressed for a time.
Thought terminating cliché:
Using a general phrase, sometime passing as folk wisdom repress the discomfort by holding conflicting ideas, beliefs, values or emotions. Like “don’t judge”, “everything happens for a reason,” “it’s common sense,” or “you only live once” among many others. These phrases are not supported by any logic but makes an excuse for accepting the propaganda without question.
Operant Conditioning:
Repeated learning though imitation is Operant conditioning. When watching a famous or otherwise appealing person buy or endorse a product or idea teaches a person to buy or believe the product or idea. This can include repetition of slogans, symbols, jingles, images, including subliminal phrases or subliminal images repeated over and over so the audience remembers.
Slogans:
Slogans are a brief usually catching phrase repeated over and over. Although they may include logical ideas they most often rely on emotional appeals. Recently we had the political slogan “Make America Great Again.” The last president’s slogan was “Hope and Change.” Hillary Clinton used the slogan “Stronger Together.” All these slogans strum an emotional string. Using unflagging repetition of a slogan or idea repeated enough time may cause the slogan or idea to be taken as truth. This technique is called “Ad nauseam.”
Managing the News
Managing the news is a propaganda technique where one confines an idea to a few points and repeats them over and over. Sometime called staying on the message. An example today is the constant repetition claiming Trump is unfit for office. Before the election it was claimed he didn’t have the temperament, and after the election, claims are made he is mentally incapable to rule. The message being repeated may have elements of truth or may be a lie but the hope is by repeating it people will accept it as fact without question.
Big Lie
Hand in hand with managing the news is a technique called the “Big Lie.” The premise is to repeat a lie often enough it becomes believed as fact. One example recently is the unproven claim Russia hacked the election. Using all the tools of media the accusation was repeated over and over by TV, magazines and newspapers in the hope that even though there was no real proof people would accept it as fact. Again, the unproven accusation that Assad gassed his people, was repeated widely in the main stream media and even false government reports were generated to lend credence to the accusation even though no real proof has been forthcoming.
Card Stacking:
Makes a product or idea appear better or worse than what it is by using unfair comparisons or omitting facts. A recent example happened when Jeff Sessions was accused of contact with the Russian ambassador while the campaign was waged. By omitting the fact that his job at the time required him to meet with various ambassadors including Russian. Unfair comparisons occur all the time, calling someone or something Nazi is a common example. In advertising phrases like no one out performs our dish soap. The fact they omit is many perform just as well. Or 9 out of 10 doctors recommend our aspirin. What is omitted is what choices the doctors had and for what were they recommending it for. These businesses were stacking the advertising cards in their favor
Cherry picking:
To selectively choose truth that promotes a cause and ignoring truth that is against your cause is called cherry picking. A good propagandist uses selective truth as much as possible so the audience is convinced they are hearing the truth that they the audience wants to hear. A recent example might be North Korea, it is true that the government is excessively repressive and hostile and news reports bear it out. The audience hears that truth and would be in favor of that problem being dealt with. What the news chooses to ignore is the mentality of the government as to why they are so hostile. Kim Jung Un may be crazy, but what motivates his paranoia? Is there a certain fear that being a small country, he has to appear to be more fierce so as not to be invaded by larger countries around? Much like a small animal puffing themselves up to appear bigger or more violent than they are to deter any attack from a predator? Any information that may even remotely considered beneficial to an enemy is then ignored because it doesn’t fit the intent of the propaganda.
Disinformation:
Disinformation is simply the creation or deletion of a public record, so that a false narrative of an event can be created. This might be photo shopping, or making fake movies or broadcasts. Recently a YouTube reporter was caught in Egypt making a video that was supposed to be taking place in Syria. The people in the video were actors and the story fictitious. Along the lines of forging documents, we have the Obama birth certificate (which experts have deemed falsified) that was posted on the White House web site, posted in order to lay to rest his qualifications for president.
Half Truths
A half truth is using a deceptive element to deceive, blame or misrepresent, this is done by picking only a part of a statement, a quote out of context, using a double meaning, or use of miss-punctuation. A double meaning can be where a word or phrase can be used to imply a secondary meaning. For example to say “I found her walking the streets.” can have two meanings, one she was just out walking or two, she was out seeking illegal temporary employment. Tone of voice can sometimes be used to differentiate the intended meaning. Miss-punctuation is simply adding, moving or removing a period or comma which gives the sentence a new meaning. For example a leader might say “I’m telling you now, we are going to war,” or is it “I’m telling you, now we are going to war.” Both imply war but one can be interpreted as immediate war and the other interpreted that war is inevitable but not necessarily immediate. By moving the comma a propagandist might use the statement to discredit a leader when it appears he hasn’t taken immediate action like he was supposed to have claimed.
Red herring:
Using compelling data to bolster an argument, but is irrelevant to the argument, but claims it validates that argument. An example might be to use an animal die off as an example of factory pollution causing deaths when in fact it is a regular cyclical event caused by natural algae blooms.
Straw man:
A straw man argument is when a similar idea is substituted for the opponents position, then that new position is attacked and refuted but the original position is not refuted. This happens often in Congress. For example Senator A wants to make food stamp eligibility more difficult, Senator B says Senator A is against the poor, and the poor need our help. The food stamp eligibility argument is substituted for an appeal for the poor in order to leave the law alone, where as Senator A was concerned with food stamp fraud, not harming those in true need. Another is immigration. Some want our boarders tightened, laws enforced. Others say we are a nation of immigrants, and immigrants should be welcome. Ignoring that it is the illegal immigrants that are in question not the legal immigrants, but argue by lumping the two categories together .
Black and white fallacy:
Offering only two choices with one being the obvious better choice. For example “America, Love it or leave it.” This is used to squash protests or arguments about national policy. The opposing side offered their own version “America, change it or lose it.”
Non sequitur:
An argument where a conclusion is made but the logic doesn’t justify it. For example when Romney was asked if he was inconsistent for flipping his stance on certain issues, he replied that in fact he was steady since he had been married to the same woman for 42 years and kept the same job 25 years. His statements and his conclusion had nothing to do with his changing stance on issues.
Gish Gallop
Since we're on political debates, Gish Gallop is where a political opponent is bombarded with extremely complex questions in rapid fire usually while debating to make it look like he doesn’t know what he is talking about, because he doesn’t have time to properly answer them.
Unstated Assumption:
An Unstated Assumption is used when a concept would seem less credible if it were blatantly stated. We will use Trump as an example, Trump tweets insults and demeans people, therefore Trump shouldn’t be president. The assumption is that insulting people disqualifies one to be president, which in itself is a weak argument so it is left to be assumed rather than stated, hoping that it isn’t thought through by the audience.
Framing:
Framing is the process of selective influence over a person’s understanding of the meaning of word, phrases or events usually constructed by the media, social or political movements. Some call it creating a narrative. For example a news report might include “We must take action to use government stimulus to improve the economy.” Thus framing an argument that stimulus is the way out of the problem. Then from this base all other arguments grow from that foundation. The narrative is created and any other possible solution is now ignored. Another example might be “Immigration is good for America.” A narrative is created and the word immigration is framed as positive, thus ignoring the concept that illegal immigration, or unchecked immigration might be bad.
Milieu Control:
Controlling the social environment and ideas through using social pressure. This uses dogma, rules, punishments, innuendo, criticism and threats to influence people. Political correctness is one such method. In many government circles for example, it is no longer allowed to criticize the Muslim religion, or promote Christianity and anyone not obeying the rules are publicly criticized, or even punished by job loss, demotion or harassment. Religious cults use this sort of control on their followers. They cut off individuals from their existing families and friends and replace with members of the cult, usually swamping them with affection from within the group so as to isolate that new recruit from his past associations. This is sometimes called “Love Bombing.“ In everyday life peer pressure is a type of this control. Years ago how many children started smoking because peer pressure said it was “cool” to do?
Foot in the Door Technique:
The foot in the door technique is when a victim is made to feel that they owe a psychological debt to the perpetrator. The most common example we saw depicted in the movie “Airplane.” When a representative of the Church of Religious Consciousness gives a flower as a gift in an airport then expects a donation in return. In the mail I often receive a gift of mailing labels in the hopes that a little gift to me will indebt me to give a donation to them. Politicians use the “look what I have done for you, you need to vote for me” as a method of indebting the voter.
Classical Conditioning:
Classical conditioning is where if a certain thing is always present with another and one is bad the other has to be bad as well. The Nazi war machine killed many people including civilians, the Nazis were for nationalism, thus propagandist try to make nationalism evil since it was associated with the evil Nazis.
Cognitive Dissonance:
Cognitive Dissonance is like Classical Conditioning, people desire to be consistent. People don’t like to have conflicting thoughts or beliefs. A propagandist would use the desire to be consistent to their advantage. One common example is using famous well liked people to endorse a candidate. If I like a certain actor and he likes a particular candidate that I don’t care for, this causes an inconsistency that needs to be resolved, either I decrease my liking for the actor or increase my liking for the candidate.
Latitude of Acceptance:
If a message is outside the bounds of acceptance there are two ways to move an audience, the first is to take an excessively extreme point of view so that the once out of bound idea is more acceptable, and the second it to take a less extreme stance on the boarder of acceptability then slowly move to the more extreme. The first is used in sales often. A sales man will ask a higher price than what he wants to sell for and is talked down to the price he wanted in the first place. This is also called “Door in the face technique.” Trump seems to use this technique when negotiating, he asks for what he ideally would like to have but will compromise for what is acceptable with him. On the other hand the acceptance to gays in the military started with “don’t ask don’t tell” in 1994 and slowly expanded till transgender soldiers were accepted 22 years later. What was once considered and extreme position, has slowly become acceptable one step at a time.
Conclusion:
Much of propaganda includes lying and deception and the telling of half truths, personal attacks, and psychological operations. Many times it is used to evoke a emotional response rather than a logical response. This is done in order to convince an audience of a particular message, whether for the purpose of selling a product or to convince an audience to support an idea. Hopefully now that these tools are exposed we will be more mindful of how businesses, governments and the media influence our minds.
