Transcript The Art of Propaganda

The Art of Propaganda
American Government
Mr. Bentley
The Intent
1)Propaganda is the use of arguments to
convince someone of something
a)Whether it is to vote for them (campaign sings),
buy their product (advertisements), or convince us
that their point of view is right (Public Service
Announcements).
2)Propaganda is a way of manipulating
people.
3)Regardless of the Propaganda’s
intentions—and they can be good—
Propaganda is ALWAYS bad:
a)It is designed to do your thinking for you.
b)It is designed to discourage you from digging
deeper.
The Intent (cond.)
4) Propaganda clouds reality and
gets in the way of clear and
honest thinking.
5) Blind acceptance of
Propaganda is the objective of
those perpetuating it.
Ten Commandments of
Propaganda
1) Divide and Conquer
a) More small groups are easier to pit against each other
2) Tell the people what they want
a) Pander to the masses
3) The bigger the lie, the more people will
believe it
a) Make statements grandiose and loud
4) ALWAYS appeal to the lowest common
denominator
a) It’s O.K. to “dumb it down”
Ten Commandments of
Propaganda (cond)
5)Generalize as much as possible
a) Paint in broad strokes
6) Use "expert" testimonial
a) Have someone known or relatable “pitch”
it
7) Refer often to the "authority" of your
office
a) Remind public of knowledge and power
Ten Commandments of
Propaganda (cond)
8) Stack the cards with "information"
a)Use as much supportive evidence as possible
9) A confused people are easily led
a)More informed means more skeptical
10) Get the "plain folks" onto the
"bandwagon"
a)Appeal to the common man & he will follow
Propaganda Techniques
• The following is a list of Propaganda
Techniques that are commonly used
in advertising, politics, etc.
• Techniques can be used in
combination, or individually. Here are
the most common methods:
Propaganda Techniques
1. Association: uses
positive feelings for
something and
applies them to
something else.
a. Use of patriotic
symbols around July
4 to sell grills
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Propaganda Techniques
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2. Testimonial:
people endorsing
certain idea or
belief
a. Tiger Woods & Nike
Propaganda Techniques
3. Fancy Words: use
of extravagant
language
a. Sanitary engineer =
garbage collector
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Propaganda Techniques
4. Word Magic:
emotional words
a. Car ads that use
words like “sleek”,
“powerful”,
“aggressive”, etc.
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Propaganda Techniques
5. Misery: portraying
a sympathetic
scene
a. Showing starving
children to
encourage people
to donate money
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Propaganda Techniques
6. Simplicity &
Repetition: using
basic language and
common symbols
a. McDonald’s “I’m
lovin’ it!”
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Propaganda Techniques
7. Plain Folks: use of
ordinary people to
portray “common
man”
a. Every Wrangler
Jeans commercial
EVER made
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Propaganda Techniques
8. Bandwagon:
encourages
immediate support
a. “don’t be left out”, “for
2 days only”
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Propaganda Techniques
9. Name Calling:
attacks someone’s
reputation, actions
or record
a. See most any
“negative” campaign
commercial
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Propaganda Techniques
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10. Strawman: phony
issue, exaggerates
argument
a. Pro-military means
you support men dying
in war
Propaganda Techniques
11. Hasty
Generalization:
jumping to
conclusions
a. “women can’t drive”
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Propaganda Techniques
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12 Oversimplification:
too simple to
account for a
complex reality
a. “I don’t do well in
school because I’m too
stupid.”
Propaganda Techniques
13. Black or White:
only two choices; no
in-betweens
a. “You’re either with us
or against us.”
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Propaganda Techniques
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14. Snow Job: bury
people under a
mound of
meaningless words
a. “Nine out of ten
dentist would
recommend this
toothpaste if they were
stuck on a desert island
w/ a pet chimpanzee,
and three blocks of
cheese.”
Propaganda Techniques
15. False Opposites:
misuse of opposites
a. Twisting meaning of
data to fit the
conclusion you want
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Propaganda Techniques
16. Out of Context:
ignore unfavorable
content and use
only a part of
information that
supports claim
a. “One of the worst
movies ever, despite
the performance of...”
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Propaganda Techniques
17. Contradictory
Assumptions: two
things that both
cannot be true
a. Cutting taxes,
increasing defense
spending and not
cutting programs
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Propaganda Techniques
18. Unproven
Assumption: stated
as if fact, but cannot
support it
a. “I will never need to
know history. Why
should I have to study
it?”
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Propaganda Techniques
19. Circular Reasoning:
assumption based
on another
assumption
a. Need to work to get a
car, but need a car to
get to work
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Propaganda Techniques
20. Irrelevant Issue:
a shift to secondary
issue that is less
important or
controversial
a. Politicians whose
answers to questions
have nothing to do w/
the question that was
asked (just watch a
political debate!).
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Propaganda Techniques
21. Direct Order: a
command to do
something
a. “Just Do It.”
Propaganda Techniques
22. Scapegoating:
blaming someone or
something to make
oneself look good
a. “The Democratic
Congress is to blame”,
“The Republican
Administration’s policies
created this mess.”
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