Transcript Techniques of Propaganda - Texas A&M University–Central

Aesthetics, Emotion, and Argument
“We tried to shoot a few, and missed both of them.
Unbeknownst to me, the [animal wrangler] broke the
next rabbit’s leg, so it couldn’t run. So we got one.
On the next take, they then asked, ‘Should we break
its leg again?’ . . . the DP [director of photography]
was sitting there, saying ‘No, I’m sure you wouldn’t
want to do it,’ but nodding his head yes. I made the
decision, let them break it. I regret it. It eats me up
every day. I can sort of rationalize this, that it might
be killed by a natural predator. But for us to inflict
pain to get a better shot was the wrong thing to do.”
-- Quoted in Aufderheide, Jaszi, and Chandra (2009)
A.
Logical fallacies: Use faulty logic (the claims
may be true or false, but their logic can’t tell
us). Common ones include
1. Appeal to authority: Most problematic if the authority
is no more expert than we are. Examples: Ongoing
squabble over Susan B. Anthony’s views on abortion,
“Log Cabin Republicans,” the Dixie Chicks on
American foreign policy, Ben Stein on Teaching
Evolution, etc.

Example: Most “foundational” religious arguments
“Why Should I
Believe That?”
“God Must
Exist”
“How Do I Know the
Bible is Correct?”
“Because the
Bible Says So”
“Because the
Bible is
God’s Word”
(…Which
Presupposes That…)

Chomsky: “a principle familiar to
propagandists is that the doctrine to be
instilled in the target audience should not be
articulated: that would only expose them to
reflection, inquiry, and, very likely, ridicule.
The proper procedure is to drill them home
by constantly presupposing them, so that
they become the very condition for
discourse.”
•
•
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Criticizes the person making the claim rather than
the claim itself. Frequently attacks “hypocrisy” (a
character flaw) rather than the evidence presented.
Examples: Attacking the Wall Street bailout because
the CEOs were arrogant, attacking Michael Moore
for being fat, attacking climate change researchers
for flying to conferences, attacking free-trade
advocates for seeking protection for their firms.
Note that attacking a relevant characteristic
(expertise in the case of someone rendering an
expert judgment or being nominated for office) is
not necessarily fallacious.
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Reducing an issue to only two sides, where
other opinions may exist, and/or presenting
any counter-argument as an argument in
favor of “the other side”
Very common in material labeled
“propaganda” (reduces number of views being
presented)
Example: “Either you’re with us, or you’re
with the terrorists.” (Omits options of being
against both or for both – the first being
more plausible than the second)
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Comparison with something dissimilar.
Long-time favorites in foreign policy
discussions: Pearl Harbor, Bay of Pigs, Vietnam
(now joined by 9/11 and Iraq).
Problem: Reasoning by analogy is almost always
fallacious because no two events/processes are
the same. But analogies are one of the most
powerful tools of persuasion and one of the
most common tools of analysis. The entire
subfield of Comparative Government was
founded on analogies between pairs of
countries.
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Substituting a weaker for a stronger argument, then
defeating the weak argument and ignoring the strong
one.
Traditional politician’s trick: “Answer the question you
wish had been asked rather than the one that was
asked.”
Examples:
◦ Pro-lifers refute the “pro-abortion” argument (ignoring the
stronger pro-choice position that promotion of birth control
will reduce abortions more than a ban)
◦ Pro-choicers refute the “anti-choice” argument (portraying
opponents as anti-woman or pro-government control, even
though the stronger pro-life argument is based on rights
arguments applied to human life and includes support for
poor mothers)
Almost everyone tries this one if they can get away
with it
Red Herrings: Using an unrelated issue to
derail the discussion. Examples:
1.
◦
◦
◦
Responding to complaints about Obama’s health
care plan with “Bush started an unending war
based on lies” (tu quoque)
“If you cared so much about poor people, you
would focus on helping Haitians, not poor
Americans.” (True: Poverty in Haiti is Worse.
Assumed without Proof: Should not tackle poverty
in US).
Arguments about women’s rights  “At least you
don’t live in Saudi Arabia.”
2.
3.
4.
Bandwagoning: It is “universally accepted”
or “overwhelmingly supported by the
people” and therefore you should support it.
Card stacking: Omits factual details in order
to misrepresent a product, idea, or cause. It
intentionally gives only part of the truth
Transfer creates an association between a
product, idea, or cause with a symbol or
image that has positive or negative values
Example: Transfer
and “Greenwashing”
This GE ad targets
environmental
sympathies.
What is the message
of the ad?

Not mentioned in
the ad: is they
only produced
20,000 of these
cars a year, while
continuing to
produce almost
80,000 F-series
trucks per month!
1.
2.
3.
4.
The “Glittering Generality:” Vague words that sound
nice but contain little informational content.
Common in politicians’ public addresses (yes, your
side too – all politicians’ speeches start to sound
the same after a while)
Delete the agent of a sentence – obscures
responsibility. Instead of US declared war, War was
declared.
Delete experiencer—imputes a harder fact. Instead
of “journalists estimated 10,000 at the
demonstration,” say “10,000 hit the streets.”
Renaming: Orwell’s “Ministry of Truth.” See also:
Pro-abortion instead of pro-choice and anti-choice
(or even anti-abortion) instead of pro-life.
HANDOUT
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a. Euphemisms: New words for old
(discredited) concepts. Examples:
Slum  “depressed socioeconomic area”
Invasion  “reinforced protective reaction strike”
Nuclear Accident: “incident” or “event”
Heated Argument  “full and frank discussion”
Rebels  “terrorists” or “freedom fighters”
“Water cure” (1899-1901)  “torture” and “war
crimes” (WW II, Korea, Vietnam/Cambodia) 
“waterboarding” (2002?-present)
◦ Torture  “enhanced Interrogation Techniques”
◦ “Massacre”  “collateral damage”
◦ All-Out Nuclear War  “strategic exchange”
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Words which have an innocuous definition,
but tap into associated non-innocuous
concepts or stereotypes
◦ Racially loaded words: “food stamps” or “welfare
recipient” (even though most are white), “gang
member,” “street thug,” “urban,” “quota,” “states’
rights,” “our folks,” “articulate,” etc.
◦ Ethnically-loaded terms: “real America(n),”
“Founding Fathers,” “bilingual,” etc.
◦ Gender-loaded terms: “hysterical,” “worker,”
“homemaker,” “queen”

Words (euphemisms) used to signal one
group without alarming others who may be
listening
◦ Dred Scott and abortion
◦ “Christian” as a subtype of Christian
◦ “Strict Constructionism” for “Judicial Conservatism”

May use words that are disproportionately
loaded for one group
◦ Gingrich: Obama “the most successful food stamp
president in American history”

Pretending to be someone we are not
◦ “Plain Folks” Strategy
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Misleadingly bolsters ethos of speaker
Examples:
◦ Michael Moore in Roger & Me

Nicely annotated and illustrated version
available at
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcus
e/classes/33d/33dTexts/SontagFascinFascis
m75.htm
1.
Fiction: The “mountain films”
a. Contrast strong mountains and those who can
conquer them with weak valley people
b. Mountains seen as mysterious or even magical
(climb represents spiritual ascent through
strength and purity)
c. Riefenstahl’s own film The Blue Light opposes the
creative spirituality of the heroine with the
rationalism of outsiders and the hate of those
who envy her ability
a.
b.
c.
Victory of the Faith (1933) – Focuses on
mass rallies and marches but flawed
Triumph of the Will (1935) – Full of symbols:
classical architecture, physical strength,
ideal bodies, mysterious leader, spiritual
devotion to the leader, identification of
“essence” of the people
Day of Freedom (1935) – Short film.

Again shows the “body perfect” – the only
flaws are from exertion itself
◦ Notable: Race is less relevant than “build”

Actual performance less important than
idealized performance (e.g. diving scenes)

Another film contrasting mountain purity with
lowland/valley corruption
a.
b.
c.
d.
Riefenstahl picked them because of looks
Old and disabled not filmed or
photographed (not part of essentialized
“authentic” Nuba society)
Emphasis on purity (especially sexual purity)
as the containment of vitality
Sontag: “The Last of the Nuba is about a
primitivist ideal: a portrait of a people
subsisting in a pure harmony with their
environment, untouched by ‘civilization.’”
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“the contrast between the clean and the
impure, the incorruptible and the defiled,
the physical and the mental, the joyful and
the critical”
“contempt for all that is reflective, critical,
and pluralistic”
Purity
Corruption
Beautiful
Ugly
Physical
Mental
Reverent
Critical
Spiritual
Rational
Rural
Urban
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On book burning: “The age of extreme Jewish
intellectualism has now ended, and the
success of the German revolution has again
given the right of way to the German spirit.”
“Fascist aesthetics…flow from (and justify) a
preoccupation with situations of control,
submissive behavior, extravagant effort, and
the endurance of pain... The relations of
domination and enslavement take the form of
a characteristic pageantry: the massing of
groups of people; the turning of people into
things; the multiplication or replication of
things; and the grouping of people/things
around an all-powerful, hypnotic leader-figure
or force. … Fascist art glorifies surrender, it
exalts mindlessness, it glamorizes death.”

“A bundle of rods (often
accompanied by an axe, which
symbolized power over lifeand-death) carried by Roman
officials as a symbol of
authority.”
http://home.uchicago.edu/~janie/fasces.
htm

he Lincoln
Memorial (1922)
uses the image
of fasces are
sculpted in the
front of his seat,
beneath his
hands.
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Entarte Kunst means
“degenerate art.”
◦ Art work that
adopted from
primitive forms, or in
otherways could
cause a
“degeneration” in the
(so-called) Aryan
spirit.
◦ This is contrasted
with the Nazi’s
preferred “Volkische”
art (populist, or “of
the people”).
◦ Ironically, the show
was exceptionally
popular, with 3
million people
viewing it.

In 1941, the
exhibit appeared
in 13 cities in
Germany and
Austria.
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The exhibit
purposefully
used poor
lighting.
On the walls
were slogans
such as:
◦ “Nature as seen
by sick minds.”
◦ “Incompetents
and charlatans.”

Joseph Goebbels,
the Nazi
Propaganda
Minister and an art
lover, visited the
show.
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The work of
Kirchner, a
German
Expressionist, was
included in the
exhibit as an
example of the
type of art the
Nazis considered
degenerate.
Ironically, Kirchner’s
“Bathers: was
initially approved
of by Joseph
Goebbels because
of its antimodernist
aesthetic.
However it fails to
promote Aryan
beauty.

Beckmann,
another
German
Expressionist,
also was
presented in
the exhibit.
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Another degenerate
style was abstract art.
Kandinsky, who
taught at the Bauhaus
from 19922 – 1933
(when the Nazis
closed it) created a
series of
“Compositions” prior
to WWI.
The first 3
“Compositions” were
confiscated and
displayed in the
exhibit. They were
later destroyed along
with many other
works from the
exhibition.

The Nazis were
also concerned
about degenerate
music.
◦ Notice the
stereotyping of the
black jazz musician,
including the Jewish
Star of David on his
lapel..
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This is a classic
example of “good”
Nazi art.
The composition is
classically structured,
the figures are strong
and masculine, and a
heroic golden light
shines from the
rowers.
Note that 1936 was
the year the Olympics
were held in Berlin,
and Janisch seems to
represent that event,
in which the Nazis
hoped to prove their
racial superiority.
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Wissel portrays another
favored theme of Nazi
painting, the good
German farm family.
Families were vital to
producing more soldiers
and workers for the
Reich, and farms had the
“honored” and critical
role of feeding the
nation’s warriors.
The painting also
reflects the Nazi’s
mythicization of rural,
primitive (non-modern)
life. The “re-generation”
takes them back to a
more idyllic, pastoral,
time.
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Junghanns also presents the
classic Nazi vision of a regeneration as a return to the
soil.
The romantic (antimodernist, anti-rational,
anti-intellectual) vision of
the Nazis is displayed in the
old-fashioned method of
plowing the earth. (Unlike
Soviet paintings, which
frequently feature tractors,
to emphasize the
Communists industrial
advances over the Czars).
Oddly, the Nazis were in fact
committed to maximized
efficiency through machine
labor. Their public image
and private reality were very
different.
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The Nazis had a very
sexualized political
ideology, which fused
with their vision of
superior Aryan beauty.
Images which
emphasized the beauty
of German women (and
German men, such as
Water Sport), especially
when done in a classical
style, are emblematic of
Nazi art.
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The Nazis also prized
sculpture.
Typically, Nazi sculpture
mimics classical styles,
and treats its subjects
as heroic figures (as
befits a “master race”).
Relay Runners is one of
the many poorly
executed pieces created
quickly to fill the empty
exhibition space left by
the confiscation and
destruction of
“degenerate” works.

Breker’s sculptural works
were of higher quality,
and so, in a disquieting
way, successfully
reinforce the Nazi image
of German superiority.
◦ (click for two more Breker
works)
The
Warrior
The
Preparedness
Guard Departs
1. Exercise: For each of the following, classify it
as “fascist” or “degenerate” based on the
fascist aesthetic
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Star Wars: Compare to Triumph of the Will
300
LOTR: Helm’s Deep and Pelennor Fields
Starship Troopers
Rocky IV
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Is a fascist aesthetic inherent in coverage of
some topics?
Is it fascist?
◦ Beware affirming the consequent:
 Fascists  art style, but does Art style  Fascism?
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To what extent do nonvisual elements
undercut or reinforce such an aesthetic?
What are the multiple messages sent by such
imagery?
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Example: Prelude to War
“The first casualty when war comes is Truth”
~ U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson, 1917
1. Usual features
a. Promotes the negative image of the “enemy”
b. Reinforces it with rhetoric about the
righteousness of own cause
c. War is sold as best for everyone except evil
people (enemy leaders, enemies as zombies, etc)
2. War propaganda usually intellectually
dishonest: principles used to demonize the
other are not used to judge the self
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1. The crisis: The reporting of a crisis which
negotiations appear unable to resolve.
Politicians, while calling for diplomacy, warn
of military retaliation. The media reports this
as “We’re on the brink of war”, or “War is
inevitable”, etc.
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2. The demonization of the enemy’s leader:
Comparing the leader with Hitler is a good
start because of the instant images that
Hitler’s name provokes.
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3. The demonization of the enemy as
individuals. For example, to suggest the
enemy is insane.
4. Atrocities: Even making up stories to whip
up and strengthen emotional reactions.

Ottosen identifies several key stages of a
military campaign to “soften up” public
opinion through the media in preparation for
an armed intervention.
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The Preliminary Stage—during which the
country concerned comes to the news,
portrayed as a cause for “mounting
concern” because of
poverty/dictatorship/anarchy;
The Justification Stage—during which big
news is produced to lend urgency to the
case for armed intervention to bring about
a rapid restitution of “normality”;
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The Implementation Stage—when pooling and
censorship provide control of coverage;
The Aftermath—during which normality is
portrayed as returning to the region, before it
once again drops down the news agenda.

In the 1991 Gulf War, a U.S. public relations
firm got a Kuwaiti Ambassador’s daughter to
pose as a nurse claiming she saw Iraqi troops
killing babies in hospitals. The purpose of
this was to create arousal and demonize Iraq
so war was more acceptable. More
information:
http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/Mid
dleEast/Iraq.asp
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Military control of information during war
time is also a major contributing factor to
propaganda, especially when the media go
along with it without question.
The military recognizes the values of media
and information control very well.
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Overloading the media with information
Ideological appeals
Spinning information
Withholding information
Co-option and Collusion

Sometimes knowingly, sometimes
unknowingly make a decision to be biased in
their reporting, in favor of the Coalition
troops. They travel with the forces; it’s a way
to get cooperation
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Journalists need the military for information
and protection
Journalists are supposed to objectively report
on the military
A journalist without information is an
unemployed journalist
1.
Decontextualizing violence: focusing on the
irrational without looking at the reasons for
unresolved conflicts and polarization.
“By drawing attention to one short but
bloody outburst of violence, an outburst
that is cast and investigated as unusual,
other periods may implicitly be rendered
normal.” – quote from a Palestinian page on
the Gaza conflict of 2006
1.
Decontextualizing violence: focusing on the
irrational without looking at the reasons for
unresolved conflicts and polarization.
Another example: Rwandan genocide as
“ethnic conflict.”
2. Dualism: reducing the number of parties in a
conflict to two, when often more are
involved. (Form of either/or fallacy). Such
stories ignore internal populations of
civilians who may not support either side,
the differences within each “side,” and such
outside or “external” forces as foreign
governments and transnational companies.
3. Manicheanism: portraying one side as good
and demonizing the other as “evil.”
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Examples:
Post-genocide writing dismissed the notion
of Tutsi massacres of Hutus and ignored the
Tutsi-on-Hutu genocide of 1972 in Burundi.
Rebels against tyrannical regimes often
portrayed as heroes, despite legitimate
concerns about them (Darfur, Libya,
Afghanistan’s Mujahideen, Communists, etc)
3. Manicheanism: portraying one side as good
and demonizing the other as “evil.”
4. Armageddon: presenting violence as
inevitable, omitting alternatives.
Example: “Christians/Jews and Muslims have
been fighting for a thousand years, so they
(the other or both sides) ‘only understand
force.’”
5. Focusing on individual acts of violence while
avoiding structural causes, like poverty,
government neglect and military or police
repression.  “Structural Violence”
6. Confusion: focusing only on the conflict
arena (i.e., the battlefield or location of
violent incidents) but not on the forces and
factors that influence the violence.
7. Excluding and omitting the bereaved, thus
never explaining why there are acts of
revenge and spirals of violence.
8. Failure to explore the causes of escalation
and the impact of media coverage itself.
9. Failure to explore the goals of outside
interventionists, especially big powers.
10. Failure to explore peace proposals and
offer images of peaceful outcomes.
11. Confusing cease-fires and negotiations
with actual peace.
12. Omitting reconciliation: conflicts tend to
reemerge if attention is not paid to efforts to
heal fractured societies. Omission reinforces
fatalism and security dilemmas (perceived
impossibility of cooperation)