Transcript Propaganda - Rowan County Schools

Propaganda
information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely
tohelp or harm a person, group, movement, institution,
nation,etc.
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In his Rhetoric, Aristotle acknowledges that it would be better if we could
make our case without either browbeating or flattering the audience; nothing
should matter except "the bare facts." Yet he laments, "other things affect the
result considerably, owing to the defects of our hearers."
— Stanley Fish, in his blog "Think Again" in the New York Times, 2008.11.09
http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/psychology-and-torture/?apage=1
"I soon realized that the correct use of propaganda is a true art which has
remained practically unknown to the bourgeois parties. Only the ChristianSocial movement, especially in Lüger's time, achieved a certain virtuosity on
this instrument, to which it owed many of its successes."
— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Volume 1, Chapter 6, "War Propaganda"
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"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made
to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most
wretched sort of life as paradise."
— Adolf Hitler
"Propaganda," Goebbels once wrote, "has absolutely nothing to do with truth."
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
— George Orwell
"This election is not about issues," Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign
manager said this week. "This election is about a composite view of what
people take away from these candidates." That's a scary thought. For the
takeaway is so often base, a reflection more of people's fears and insecurities
than of our hopes and dreams.
— Judith Warner, New York Times, September 4, 2008
LOADED LANGUAGE
language intended to produce
an emotional response in the
mind of the audience, in order
to directly affect their views on
a topic.
LOADED LANGUAGE
1. Fair Language: “You have asked for my views on
the man named Mr. Smithers. He has been a
valued employee here for years. If you can find a
position for him in the management sector of your
company, I will be pleased.”
2. Loaded Language: “You have asked for my views
on that creature named Smithers. He has been a
clinging nuisance here for ages. If you can find a
crevice for him in the woodwork of your
sweatshop, I will be relieved.”
Loaded Words That Play on ENVY
LOADED
WORDS
ALTERNATIVE, MORE
NEUTRAL WORDS
 fat cat
 wealthy
 Favored
 prosperous
 Haughty
 cultured
 Snobbish
 educated
 conceited, stuck-up
 self-confident
 pushy
 Assertive
 Aggressive
 in control
 power mad
 masterful
Loaded Words That Play on FEAR
LOADED
WORDS
ALTERNATIVE, MORE
NEUTRAL WORDS
 bully
 assertive
 aggressive
 self-confident
 sneaky
 Cautious
 underhanded
 circumspect
 secret
 discreet
 out-of-control
 spontaneous
 impulsive
 Free-wheeling
 rash
 instinctive
 reckless
 carefree
Examples of loaded language in
Politics.
 The "Defense of Marriage Act" intentionally invokes the
image that marriage is being attacked, rather than a
more straightforward name like "The Marriage for
Heterosexual Couples Only Act".
Examples of loaded language in
Politics.
 The Estate Tax, which is only levied on very large
bequests, was spun and renamed as the "Death Tax",
because the listener would assume it was a tax on
anyone who died (well, on their survivors), without
realizing it only applies to a very small number of
people.
Examples of loaded language in
Politics.
 The phrase "No Child Left Behind" emphasizes the
innocence of children, and the feeling of isolation at
being left behind, rather than the same program which
could have been called "Helping students pass
standardized tests succeed in school".
Examples of loaded language in
Politics.
 The "USA PATRIOT Act" is a (brutally forced) acronym
for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing
Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism Act, but due to the title, it implies that those
opposed to the Act are inherently unpatriotic.
Examples of loaded language in
Politics.
 The abortion debate invariably evokes emotionally
charged language and questionable analogies.
Opponents of abortion describe it as "child murder" or
"infanticide", and describe themselves as "pro-life",
implying a false dichotomy in which those who do not
agree with them are seen as being opposed to life itself.
Similarly, the pro-choice side loads its position to make
the other side appear as if it is against freedom,
although there is some evidence that this is the case.
Examples of loaded language in
Politics.
 Of course, everyone's favorite is "family values", which
immediately invokes the feelings of warmth, security,
honesty and support that a family brings. Even though
the term really means a few vicious pet social issues hatred of gays, being anti-abortion, and restricting roles
for women.
LOADED LANGUAGE
THROUGHOUT HISTORY
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Adolf Hitler and the Nazis routinely invented euphemistic phrases to disguise what they were
doing, like the "Special Handling" that they gave the Jews, sending them to the "Final
Solution." "Guest workers" were really foreigners who had been kidnapped at gunpoint and
forced into slave labor brigades. Zyklon B, the poison gas used to kill millions of Jews, was
called "material for the resettlement of Jews".Sometimes, the euphemisms became comical.
By the end of World War Two, the Germans had 30 euphemisms for "retreat", including
"planned withdrawal, successful disengagement, elastic defense, mobile defense,
retrocessive maneuver, withdrawing maneuver, unencircling maneuver, according to plan,
shortening of the front, systematic evacuation, without enemy pressure, undisturbed by the
enemy, and withdrawal to the enemy's surprise."
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Likewise, Mao Tse Tung sent his enemies to slave labor on remote farms for "re-education"
so that they would learn to "blossom properly." And all of the Commumists were notorious
for "liberating" people, like the Tibetans, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians, who did not
wish to be "liberated" by the Chinese People's Army or the Soviet Army. And now, of course,
George W. Bush is "liberating" Iraq in the same manner.

Throughout the entire second half of the twentieth century, various United States Presidents
used the term "police action", rather than "war", to get around limitations on Presidential
powers, and to avoid having to tell the public that we actually were in yet another war.

The most outrageous one I've heard recently is "aggressive accounting practices". That's
what Enron used to do things like turn $3 billion of very real losses into $1 billion of phony
paper profits, which made the stock price rise, which was very convenient for the executives
who were happily dumping their worthless shares of Enron stock on an unsuspecting public
in the world's biggest Pump and Dump stock swindle... "Aggressive accounting
practices" indeed.
LOADED LANGUAGE at
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

In Alcoholics Anonymous terminology, the word "sobriety" doesn't mean
"not drinking" or "an unintoxicated state"; it has this bombastic
redefinition: "A special state of Grace gained by working the Steps and
maintaining absolute abstinence. It is characterized by feelings of
Serenity and Gratitude. It is a state of living according to God's will, not
one's own. It is sanity.“

"Recovery" does not mean rebuilding your health, mind, body, and life
while not drinking; it means going to A.A. meetings, doing The Twelve
Steps, and abstaining from alcohol. According to A.A. dogma, someone
can't be recovering from alcohol if he isn't going to A.A. meetings and
doing The Twelve Steps; he's "only abstaining".
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By the same broken logic, he's "only dry" but not "sober". According to
A.A., you can't enjoy a period of "sobriety" without going to A.A.
meetings. Thus, a cultish A.A. member can ask someone, "Do you really
have a year of sobriety, or are you only abstaining from drinking?"
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Likewise, a “dry drunk" is someone who does not drink alcohol, but who
refuses to join A.A. and do the Twelve Steps. He is supposedly still acting
like a drunk man, exhibiting all of the objectionable behavior of a
drunkard, even though he does not drink alcohol, simply because he
won't conform to the A.A. program.
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"Emotional security" means "getting our own way." (page 115.)
LOADED QUESTIONS
1. Trick questions force the respondent to either admit to an
opinion or fact they do not share, or deny a factual premise.
2. Leading questions that supply the answer in the question
 Loaded questions often contain assumptions, whereby
the question is directed in a way that a straight answer
needs that the person answering accept that which the
questioner is assuming.
 Where did you hide the gun?
 [assumes that you hid the gun]
 How often do you do that?
 [assumes that you do it at least sometimes]
LOADED QUESTIONS
The Trick Question
 The most famous example of a trick question like this is:
"When did you stop beating your wife?" Asked in such a
way, there is simply no way to answer the question if
you have never beaten your wife.
 An example of forced opinion: "So, you are going to vote
for that lazy Obama?" If one says yes, they admit to
Obama being lazy, if they say no, they are lying about
voting.
 An example of forced fact: "So you are one of those
god-denying evolutionists?" The interrogee may think
evolution is a fact, but also could be, say, a Christian.
LOADED QUESTIONS
The Leading Question
 They often invoke arguments of association such as:
 "Smart people have been shown to like Obama. Do you like
Obama?"
 "It's been proven that good and righteous Christians such as
yourself, like Banana Cream Pie, do you like Banana Cream Pie?"
While these examples are obvious, if the topic is in an area one is
unfamiliar with, and the "associations" use what appear to be
expert opinions, one may well be moved to agree without even
realizing what one has done.
 Amendment 2 in Colorado was a prime example of this. Few
people understood the language of the bill, including many
people in the legal profession.
Polls would say to people "Experts analyzing this bill agree that it
protects workers like yourself from being the victim of special
rights groups. Workers all over the state are saying they feel
threatened by this move, since it means someone can be hired
who isn't qualified simply due to these special rights. Knowing
that, and understanding how hard it is today to find a job, are
you with us in our support of Amendment 2?"