Propaganda Techniques Adapted from Wikipedia Ad hominem ( “to the person”) A Lan phrase which has come to mean aacking your opponent, as opposed to aacking their arguments. Ex. "Your fashion opinion isn't valid; you can't even afford new shoes." Ad nauseam (“to the point of nausea”) or Repe==on This argument approach uses =reless repe==on of an idea. An idea, especially a simple slogan, that is repeated enough =mes, may begin to be taken as the truth. This approach works best when media sources are limited and controlled by the propagator. Ex. Appeal to authority Appeals to authority; cite prominent figures to support a posi=on, idea, argument, or course of ac=on. Ex. “Even the President has smoked pot!” Appeal to fear Appeals to fear seek to build support by ins=lling anxie=es and panic in the general populaon. Ex. Joseph Goebbels exploited Theodore N. Kaufman's Germany Must Perish! to claim that the Allies sought the exterminaon of the German people. Appeal to prejudice • Using loaded or emo=ve terms to aach value or moral goodness to believing the proposion. • Ex: "Any hard-working taxpayer would have to agree that those who do not work, and who do not support the community do not deserve the community's support through social assistance." Bandwagon Bandwagon and "inevitable-victory" appeals aempt to persuade the target audience to join in and take the course of ac=on that "everyone else is taking”. Black-and-White fallacy • Presen=ng only two choices, with the product or idea being propagated as the be?er choice. • Ex. "You are either with us, or you are with the enemy" Beau=ful people • The type of propaganda that deals with famous people or depicts arac=ve, happy people. This makes other people think that if they buy a product or follow a certain ideology, they too will be happy or successful. • This is more used in adver=sing for products, instead of poli=cal reasons Big Lie • The repeated ar=culaon of a complex of events that jus=fy subsequent ac=on. The descrip=ons of these events have elements of truth, and the "big lie" generalizaons merge and eventually supplant the public's accurate percep=on of the underlying events. Ex. AZer World War I the German “Stab in the back” explanaon of the cause of their defeat became a jus=ficaon for Nazi re-militarizaon and revanchist aggression. Cliché An expression, idea, or element of an ar=s=c work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier =me it was considered meaningful or novel. Ex. “We were thick as thieves” “Winning is everything” “When push came to shove…” Common man • The "'plain folks'" or "common man" approach aempts to convince the audience that the propagandist's posi=ons reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicang in the common manner and style of the target audience. • Ex: “Given that the country has li?le money during this recession, we should stop paying unemployment benefits to those who do not work, because that is like maxing out all your credit cards during a =ght period, when you should be =ghtening your belt." Demonizing the enemy • Making individuals from the opposing naon, from a different ethnic group, or those who support the opposing viewpoint appear to be subhuman. Direct order This technique hopes to simplify the decision making process by using images and words to tell the audience exactly what ac=ons to take, eliminang any other possible choices. Authority figures can be used to give the order, overlapping it with the Appeal to authority technique, but not necessarily. • Ex.The Uncle Sam "I want you" image is an example of this technique. Euphoria • The use of an event that generates euphoria or happiness, or using an appealing event to boost morale. • Ex. Euphoria can be created by declaring a holiday, making luxury items available, or moun=ng a military parade with marching bands and patrio=c messages. Disinformaon The creaon or dele=on of informaon from public records, in the purpose of making a false record of an event or the ac=ons of a person or organizaon, including outright forgery of photographs, mo=on pictures, broadcasts, and sound recordings as well as printed documents. Flag-waving An aempt to jus=fy an ac=on on the grounds that doing so will make one more patrio=c, or in some way benefit a group, country, or idea. The feeling of patrio=sm which this technique aempts to inspire may not necessarily diminish or en=rely omit one's capability for raonal examinaon of the maer in queson. Gli?ering generali=es Gli?ering generali=es are emo=onally appealing words applied to a product or idea, but which present no concrete argument or analysis. Ex: the campaign slogan "Ford has a be?er idea!" Guilt by associaon or Labeling / Stereotyping • By creang a 'label' or 'category' or 'fac=on' of a populaon, it is much easier to make an example of these larger bodies, because they can upliZ or defame the Mark without actually incurring legal-defamaon. • Ex: "Liberal" is a negave label intended to diminish the perceived credibility of a par=cular Mark. By taking a displeasing argument presented by a Mark, the propagandist can quote that person, and then aack 'liberals' in an aempt to both (1) create a poli=cal bale-ax of unaccountable aggression and (2) diminish the quality of the Mark Half-truth • A half-truth is a decep=ve statement which may come in several forms and includes some element of truth. The statement might be partly true, the statement may be totally true but only part of the whole truth, or it may u=lize some decep=ve element, such as improper punctuaon, or double meaning, especially if the intent is to deceive, evade blame or misrepresent the truth. • Ex: "You should not trust Peter with your children. I once saw him smack a child with his open hand." In this example the statement could be true, but Peter may have slapped the child on the back because he was choking. Inten=onal vagueness • Generali=es are deliberately vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretaons. The inten=on is to move the audience by use of undefined phrases, without analyzing their validity or aemp=ng to determine their reasonableness or applicaon. The intent is to cause people to draw their own interpretaons rather than simply being presented with an explicit idea. In trying to "figure out" the propaganda, the audience forgoes judgment of the ideas presented. Their validity, reasonableness and applicaon may s=ll be considered. Obtain disapproval or Reduc=o ad Hitlerum • trying to refute an opponent's view by comparing it to a view that would be held by Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party. • Ex. “Having police at demonstraons is just like Nazism.” Oversimplificaon • Favorable generali=es are used to provide simple answers to complex social, poli=cal, economic, or military problems. • Ex. “School shoo=ngs are clearly caused by playing violent video games.” Quotes out of Context • Selec=ve edi=ng of quotes which can change meanings. Poli=cal documentaries designed to discredit an opponent or an opposing poli=cal viewpoint oZen make use of this technique. • Ex: "I'm not concerned about the very poor." (Mi? Romney interview with Soledad O'Brien on CNN, Feb. 1, 2012) Name-calling • Propagandists use the name-calling technique to incite fears and arouse prejudices in their hearers in the intent that the bad names will cause hearers to construct a negave opinion about a group or set of beliefs or ideas that the propagandist would wish hearers to denounce. • “Barack Obama is a socialist.” Red herring • Presen=ng data or issues that, while compelling, are irrelevant to the argument at hand, and then claiming that it validates the argument. Tes=monial Tes=monials are quotaons, in or out of context, especially cited to support or reject a given policy, ac=on, program, or personality. The reputaon or the role (expert, respected public figure, etc.) of the individual giving the statement is exploited. Transfer or Associaon • this is a technique of projec=ng posi=ve or negave quali=es (praise or blame) of a person, en=ty, object, or value (an individual, group, organizaon, naon, patrio=sm, etc.) to another to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. .