Posted on 06/04/2019 10:29:26 AM PDT by Jagermonster
Are you a propagandist? If you write nonfiction intended to persuade, yes, by a broad definition, you almost certainly are. Here are fifty terms for, and definitions of, forms of propaganda, at least one of which such writers will likely employ in a given piece of content.
Propaganda (the word is from a New Latin term meaning “propagating,” synonymous in this connotation with publicizing) has been defined as “communication intended to shape perceptions, manipulate cognition, and direct behavior.” That’s a broad definition — a narrower one would limit propaganda to willful, prejudicial manipulation of information — but it helps writers and readers understand that because almost any content can be considered propaganda, they must be alert to the subtext of almost any content they produce or consume.
1. Ad hominem: attacking opponents rather than opponents’ ideas or principles
2. Ad nauseam: repeating ideas relentlessly so that the audience becomes inured to them
3. Appeal to authority: use of authority figures (or perceived authority figures such as celebrities) to support ideas
4. Appeal to fear: exploitation of audience anxieties or concerns
5. Appeal to prejudice: exploitation of an audience’s desire to believe that it is virtuous or morally or otherwise superior
6. Bandwagon: exploitation of an audience’s desire to conform by encouraging adherence to or acceptance of idea that is supposedly garnering widespread or universal support
7. Beautiful people: depiction of attractive famous people or happy people to associate success or happiness with adherence to an idea or cause or purchase of a product
8. Black-and-white fallacy: presentation of only two alternatives, one of which is identified as undesirable
9. Classical conditioning: association of an idea with another stimulus
10. Cognitive dissonance: using a favorable stimulus to prompt acceptance of an unfavorable one, or producing an unfavorable association
11. Common man: adoption of mannerisms and/or communication of principles that suggest affinity with the average person
12. Cult of personality: creation of an idealized persona, or exploitation of an existing one, as a spokesperson for an idea or a cause
13. Demonizing the enemy: dehumanizing or otherwise denigrating opponents to sway opinion
14. Dictat: mandating adherence to an idea or cause by presenting it as the only viable alternative
15. Disinformation: creating false accounts or records, or altering or removing existing ones, to engender support for or opposition to an idea or cause
16. Door in the face: seeking compliance with a request by initially requesting a greater commitment and then characterizing the desired outcome as a compromise or a minor inconvenience
17. Euphoria: generating happiness or high morale by staging a celebration or other motivating event or offer
18. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt: disseminating false or negative information to undermine adherence to an undesirable belief or opinion
19. Flag waving: appealing to nationalism or patriotism
20. Foot in the door: manipulation by encouraging a small gift or sacrifice, which establishes a bond that can be exploited to extract more significant compliance
21. Glittering generalities: applying emotionally appealing but vague and meaningless words to an idea or cause
22. Half-truth: making a statement that is partly true or only part of the truth, or is otherwise deceptive
23. Inevitable victory: assurance of uncommitted audience members and reassurance of committed audience members that an idea or cause will prevail
24. Join the crowd: communication intended to persuade the audience to support an idea or cause because it is or will be the dominant paradigm
25. Labeling or name-calling: using euphemistic or dysphemistic terms to encourage a positive or negative perception of a person, an idea, or a cause
26. Latitudes of acceptance: introducing an extreme point of view to encourage acceptance of a more moderate stance, or establishing a barely moderate stance and gradually shifting to an extreme position
27. The lie: false or distorted information that justifies an action or a belief and/or encourages acceptance of it
28. Love bombing: isolation of the target audience from general society within an insular group that devotes attention and affection to the target audience to encourage adherence to an idea or cause
29. Managing the news: influencing news media by timing messages to one’s advantage, reinterpreting controversial or unpopular actions or statements (also called spinning), or repeating insubstantial or inconsequential statements that ignore a problem (also called staying on message)
30. Milieu control: using peer or social pressure to engender adherence to an idea or cause; related to brainwashing and mind control
31. Obfuscation: communication that is vague and ambiguous, intended to confuse the audience as it seeks to interpret the message, or to use incomprehensibility to exclude a wider audience
32. Operant conditioning: indoctrination by presentation of attractive people expressing opinions or buying products
33. Oversimplification: offering generalities in response to complex questions
34. Pensée unique (French for “single thought”): repression of alternative viewpoints by simplistic arguments
35. Quotes out of context: selective use of quotations to alter the speaker’s or writer’s intended meaning or statement of opinion
36. Rationalization: use of generalities or euphemisms to justify actions or beliefs
37. Red herring: use of irrelevant data or facts to fallaciously validate an argument
38. Reductio ad Hitlerum: persuasion of an audience to change its opinion by identifying undesirable groups as adherents of the opinion, thus associating the audience with such groups
39. Repetition: repeated use of a word, phrase, statement, or image to influence the audience
40. Scapegoating: blaming a person or a group for a problem so that those responsible for it are assuaged of guilt and/or to distract the audience from the problem itself and the need to fix it
41. Selective truth: restrictive use of data or facts to sway opinion that might not be swayed if all the data or facts were given
42. Sloganeering: use of brief, memorable phrases to encapsulate arguments or opinions on an emotional rather than a logical level
43. Stereotyping: incitement of prejudice by reducing a target group, such as a segment of society or people adhering to a certain religion, to a set of undesirable traits
44. Straw man: misrepresentation or distortion of an undesirable argument or opinion, or misidentifying an undesirable persona or an undesirable single person as representative of that belief, or oversimplifying the belief
45. Testimonial: publicizing of a statement by an expert, authority figure, or celebrity in support of an idea, cause, or product in order to prompt the audience to identify with the person and support the idea or cause or buy the product
46. Third party: use of a supposedly impartial person or group, such as a journalist or an expert, or a group falsely represented as a grassroots organization, to support an idea or cause or recommend a product
47. Thought-terminating cliché: use of a truism to stifle dissent or validate faulty logic
48. Transfer: association of an entity’s positive or negative qualities with another entity to suggest that the latter entity embodies those qualities
49. Unstated assumption: implicit expression of an idea or cause by communication of related concepts without expressing the idea or cause
50. Virtue words: expression of words with positive connotations to associate an idea or cause with the self-perceived values of the audience
No, I never saw that, but LOL.
Do they teach this in journalism school? If not, then what do they teach?
Number 35 was used to slander and lie about the Markle comment Trump made.
Examine the advertising or common argumentation in favor of your favorite product, ideology, politician, etc. for examples of the dishonest techniques presented here.
Is it "OK" to use dishonest "propaganda" techniques to support something of which you approve?
Most everything written today is a form of propaganda, including 90% of the conservative crap posted as well.
And the masses are eating it up.
This has been going on for centuries.
It appears we have a small fan club here.
(hehe)
Meanwhile, I think I need some Heterodyne Coffee. If only I could order some (sigh)
Vas you dere, Chollie?
Although implicit in others listed, I do not specifically see a common one: conflating one thing with another.
Unfortunately, most people do not understand that phrase from a perspective of argument and debate (understandably, given vernacular language).
“Unfortunately, most people do not understand that phrase from a perspective of argument and debate (understandably, given vernacular language).”
Sadly, you are correct.
By the way, do you still beat your wife?
Thanks Jagermonster.
Hysterical ‘Global Warming’ folks use every last one on the list...
[snip] Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to. [/snip]
Dr. Theodore Dalrymple: Our Culture, What’s Left Of It
interviewed by Jamie Glazov | Frontpage | August 31, 2005
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=7445
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