12: 1984: Propaganda Techniques

 NB: See 1984 Major Assignment at 12: CURRENT ASSIGNMENTS. 

Arguments:

• Red Herring: presenting data or issues that are irrelevant to the argument at hand and then   claiming it validates the argument
• Reductio ad Hitlerum: persuading a target audience to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that idea is popular with groups hated by the target audience; eg. if you support Obamacare then the terrorists win
• Ad hominem arguments: attacking the opponent, not their ideas
• Straw man: an argument based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position. To “attack a straw man” is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting a superficially similar proposition (the “straw man”), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.
• Black and white fallacy: two options are given; eg. “you are with us or against us”
• Bandwagon: “everyone else thinks like we do” and “eventually we will win”

Communication:

• Intentional vagueness: generalities that are deliberately vague so that the audience assumes the speaker agrees with what he thinks; the listener is fooled because he/she doesn’t bother to analyze what is said
• Oversimplification: favourable generalities are used to provide simple answers for complex social, political, economic, military problems; eg. stopping  immigration will create jobs
• Pensée unique: discussion limited by overly simplistic phrases or arguments
• Glittering generalities: emotionally appealing words applied to a product or idea with no concrete reason or analysis
• Thought terminating cliché: a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance

Truth and Lies:

• Quotes out of context: selective editing of quotes to change meaning; eg. using quotes taken out of context  against a political candidate
• Rationalization: using favourable generalities to rationalize questionable acts or beliefs; eg. the generalization that  “torture is necessary for national security”
• Disinformation: creation or deletion of information from public records; making a false record of an event or the actions of a person or organization, including forgery of photographs, motion pictures, broadcasts, sound recordings, printed documents, emails, etc.
• Half truth: deceptive statements that may be partly true or only part of the whole truth; could include double meaning or evasion or misrepresentation
• Big lie: repeating a false version of events over and over until people don’t remember the real event
• Direct order: giving only one choice as if it is the only choice; eg. we must go to war
• Unstated assumption: This technique is used when the idea the propagandist wants to plant would seem less credible if explicitly stated; the concept is instead repeatedly assumed or implied

  Propaganda:

• Repetition: a message is continuously propagated in order to take hold within the  consciousness of the whole country; eg. jingles, advertising, images placed on billboards, etc.
• Imagery: propaganda is embedded within appealing imagery; could be pictorial or descriptive; eg. movies and music
• Slogan: a brief, striking phrase that may include labelling or stereotyping; usually intended to be an emotional appeal
• Flag waving: justifying an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic and benefit a group, country, or idea
• Simplicity: message is designed to appeal to lowest intellectual level; eg. sound bites on TV news, tweets, headline news. Lowers level of attention span, reinforces level of attention span. Lower attention span = less ability to discern deception.

   Appeal to emotions:

• Name calling: inciting fears or prejudice in the audience by using terms that have a loaded meaning; eg. terrorist, murderer, anti-American
• Euphoria: using an event to generate extreme happiness or boost morale; declaring a holiday, making luxury items available, having a parade or ceremony
• Sentiment: message  containing as little detail as possible; instead is designed in such a way that it appeals to some strong emotion or sentiment—such as sex or sympathy
• Appeal to fear: instill anxiety and panic in the general population
• Loaded language: using words with a strong connotation to influence an audience so they have a gut level reaction; eg. something is a reform instead of just a change

 Treatment of those in opposition:

• Scapegoating: assigning blame to an individual or group; this distracts attention from genuine problems and bonds people dysfunctionally
• Labelling: a type of sloppy prejudice; opposing parties make assumptions about all members of that party; eg. all liberals are …; all conservatives are …
• Demonizing the enemy: creating a scapegoat within society for citizens to hate; eg. Jews in WWII, Muslims after9/11, Japanese in WWII
• Stereotyping: an attempt to arouse prejudice in an audience by focusing on the undesirable traits of a social group or country; this could include stereotypical racial features
• Appeal to prejudice: used negatively and positively; eg. “good” citizens and “bad” citizens

Authority:

• Testimonial: Quotations given in or out of context to support or reject a given policy, action, program, or personality. The reputation of the person giving the testimonial is most significant; the target audience identifies with the speaker and accepts his or her opinions and beliefs as his own.
• Appeal to authority: use of politicians, celebrities, authorities to support ideas, course of action
• Plain folks/common man: the idea that there is a typical, down to earth citizen; eg. politicians who are wealthy campaigning in casual clothes, eating hot dogs, etc.
• Virtue words: words in the value system of the target audience that produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue; eg. peace, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, truth, family values
• Transfer/association: technique that involves projecting the positive or negative qualities of one person, entity, object, or value onto another to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. It evokes an emotional response, which stimulates the target to identify with recognized authorities. Often highly visual, this technique often utilizes symbols (eg. flags, swastikas)