One of my favorite personal pasttimes is spotting propaganda. "Wow", you must be thinking, "this guy must be a hoot at parties!". Well, that may or may not be true, but it doesn't affect the notion that spotting propaganda in our culture is a mental exercise worthy of your status as "awake to the world around you".
Recently, I came across a HUGE stash of mid-20th century propaganda from a huge variety of sources: the Nazi war machine, the US war machine, the Soviet war machine, Communists, Capitalists, Socialists, Fascists, and everyone in between. Just going through the collection of images once was a workout, but it really helped in sharpening my propaganda-sniffing skills.
You see, the propaganda of today in so subtle that you really have to know what you're looking for if you ever expect to spot it. In the old day, propaganda as a method of social control was overt and made little to no effort to mask its intentions. Just check out the above image from the Allies, and the image below from the Nazi's; both are appeals to emotion in a effort to sway your opinion one way or the other.
Recently, I came across a HUGE stash of mid-20th century propaganda from a huge variety of sources: the Nazi war machine, the US war machine, the Soviet war machine, Communists, Capitalists, Socialists, Fascists, and everyone in between. Just going through the collection of images once was a workout, but it really helped in sharpening my propaganda-sniffing skills.
You see, the propaganda of today in so subtle that you really have to know what you're looking for if you ever expect to spot it. In the old day, propaganda as a method of social control was overt and made little to no effort to mask its intentions. Just check out the above image from the Allies, and the image below from the Nazi's; both are appeals to emotion in a effort to sway your opinion one way or the other.
I read a great quote the other day, something to the effect of, "It's not about trying to find the propaganda around you, it's about trying to spot what ISN'T propaganda". So, how do you spot propaganda around you? As usual, one of the best places to start would be the Wikipedia article on the topic (excerpted below). This article is very well complemented by the Wikipedia article on logical fallacies. While I realize that this may not be everyone's cup of tea, it serves as excellent mind-gymnastics that any reasonably awake intellectual would love to engage in.
TECHNIQUES OF PROPAGANDA GENERATION (or see how many of these you can spot in you everyday life!
TECHNIQUES OF PROPAGANDA GENERATION (or see how many of these you can spot in you everyday life!
- Ad Hominem: A Latin phrase which has come to mean attacking your opponent, as opposed to attacking their arguments.
- Appeal to authority: Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position, idea, argument, or course of action. Appealing to authority is a valid type of argument if the authority being appealed to is a noted expert in the area in question. However, if an argument, say on a medical issue, is supported by appending the support of a political or military authority, it may not be a valid form of argument.
- Appeal to fear: Appeals to fear seek to build support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population, for example, Joseph Goebbels exploited Theodore Kaufman's Germany Must Perish! to claim that the Allies sought the extermination of the German people.
- Appeal to Prejudice: Using loaded or emotive terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition. For example, the "A reasonable, community-minded person 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."
- Argumentum ad nauseam: This argument approach uses tireless repetition of an idea. An idea, especially a simple slogan, that is repeated enough times, may begin to be taken as the truth. This approach works best when media sources are limited and controlled by the propagator.
- Bandwagon: Bandwagon and "inevitable-victory" appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to join in and take the course of action that "everyone else is taking."
- Inevitable victory: invites those not already on the bandwagon to join those already on the road to certain victory. Those already or at least partially on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is their best course of action.
- Join the crowd: This technique reinforces people's natural desire to be on the winning side. This technique is used to convince the audience that a program is an expression of an irresistible mass movement and that it is in their best interest to join.
- Black-and-White fallacy: Presenting only two choices, with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice. (e.g., "You are either with us, or you are with the evil enemy")
- Common man: The "'plain folks'" or "common man" approach attempts to convince the audience that the propagandist's positions reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating in the common manner and style of the target audience. Propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms (and clothe their message in face-to-face and audiovisual communications) in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person. For example, a propaganda leaflet may make an argument on a macroeconomic issue, such as unemployment insurance benefits, using everyday terms: "given that the country has little 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 tight period, when you should be tightening your belt." While this analogy between a nation's macroeconomic tools and household finances is appealing, it is false; in fact, most macroeconomists argue that unemployment benefits should be paid during a recession.
- Demonizing the “enemy”: Making individuals from the opposing nation or those who support the opposing viewpoint appear to be subhuman, worthless, or immoral, through suggestion or false accusations.
- Direct order: This technique hopes to simplify the decision making process by using images and words to tell the audience exactly what actions to take, eliminating any other possible choices. Authority figures can be used to give the order, overlapping it with the Appeal to authority technique, but not necessarily. 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. Euphoria can be created by declaring a holiday, making luxury items available, or mounting a military parade with marching bands and patriotic messages.
- Falsifying information: The creation or deletion of information from public records, in the purpose of making a false record of an event or the actions of a person or organization. Pseudosciences are often used to falsify information.
- Flag-waving: An attempt to justify an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic, or in some way benefit a group, country, or idea. The feeling of patriotism which this technique attempts to inspire may diminish or entirely omit one's capability for rational examination of the matter in question.
- Glittering generalities: Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing words applied to a product or idea, but which present no concrete argument or analysis. A famous example is the campaign slogan "Ford has a better idea!"
- Intentional vagueness: Generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations. The intention is to move the audience by use of undefined phrases, without analyzing their validity or attempting to determine their reasonableness or application. The intent is to cause people to draw their own interpretations rather than simply being presented with an explicit idea. In trying to "figure out" the propaganda, the audience foregoes judgment of the ideas presented. Their validity, reasonableness and application is not considered.
- Obtain disapproval or Reductio ad Hitlerum: This technique is used to persuade a target audience to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that the idea is popular with groups hated, feared, or held in contempt by the target audience. Thus if a group which supports a certain policy is led to believe that undesirable, subversive, or contemptible people support the same policy, then the members of the group may decide to change their original position.
- Oversimplification: Favorable generalities are used to provide simple answers to complex social, political, economic, or military problems.
- Quotes out of Context: Selective editing of quotes which can change meanings. Political documentaries designed to discredit an opponent or an opposing political viewpoint often make use of this technique.
- Rationalization: Individuals or groups may use favorable generalities to rationalize questionable acts or beliefs. Vague and pleasant phrases are often used to justify such actions or beliefs.
- Red herring: Presenting data or issues that, while striking or interesting, are irrelevant to the argument at hand, and then claiming that it validates your argument.
- Scapegoating: Assigning blame to an individual or group, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties and/or distracting attention from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigned.
- Slogans: A slogan is a brief, striking phrase that may include labeling and stereotyping. Although slogans may be enlisted to support reasoned ideas, in practice they tend to act only as emotional appeals. Opponents of the US's invasion and occupation of Iraq use the slogan "blood for oil" to suggest that the invasion and its human losses was done to access Iraq's oil riches. On the other hand, "hawks" who argue that the US should continue to fight in Iraq use the slogan "cut and run" to suggest that it would be cowardly or weak to withdraw from Iraq. Similarly, the names of the military campaigns, such as "enduring freedom" or "just cause", may also be regarded to be slogans, devised to influence people.
- Stereotyping or Name Calling or Labeling: This technique attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign as something the target audience fears, hates, loathes, or finds undesirable. For instance, reporting on a foreign country or social group may focus on the stereotypical traits that the reader expects, even though they are far from being representative of the whole country or group; such reporting often focuses on the anecdotal.
- Testimonial: Testimonials are quotations, in or out of context, especially cited to support or reject a given policy, action, program, or personality. The reputation or the role (expert, respected public figure, etc.) of the individual giving the statement is exploited. The testimonial places the official sanction of a respected person or authority on a propaganda message. This is done in an effort to cause the target audience to identify itself with the authority or to accept the authority's opinions and beliefs as its own. See also, damaging quotation
- Transfer: Also known as Association, this is a technique of projecting positive or negative qualities (praise or blame) of a person, entity, object, or value (an individual, group, organization, nation, patriotism, etc.) to 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 (for example, the Swastika used in Nazi Germany, originally a symbol for health and prosperity) superimposed over other visual images. An example of common use of this technique in America is for the President to be filmed or photographed in front of the American flag.
- Unstated assumption: This technique is used when the propaganda concept that the propagandist intends to transmit would seem less credible if explicitly stated. The concept is instead repeatedly assumed or implied.
- Virtue words: These are words in the value system of the target audience which tend to produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue. Peace, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, etc. are virtue words. See ""Transfer"".
Oh, and at the risk of sounding like a complete nut, you really should turn off your television.
