Propaganda

1. Propaganda information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely tohelp or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation,etc.

2. 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, 2008.11.09http://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 Christian-Social 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" • "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

3. 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.

4. 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.”

5. Loaded Words That Play on ENVY LOADED WORDS ALTERNATIVE, MORE NEUTRAL WORDS wealthy prosperous cultured educated self-confident Assertive in control masterful • fat cat • Favored • Haughty • Snobbish • conceited, stuck-up • pushy • Aggressive • power mad

6. Loaded Words That Play on FEAR LOADED WORDS ALTERNATIVE, MORE NEUTRAL WORDS assertive self-confident Cautious circumspect discreet spontaneous Free-wheeling instinctive carefree • bully • aggressive • sneaky • underhanded • secret • out-of-control • impulsive • rash • reckless

7. 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".

8. 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.

9. 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".

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. LOADED LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT HISTORY • 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." • 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.

14. 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". • 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?" • 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. • "Emotional security" means "getting our own way." (page 115.)

15. LOADED QUESTIONS Trick questions force the respondent to either admit to an opinion or fact they do not share, or deny a factual premise. Leading questions that supply the answer in the question

16. 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]

17. 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.

18. LOADED QUESTIONSThe 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?"