Propaganda...Recognize It, Protect Yourself...Use it for Good
By Allen Loren
What is Propaganda and how did it get started?
We believe propaganda is nothing more than an attempt at persuasion. All propaganda is used for is to convince someone else to do what you want them to do. Buy the product. Buy the idea. Join the movement. etc.
Edward L. Bernays (some call him the father of Propaganda in the USA) in his book, Public Relations said, “the term 'propaganda' was introduced when Pope Gregory XIII established a Committee for the Propagation of the Faith to found seminars and print catechisms and other religious works in foreign countries. Subsequently, Pope Urban VIII (11623-1644J) founded the College of Propaganda to educate priests. In 1650 Pope Clement VII instituted the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith to spread Catholicism the world over”.
If he was right, and he probably was, you now know who developed the term propaganda, and it's formal origins. Let's move on.
The Seven Propaganda Tactics
…as named by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis... and used by Master Propagandists today, starting at The White House and maneuvering all the way down the street and even up to Wall Street...
Name Calling — Generally used to give an idea a label with a negative connotation, which is used to make the listener reject and condemn the idea without examining the evidence.
Glittering Generality — Associating something with a “Virtue Word”
(a word that has several meanings or can mean something good, or bad to the people who hear it, but is not quantifiable… e.g. “freedom,” it sounds good, makes one feel good, but it means different things to different people.)
A Glittering Generality is generally used to provoke people to accept and approve an idea or thing without examining the evidence... or to reject and not approve an idea, or thing without examining the evidence.
Transfer — Carries the authority, sanction, and prestige of something or someone respected and revered - over to something or someone else in order to make the latter acceptable; or it carries authority, sanction, and disapproval to cause people to reject and disapprove something the propagandist would have us reject and disapprove.
Testimonial — This can either be telling a story of how someone or something got to this point; or it can be having a respected or hated person say a given idea, action, or person, or group is good or bad.
Plain Folks — Is the method to make people feel the speaker or group the speaker represents is just like them - “one of us”; or the speaker attempts to convince his/her audience that he/she and his/her ideas are good because they are “of the people” the “plain folks”.
Card Stacking — Involves the selection and use of facts and half truths and even lies, illustrations, distractions, and logical or illogical statements in order to give the best or worst possible case for an idea, program, person, or product. Just keep piling on “evidence” in his/her favor.
Band Wagon — “Everybody is doing it.” Or at least all of us are doing it. And with this thought and “proofs”, the propagandist tries to convince one that all the members of the group they belong to or want to belong to accept his/her program, and, therefore, everyone must follow the crowd and “jump on the bandwagon”.
So, you can see, a lot of these tactics are used daily by politicians to move along their ideology and agenda. And, of course, the same tactics might be in use by the people around your very own home!
Obviously, combining several propaganda devices can cause “the propaganda” to be even more effective.
In order for propaganda to work, especially on a massive scale... it must, of course, be able to reach the masses. Imagine...Facebook...
Digging deeper into Propaganda
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