One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. it is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise.

 ~  Carl Sagan: The Fine Art of Baloney Detection ~

Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation, aimed at serving an agenda.  Even if the message conveys true information, it may be partisan and fail to paint a complete picture.  Jowett and O'Donnell in their book “Propaganda and Persuasion” define propaganda as:

"The deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist."

In a narrower and more common use of the term, propaganda refers to deliberately false or misleading information that supports a political cause or the interests of those in power.  The propagandist seeks to change the way people understand an issue or situation, for the purpose of changing their actions and expectations in ways that are desirable to the interest group.  In this sense, propaganda serves as a corollary to censorship, in which the same purpose is achieved, not by filling people's heads with false information, but by preventing people from knowing true information.  What sets propaganda apart from other forms of advocacy is the willingness of the propagandist to change people's understanding through deception and confusion, rather than persuasion and understanding.  The leaders of an organization know the information to be one sided or untrue but this may not be true for the rank and file members who help to disseminate the propaganda.

Recognizing Propaganda

Some of the most effective propaganda techniques work by misdirecting or distracting the public's finite attention away from important issues. It's important to read between the lines of the news and see what isn't being reported, or what is reported once, quietly, and not followed up.  In an age of information overload, distraction techniques can as effective as active propaganda.  One way to test for distraction is to look for items that appear repeatedly in foreign press (from neutral and hostile countries) and that don't appear in your own.  But beware of deliberately placed lies that are repeated with the hope that people will believe it if it is repeated often enough.

All active propaganda techniques can be tested by asking if they tend the target audience to act in the best interests of the distributor of the propaganda.  Propaganda presents one point of view as if it were the best or only way to look at a situation.

Sometimes propaganda can be detected by the fact that it changes before and after a critical event, whereas more honest information should largely remain the same after the event as before.  If there are big disparities, or if some "valuable lesson" or "wake-up call" has occurred, it means that what was provided before the fact was not really "instruction" or "information", but... propaganda.

Techniques of Propaganda

• Appeals to Fear: Appeals to fear seeks to build support by instilling fear in the general population. For example, the fear of weapons of mass destruction being promulageted as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein.
• Appeals to Authority: Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position idea, argument, or course of action.
• Bandwagon: Bandwagon-and-inevitable-victory appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to take a course of action "everyone else is taking" and to "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 interest to join. "Inevitable victory" invites those not already on the bandwagon to join those already on the road to certain victory. Those already, or partially, on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is the best course of action.
• Obtaining Disapproval: This technique is used to get the audience to disapprove an action or idea by suggesting the idea is popular with groups hated, feared, or held in contempt by the target audience. Thus, if a group which supports a policy is led to believe that undesirable, subversive, or contemptible people also support it, the members of the group might decide to change their position.
• Doublespeak: Language that diverts attention from, or conceals, a speaker's true meaning, or from what is on the speaker's mind, making the bad seem good, and the unpleasant attractive or at least tolerable. It seeks to avoid, shift, or deny responsibility, and ultimately prevents or limits thought. Doublespeak can be discussed in terms of euphemism, bureaucratese, jargon, and inflated language.
• Glittering Generalities: Glittering generalities are intensely emotionally appealing words so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that they carry conviction without supporting information or reason. They appeal to such emotions as love of country, home; desire for peace, freedom, glory, honor, etc.  They ask for approval without examination of the reason. Though the words and phrases are vague and suggest different things to different people, their connotation is always favorable: "The concepts and programs of the propagandist are always good, desirable and virtuous."
• 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.
• 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
• Transference: This is a technique of projecting positive or negative qualities, of praise or blame of a person, entity, object, or value to another in order to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. This technique is generally used to transfer blame from one member of a conflict to another. It evokes an emotional response which stimulates the target to identify with recognized authorities.
• Oversimplification: Favorable generalities are used to provide simple answers to complex social, political, economic, or military problems.
• 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 audience.  The propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person.
• 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 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.
• Stereotyping 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.
• Name Calling: This involves the use of words to connect a person or idea to a negative concept. The aim is to make a person reject something without examining the evidence because of the negative associations attached to it.
• Scapegoating: Assigning blame to an individual or group that isn't really responsible, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties and distracting attention from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigned.
• Card Stacking: A way of manipulating audience perceptions by emphasizing one side of an argument which reinforces your position, while repressing dissenting opinions. Examples of this would be articles and media events which compare and contrast the best possible scenarios with the worse examples.
• 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.
• Slogans: A slogan is a brief striking phrase that may include labeling and stereotyping. When ideas can be sloganized, they should be, as good slogans are self-perpetuating memes.

• Symbolism: The act of creating a concept, thing, object, or idea that represents an abstraction or an instance of that abstraction, such as a flag or an Uncle Sam.





The truth is what is, and what should be is a fantasy.

A terrible, terrible lie that someone gave to the people long ago.

~ Lenny Bruce ~