Campaign rhetoric
Rhetoric
• The effective or persuasive use of language (or
communication)
– The study of such use
• Visual rhetoric
Two views
• One view of rhetoric sees it as the best means
to find truth
– Let truth and falsehood grapple
• Another sees it as the skillful manipulation of
communication to the communicator’s
advantage regardless of truth or the interests
of the audience
– Sophists
Propaganda
• Though it has gained an extremely negative
connotation due to its use by the Nazis,
communists and other disreputable groups,
propaganda is really the use of mass media in
the service of persuasion (mediated rhetoric)
Institute for Propaganda Analysis
The Seven Propaganda Devices
The Institute
• In 1937, the Institute for Propaganda Analysis was
created to educate the American public about the
widespread nature of political propaganda.
Composed of social scientists and journalists, the IPA
published a series of books, including:
• The Fine Art of Propaganda
• Propaganda Analysis
• Group Leader's Guide to Propaganda Analysis
• Propaganda: How To Recognize and Deal With It
• In The Fine Art of Propaganda, the IPA stated that "It
is essential in a democratic society that young people
and adults learn how to think, learn how to make up
their minds. They must learn how to think
independently, and they must learn how to think
together. They must come to conclusions, but at the
same time they must recognize the right of other
men to come to opposite conclusions. So far as
individuals are concerned, the art of democracy is
the art of thinking and discussing independently
together."
The Seven Propaganda Devices
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Name-calling
Glittering generalities
Transfer
Testimonial
Plain folks
Card stacking
Bandwagon
Name calling
• "Bad names have played a tremendously powerful
role in the history of the world and in our own
individual development. They have ruined
reputations, stirred men and women to outstanding
accomplishments, sent others to prison cells, and
made men mad enough to enter battle and slaughter
their fellowmen. They have been and are applied to
other people, groups, gangs, tribes, colleges, political
parties, neighborhoods, states, sections of the
country, nations, and races." (Institute for
Propaganda Analysis, 1938)
• The most obvious type of name calling
involves "bad” names. For example, consider
the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Commie
Fascist
Pig
Yuppie Scum
Bum
Queer
Feminazi
Glittering Generalities
• “Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing
words so closely associated with highly valued
concepts and beliefs that they carry conviction
without supporting information or reason. They
appeal to emotions such as love of country, home;
desire for peace, freedom, glory, honor, etc. They ask
for approval without examination of the reason.”
• A glittering generality has two qualities:
– It is vague
– It has positive connotations
• "We believe in, fight for, live by virtue
words about which we have deep-set
ideas. Such words include civilization,
Christianity, good, proper, right,
democracy, patriotism, motherhood,
fatherhood, science, medicine, health,
and love.”
– (Institute for Propaganda Analysis)
• “When someone talks to us about democracy, we
immediately think of our own definite ideas about
democracy, the ideas we learned at home, at school,
and in church. Our first and natural reaction is to
assume that the speaker is using the word in our
sense, that he believes as we do on this important
subject. This lowers our 'sales resistance' and makes
us far less suspicious than we ought to be when the
speaker begins telling us the things 'the United States
must do to preserve democracy.‘”
– Institute for Propaganda Analysis
Some Examples
• "I believe in an America that's strong at home
and respected in the world. I believe we can
have a strong economy focused on goodpaying jobs, a health care plan that reduces
costs, an energy plan that frees us from
Mideast oil, and I believe we can lead a strong
military and strong alliances that keep
America safe and secure." -- John Kerry
Euphemisms (not an IPA device)
• In certain situations . . . the
propagandist attempts to pacify the
audience in order to make an
unpleasant reality more palatable.
This is accomplished by using words
that are bland and euphemistic.
–Propaganda Critic
(http://www.propagandacritic.com/)
• Since war is particularly unpleasant, military
discourse is full of euphemisms. In the 1940's,
America changed the name of the War
Department to the Department of Defense.
Under the Reagan Administration, the MX-Missile
was renamed "The Peacekeeper." During wartime, civilian casualties are referred to as
"collateral damage," and the word "liquidation" is
used as a synonym for "murder."
– Propaganda Critic
Transfer
• You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of
thorn. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold! -William Jennings Bryan, 1896
• "Transfer is a device by which the propagandist carries over
the authority, sanction, and prestige of something we respect
and revere to something he would have us accept. For
example, most of us respect and revere our church and our
nation. If the propagandist succeeds in getting church or
nation to approve a campaign in behalf of some program, he
thereby transfers its authority, sanction, and prestige to that
program. Thus, we may accept something which otherwise we
might reject. “
– Institute for Propaganda Analysis
•
•
•
•
Flags
Crosses
National anthem
Military uniforms
Testimonial
• This is simply the personal endorsement given
by someone to either the propagandist or her
proposal. Often the testimonial includes a
claim to personal experience supporting the
claims of the propagandist.
• Some of these Testimonials may merely give greater
emphasis to a legitimate and accurate idea, a fair use
of the device; others, however, may represent the
sugar-coating of a distortion, a falsehood, a
misunderstood notion, an anti-social suggestion..."
(Institute for Propaganda Analysis, 1938)
– Are the people providing the testimonials qualified?
– Are they convincing because they are like us?
Plain Folks
• By using the plain-folks technique, speakers attempt to
convince their audience that they, and their ideas, are "of the
people."
• America's recent presidents have all been millionaires, but
they have gone to great lengths to present themselves as
ordinary citizens. Bill Clinton eats at McDonald's and reads
trashy spy novels. George Bush hated broccoli, and he loved
to fish. Ronald Reagan was often photographed chopping
wood, and Jimmy Carter presented himself as a humble
peanut farmer from Georgia.
– Propaganda Critic
Card Stacking
• Card stacking is the uneven treatment of
evidence for and against a proposition
– Both the amount and the order/structure of
presentation are involved
Band Wagon
• "The propagandist hires a hall, rents radio
stations, fills a great stadium, marches a
million or at least a lot of men in a parade. He
employs symbols, colors, music, movement,
all the dramatic arts. He gets us to write
letters, to send telegrams, to contribute to his
cause. He appeals to the desire, common to
most of us, to follow the crowd.”
– IPA
• Because he wants us to follow the crowd in
masses, he directs his appeal to groups held
together already by common ties, ties of
nationality, religion, race, sex, vocation. Thus
propagandists campaigning for or against a
program will appeal to us as Catholics,
Protestants, or Jews...as farmers or as school
teachers; as housewives or as miners.
– IPA
One implication that the propagandist is trying
to promote is that if a lot of people either
agree with or believe something, it is right
How to critique propaganda
• Question: Is the presentation of information
appropriate to a dispassionate review of the
strengths and weaknesses of the argument?
• Are the rhetorical techniques appropriate—do
they represent a reasonable interpretation of
the underlying information?
• If it weren’t for the rhetorical techniques,
would the information lead to the same
conclusion?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEy7DX7O
LcE
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZAQm6r
x000
• http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/campaign2
004/archive.html
• http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOFYOIBpvA
Critique of the Seven Devices
• Many messages fall into more than one category.
• They do not discuss the credibility of the
propagandist.
• They assume an agreement over the facts of the case
• They assume there exists a correct answer
• They ignore factors other than the message
– The IPA techniques do not account for differences among
members of the audience
Additional devices
• Manipulation of fear
– Humans do not rationally deal with danger
– Commonplace dangers are discounted
Metaphor
• In this rhetorical technique, something ‘stands
in’ for the real subject of the statement
• “There’s a bear in the woods”
• “The price of bread has nearly doubled”
Metaphor
• Metaphors are chosen because of their
widespread ‘popularity’ in terms of public
awareness, understanding and emotional
impact
– Obama as a rock star
Atrocity stories
• While not very common in electoral
campaigns, atrocity stories are useful in
demonizing some external opposition
Frames and framing
• Frames are widely accepted and culturally
resonant master narratives
– They include plot, characters, action, conflict, and
so on
– They are the bare-bones structure that rhetors
construct a particular narrative upon
• Cinderella story
• Comeback kid
• Hero against evil bureaucracy
Once a frame is invoked
• Certain questionable ideas are taken as
inherently true
• Certain ideas, actions, people, etc. are seen as
relevant while others are seen as unrelated, etc.
• Certain rules of morality, etc. are considered
appropriate while others are excluded
• Certain policy options are preferred and others
are considered poor, foolish, unacceptable, etc.
How are frames invoked?
• First they must be developed over time within
the culture
– Ideological battles
– Popular culture
– Commonplace experience
• Certain terms, metaphors, persons, dramatic
representations, etc. become emblematic of
frames
• These easily identifiable terms, etc. are tied to
candidates or political positions rhetorically
Examples
•
•
•
•
Cold War framing
Pro-Life v. Pro-Choice
War on Drugs v. Public Health Problem
Sports analogies
Framing experts
• George Lakoff
– Rockridge Institute
• Frank Luntz
– Conservative political consultant