The Language of Propaganda – LNGN 250_01
Spring 2015
Instructor: Dr. Susana M. Sotillo
Time: 4:00 – 5:15 p.m. Face to Face (F2F) Session
Location: Schmitt Hall 110 (Face-to-face session)
Asynchronous session: Consists of Readings and Online Assignments
Synchronous session: Via BigBlueButton and Chat tentatively once a month. In case there is
a snowstorm or dangerous ice on campus and roads, we will meet in our virtual classroom:
Canvas BigBlueButton. You will be sent an invitation.
Office: Schmitt Hall 240E – Phone number: 973-655-7377
Office hours: Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:15 p.m. Thursdays from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and online
by appointment only via FaceTime (cassandra8@comcast.net).
Course Description: This course introduces students to the basic techniques of propaganda and
aims to improve their ability to reason well about problems they encounter in everyday life. The
readings will encourage students to think critically about issues that are debated in the social and
political arena. Students will be able to identify cogent and fallacious reasoning, language
manipulation for commercial purposes, news control and dissemination, ideology in media, and
political propaganda.
Course Requirements:
 Attendance and informed classroom participation.
 Completion of all reading assignments.
 Analysis of readings and posting of short essays to Canvas Discussions (Discussion
Board).
 Completion of timed quizzes and essays deployed online (via Canvas).
 Students are expected to monitor their Canvas email messages.
 In case of inclement weather, we will meet in our virtual classroom. I will not ask any
student to risk being injured in a snowstorm.
 If you need to reach me immediately, please text me at 201-341-0319.
Required Textbooks:
Nonsense by Robert J. Gula (2007). Axios Press. ISBN 978-0-9753662-6-4
Propaganda by Edward Bernays (2005-Originally, 1928). Ig Publishing, Incorporated ISBN:9780970312594
A Government of Wolves by John W. Whitehead (2013). Select Books, Inc. ISBN978-159079-975-8
Online Scholarly Resources: Stephen’s Guide to the Logical Fallacies, The Black Agenda
Report, Free Inquiry, OpEd News.Com, Z Magazine, Intelligence Report
The proposed schedule of topics represents a basic outline. Changes will be made at the discretion of
the instructor and students will be notified via Canvas. Please purchase or borrow a headset for our
synchronous sessions
once a month or during snowstorms; otherwise you will create an echo when
pressing the Talk button. Access the virtual classroom preferably from home or a lab if you live on
campus.
Week
January 20–23, 2015
January 27–30
February 3–6
February 10–14th
February 17 –20
Topic
Introduction to the Language
of Propaganda
Fill out online survey by
Friday
Examining political and social
propaganda – We will explore
Stephen’s Guide to the
Logical Fallacies
Please be prepared to present
in class the news report, TV
commercial, or magazine
article you have selected for
analysis.
Present your Poster or PP
slides in class. Be creative
and use your own language.
Readings – Assignments
Download PP Slides from
Canvas. Also, explore The
Nature of Propaganda
(Modules). Read Nonsense, pp.
1-90.
Friday: Read the front page
headlines of two major
newspapers (e.g., NYT and
The Washington Times or The
Philadelphia Inquirer and the
Washington Post). Identify
whether these are biased or
neutral. Explain your
reasoning. Post your answers
to Discussions on Canvas.
Homework for Tuesday:
Select a TV commercial, news
story, magazine article, or
poster and discuss the type of
propaganda it represents. To
whom is this aimed?
Friday: Continue reading
Nonsense, pp. 91-153. Ask
questions in our F2F session.
Propaganda Poster: See
revised guidelines under
Modules and present your
work as a poster or via PP
slides in class on Tuesday.
Friday: Finish reading
Nonsense, pp. 153-197. Go to
Discussions and answer
questions about Logical
Fallacies.
Propaganda techniques in
Friday: Go to Sprague nonfilms and documentaries.
print media and watch
What was unique about
Goebbels: Master of
Goebbels’ use of propaganda? Propaganda
1998
We will watch Goebbels:
Distributed by Films for the
Master of Lies
Humanities and Sciences.
February 24–27
March 3–6
March 17–20
March 24–27
March 31–April 3
April 7–10
The Origins of Propaganda.
Who was Edward Bernays?
What was one of his most
lasting contributions?
In-Class Discussion of
Bernays’ Propaganda
Techniques. Who forms part
of the invisible government?
What do you think of
America’s two-party system?
March 10 –13 Spring Break
Review Propaganda
Techniques – Download and
study the PP slides based on
Stephen’s Guide to the
Logical Fallacies
Positive uses of propaganda:
promoting civic responsibility
and social justice.
Political Propaganda – Inclass exercises working in
small groups – Identify
message structure and logic
behind propaganda techniques
used by corporations and
government agencies.
Analyze Republican and
Democratic arguments
concerning Social Security.
Dissidents and the Police
State. Has fiction become a
reality? In-class discussion of
Parts I & II.
Bring newspaper articles to
class that discuss police
misconduct and brutality.
Analyze the language used
based on what you have read
about biased language. Is the
writing prejudiced toward
those arrested or the police?
Friday: Read Bernays’
Propaganda, Parts I through
VI. Join our online
synchronous Chat discussion.
Friday: Finish reading Bernays,
Parts VII-XI. Ponder
Lippmann’s famous phrase”
“Make the world safe for
democracy.” What does this
mean?
Friday: Mid-Term online
quiz
Friday: Read A Government
of Wolves, pp. 3-49. Be
prepared to discuss this in
class.
Friday: Easter Holiday
Friday: Go to Sprague’s
non-print media and watch
one of the movies set aside for
this class. (See list below.)
You can watch movies in
groups of two, but no movie
should be watched by more
than two groups. Prepare
April 14–17
about five to six PP slides for
your in-class presentation.
Friday: Continuation of
movie presentations via Chat
or BigBlueButton.
Friday: Answer questions
about Part III posted to the
Discussions.
Friday: Upload the findings
you discussed in class to the
Discussions site.
Student Presentations based
on movies analyzed. (Five
minutes per group)
April 21–24
Who was George Orwell?
Read Government of Wolves,
pp. 53-132.
April 28– May 1
Working in groups of two,
please investigate one of the
following controversial issues:
 Obamacare (How will
this affect young and
old who are currently
uninsured?).
 Privatizing elementary
and higher education.
Who gains from this?
 Privatizing social
security. Whom does
this benefit?
May 5
Course overview – Study
Quizzes will be deployed via
Guide for Final Quizzes
Canvas on
FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE – Spring 2015
May 7–13
LNGN 250 Exam scheduled for Friday, May 8th: For Classes with First or only Meeting on T or F at
0400pm......0315pm-0515pm
Quizzes and essay question will be deployed online via Canvas
Evaluation of students is based on:
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Discussion Board Assignments and short in-class presentations (@5 points each)
Midterm Quizzes (20)
Film Analysis (10)
Final Quizzes and short answer questions (20)
Films and documentaries set aside for individual or small-group viewing (two students
only): A sign-up sheet will be available at the non-print media desk (basement, Sprague library)
accompanying the material that I have placed on reserve. Please inform your classmates via
Canvas email/Inbox system which film you have chosen. If a film has already been chosen by
one or two of your classmates, select something else. I really don’t want to be reading the same
film/documentary analysis over and over again.
The following films are based on historical accounts of the expansion of various empires
throughout the world. Do some research at the library or talk to a Reference librarian who can
guide your research:
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The Mission (Historical account of religious/political struggles between Spain and
Portugal – Religious imperialism)
Cabeza de Vaca (Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, c. 1488558) was a Spanish explorer of the New World, one of four survivors of the Narváez
expedition. This is an extraordinarily beautiful film that shows what it means to adapt
to other ways of being (achieving communicative competence in a different culture).
Snow Falling on Cedars (violence against Japanese-Americans during WWII in the
United States)
The Salt of the Earth (an American film banned during the McCarthy witch hunts
(mcCarthyism)
The Official Story (La Historia Oficial -The 1970s dirty and brutal war in Argentina
where thousands of young students were murdered.)
State of Siege (The CIA reaps what it sows)
Hotel Rwanda The true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a
thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda.
The Bandit Queen (Based on the true story of India’s Poolan Devi, the Bandit Queen)
Missing (Based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman, who
disappeared in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed
the democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende.)
Science Fiction films from the Cold War Era:
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The Lathe of Heaven (The individual vs. the collective from a short story by Ursula K.
Le Guin)
Gattaca (a futuristic society where genes determine one’s class and occupation; in other
words, one’s future.)
Brazil (Totalitarianism very similar to today’s Homeland Security movement and the
NSA surveillance that has given rise to a police state.)
Recent ScyFy movies with a message:
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Elysium
A glimpse at what may become a reality at the rate we are going.
Elysium is set in the year 2154; the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while
the rest of the population resides on a scorched, ruined Earth. (This is what might await
us.)
Prometheus. Archeologists and space explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind
on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they
must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. (This is a philosophical
film.)
For historical films, evaluate the background information presented. You will have to do some
research at Sprague using materials on microfiche for newspaper accounts of the events
surrounding Missing, Snow Falling on Cedars, State of Siege, and the Salt of the Earth. Books
on Cabeza de Vaca and the accounts depicted in The Mission are available at Sprague library.
Does the film director or screenwriter present a cogent argument based on the historical record?
Find primary sources that help clarify historical events/topics discussed in the film you have
chosen and attach copies of these documents to your report or scan them and copy and paste
them to your PP slides. For example, describe the events leading to the kidnapping of a CIA
operative in State of Siege. What can you say about the nature of Western propaganda? Please
relate your findings to some of the arguments presented by Chomsky and the authors of the
books you have read, or from various articles in Fair, Z-Magazine, or OP-Ed News.
If you decide to analyze the propaganda content of science fiction movies such as Gattaca,
Brazil, Prometheus, Elysium, or The Lathe of Heaven, you should do some research on the Cold
War and the Eugenics movement of the early part of the 20th century.