English 10S
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Propaganda – form of communication
deliberately spread widely to help or harm an
idea, person, group, movement, institution,
nation, or selling of a product
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Forms of propaganda?
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Forms: news articles, essays, commercials,
ads, political campaigns, speeches, radio
broadcasts, blogs, etc.
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Why is it such a “dirty” word?
Propaganda might…
 Prey on emotion rather than using logic
 Exploit insecurities of the receiver
 Use fallacious reasoning to trick its receiver
 Leave out important information (selecting
and deflecting truth)
 Resort to deliberate misinformation
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What is a biased message or argument?
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Bias - a judgment based on a personal point
of view. If an argument is biased, it does not
weigh each side of an issue fairly.
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Propaganda can be used to accomplish positive
or negative ends. Examples?
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Positive:
Put an end to smoking
Support a worthy cause (pet shelters)
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Negative:
Encouragement of discrimination through
history (Nazi propaganda, WWII propaganda,
etc.)
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Coffee commercial from the 50s
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What is the purpose of the propaganda?
Who is the target audience?
How is the audience made to feel?
What is the subtext (implied)?
What specific techniques are used?
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Name calling
Glittering Generalities
Euphemisms
Loaded Language
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Attacks a person or group instead of an issue
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Works by way of association and/or connotation.
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Examples:
Commie
Fascist
Pig
Yuppie
Bum
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Using language to make something sound
good (or bad) without giving concrete
evidence as to why that is the case.
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Coke - Open up happiness -- What evidence
do we have that coke will make us any
happier?
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Using words that are not neutral. They appeal
to our emotions (make us sad, angry, excited,
etc.)
Examples:
 Instead of saying “gun control,” President
Obama emphasizes the need to “reduce the
broader epidemic of gun violence in this
country.”
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Some Second Amendment groups and gun
retailers prefer the terms "tactical rifle" or
"modern sporting rifle“ over “assault
weapon”
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A technique in which something bad is
worded in such a way to make it sound more
pleasant
Examples:
 In the 1940's, America changed the name of
the War Department to the Department of
Defense
 Under the Reagan Administration, the MXMissile was renamed "The Peacekeeper.“
 After the second world war, people began to
use the term "combat fatigue" instead of
“shell-shock” to describe the suffering of
traumatized veterans.
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Transfer
Testimonials or Endorsements
Argument from authority
Ad Hominem fallacy
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Carrying over the authority, sanction, or
prestige of something we respect and revere
to something he/she would have us accept.
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Symbols are often used – our feelings about
the symbol (a U.S. flag, a church, an eagle,
etc.) are transferred to the idea, person,
product, etc.
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Technique which uses a popular figure to
promote a cause
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Often used in advertisements and
commercials to promote products
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Also used to promote ideas –
“Jon Stewart said…” “ The Pope now
endorses…”
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Weight Watchers --- How do WE compare to
Jennifer Hudson? What is she suggesting?
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My man, Morgan Freeman – Is the message
any more logical now that someone we look
up to has endorsed it?
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Considerations:
Why should we regard this person (or
organization or publication) as having expert
knowledge or trustworthy information on the
subject in question?
What does the idea amount to on its own
merits, without the benefit of the
Testimonial?
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The status/credentials of a person can greatly
influence our perception of his or her
message; we are more likely to accept his or
her argument without question
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Example: Assuming (without any critical
thought) that your English teacher has the
best interpretation of a poem
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Assuming someone’s message or argument IS or
is NOT credible based on who that person is or
what group he or she belongs to
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Example: Assuming a student who failed ninth
grade English last year has a flawed
interpretation of “After Apple-Picking”
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Person A: Your driving is terrible
Person B: Shut up! You failed your driver’s test,
so what do you know?
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A jury assumes that an accused person is
guilty of a crime because they have a criminal
record.
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Plain folks appeal
Bandwagon
Emotional appeal
Appeal to Fear
Snob appeal
Sex appeal
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Attempt to convince an audience that a
person, and his/her ideas, are "of the people”
that he or she is like “ordinary Americans”
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Obama - Just like us...sort of
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The audience is persuaded to do, think, or
buy something because it is popular or
"everyone" is doing it.
Examples:
 “4 out of 5 people use Colgate.”
 “2 billion served at McDonalds…”
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The audience is persuaded by words or
images that appeal to the reader's emotions
instead of logic or reason.
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Examples:
 Showing images of abused dogs (and asking for
donations for an organization)
 Showing sick and/or poor children (also asking for
donations)
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Warning that disaster will result if an
audience does not follow a particular course
of action
Antismoking
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zWB4dL
YChM
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Lyndon B. Johnson Ad campaign
Considerations
a) Is the speaker exaggerating the fear or threat
in order to obtain my support?
b) How legitimate is the fear that the speaker is
provoking?
c) Will performing the recommended action
actually reduce the supposed threat?
d) When viewed dispassionately, what are the
merits of the speaker's proposal?
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Plays on our desires for fancy things and “the
good life.”
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Using a sexy man or woman to promote a
product or activity does the following
a) captures (and keeps) our attention
b) insinuates that we can be LIKE the sexy
person
c) OR insinuates that we can attract sexy
people by using the product
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Something for nothing
Urgency
Repetition
Exaggeration/Hyperbole
Scientific Approach
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Persuades the viewer to buy a product
because he or she will get something “free” in
return
Example: "Subscribe today and we'll throw in
an extra knife-o-matic for free! That's a
$40.00 value for only 25 Cents!"
What is the reality here?
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Creating the impression that the audience
must act fast.
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“Act now! Supplies are limited!”
“If you order within the next 15 minutes…”
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What is the reality here?
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Attempts to persuade by repeating a
message over and over again
Product names are often repeated at least
four times.
J.G. Wentworth
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Overstating the effectiveness or importance
of a product.
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Examples: “In one week you’ll see results!”
“Flawless skin in less than 20 days!”
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Using bogus tests, statistics, and scientific
sounding jargon to lend credibility to
something.
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Example:"This chair is ergonomically
designed for the best fit!"
English 10S
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Arguments may be valid or faulty
(NOT to be confused with true or untrue)
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An argument is valid if …its conclusion is
logically entailed by its premises
(the conclusion must follow from the
evidence [premises])
P1 - All men are mortal.
P2 - Socrates is a man.
C - Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
P1 - All cups are green.
P2 - Socrates is a cup.
C - Therefore, Socrates is green.
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An argument is invalid (faulty) if… the
conclusion does not follow the premises as
described
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This is called “non sequitur”
P1- All men are mortal.
P2 - Socrates is mortal.
C - Therefore, Socrates is a man.
(It matters not that the above conclusion is true; it
is not evidenced by its premises).
Fallacious arguments usually have the deceptive
appearance of being good arguments
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Sweeping generalization
Card Stacking
Red Herring
Circular Reasoning
Either/Or fallacy
Straw Man
Slippery Slope
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Makes an oversimplified statement based on
limited (or even one piece of) information
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Stereotypes are included in this group
Example:
My parents and grandparents both were
divorced, so it must be that marriage rarely
works out.
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Example:
The person who robbed my house was
white; therefore, all white people must be
thieves.
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Only presenting information that supports an
idea or proposal and leaving out information
contrary to it.
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Though the information presented may be
true, it does not offer an objective view of
both sides.
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Example: A persuasive research essay
without a naysayer section
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Presenting data or issues that are irrelevant
to the argument at hand, and then claiming
that it validates the argument
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Example: A professor saying, "I think that we
should make the academic requirements
stricter for students. I recommend that you
support this because we are in a budget crisis
and we do not want our salaries affected."
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Example: "You know, I've begun to think that
there is some merit in the Republican's tax
cut plan. I suggest that you come up with
something like it, because If we Democrats
are going to survive as a party, we have got to
show that we are as tough-minded as the
Republicans, since that is what the public
wants."
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The claim of an argument is stated as part of
the proof of the argument.
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Also called “Begging the Question”
Examples:
“Women have a right to choose whether to
have an abortion or not, therefore abortion
should be allowed”
OR
“The unborn has a right to life, therefore
abortion is immoral.
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Also called "black-and-white thinking"
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Only two choices are given. The arguer
proposes that you are either for something or
against something; there is no middle ground
or shades of gray.
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Used to polarize issues, and negates all
attempts to find a common ground.
Examples:
 “You’re either with us or against us!”
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“You are either part of the solution or else
you are part of the problem.”
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Bill: "Jill and I both support having prayer in
public schools."
Jill: "Hey, I never said that!"
Bill: "You're not an atheist are you Jill?"
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Misrepresenting an opponent’s position
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“Attacking a straw man” is creating the
illusion of having refuted a position by
replacing that position with a superficially
similar one.
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A: Sunny days are good.
B: If all days were sunny, we'd never have
rain, and without rain, we'd have famine and
death.
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A: We should give children ice cream after
every school day.
B: That would be rather bad for their health.
A: Do you want our children to starve?
… It’s harder to argue that children should
starve than that ice cream is unhealthy.
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A: Abortion is wrong because it is the murder of
human life. A child in the womb has as much
right to live as any child outside the womb. A
fetus has most all of his human features intact
before birth, and even kicks his mother.
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B: The fact that a fetus kicks gives no sign that it
is human. A cow kicks - does that mean it is
human, and we shouldn't eat beef? Abortion is
OK because a fetus is not yet human.
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A person asserts that some event must
inevitably follow from another without any
argument for the inevitability of the event in
question
Examples:
 "We've got to stop them from banning
pornography. Once they start banning one
form of literature, they will never stop. Next
thing you know, they will be burning all the
books!"
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“If we let gays marry, the next thing we know
people will be marrying pencil sharpeners”
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Shifts attention to extreme hypotheticals
without evidence. Uses fear as leverage to
persuade.