The last practice before break we started learning Propaganda by going over the techniques in Section A. Below is a brief description of those techniques:
Section A: Techniques of Irrelevance
0. No Technique: No Propaganda is being used in the example, or Propaganda from another section is being used.1. Prejudice: Judging someone based on their inclusion in a group. Prejudice can be either for or against someone, and can stem from race, religion, sex, age, political affiliation, etc.
Example: Let’s invite David into our club, we need a Baptist member.
2. Academic Detachment: When faced with two options, speaker chooses neither options and instead does not make a decision.
Example: Both candidates have been throwing dirt at each other during the campaign, so I’m not going to vote for either of them. I’m staying home.
3. Drawing the Line: When faced with a situation with multiple
options, speaker reduces the choices to just two.
Example: We can either watch the Olympics,
or we can watch the Food Network. (there
are no other viewing options?)Hint - Listen for "choice" words like "either", "or".
4. Not Drawing the Ling: Speaker is faced with a limit, but chooses or
asks to go past that limit (What’s one more?)
Example: I have been
absent from school for ten days already.
What’s one more day?
5. Conservatism, Radicalism,
Moderatism: Conservatism –
Everything old is good; Radicalism – Everything new is good; Moderatism – Likes
compromise
Examples: Conservatism –
We’ve used these score sheets for every tournament for the last ten years, why
change now?Radicalism – We Democrats must take a fundamentally different approach from the agenda of the last 8 years.
Moderatism – Ad: Sealy Serta mattresses offer the perfect combination of mattress qualities. They’re not too hard, not too soft. They conform to fit your body.
Note - It is not necessary to indicate which of these three techniques is being used.
6. Rationalization: Making excuses for something that has already
happened. The speaker refuses to take
responsibility for a mistake.
Example: There was no
way for me to win the On Sets match. The
girl I was playing knew both of the judges.
7. Wishful Thinking: The speaker believes something to be true
because they really want it to be true.
Example: I deserve a good grade because
I put a lot of effort into studying.
8. Tabloid Thinking: Speaker reduces an entire group to a
stereotype or applies a generalization about a group.
Example: Dave is a typical programmer – you know, thick glasses,
pale, skinny, and hardly able to talk to a normal human being.Note - Tabloid Thinking differs from Prejudice in that with Prejudice an action is suggested, whereas in Tabloid Thinking a stereotype is being used, but no action is advocated.
9. Causal Oversimplification: A complex event is explained by references to
one or two causes.
Example: It’s easy to
stop inflation, just get the Federal government to balance its budget.
10. Inconceivability: The speaker declares a position to be false
because they can’t conceive of it being true.
Example: I just can’t
understand why the students would go on strike.
If I were a student, I wouldn’t go on strike.
