Rhetoric, Media Literacy and Propaganda

Propaganda:
The Desire to Influence Your Attitude Towards a Community, Idea, Cause or Position

You are surrounded by advertising and propaganda every day. As part of my on-going effort to help you life your life consciously, I want to teach you about propaganda techniques. My hope is that by being aware of how others try to influence your attitude, you will be able to consciously decide if you are going to react, or not.

Below is a chart that we used in class. The hard copy of the chart has a grid or table. Those lines do not show up in this blog, but all of the catagories and information are present.

In order to complete this chart you will need to visit the following websites:

http://www.propagandacritic.com/

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111500/proptech.htm

Fallacy Files (look for the tiny alphabet on the left hand side. click on the first letter of the term to see what they offer. For example, if you are looking up "Loaded Words" you would click on "L".

Source Watch - Rhetorical Techniques

OWL Purdue - Logical Fallacies

If you are working on this outside of school you can also watch a few videos that I have included below the chart.

Type: Definition in your own words: Desired Response: Example:
Special Appeals -

Plain Folk




Bandwagon



Fear




Stereotyping/Bias



Pinpointing the Enemy



Type: Definition in your own words: Desired Response: Example:
Word Games-

Name Calling



Glittering Generalities



Euphemisms



Loaded Words


False Connections –

Transfer



Testimonial



Quoting Out of Context



Buzz

Type: Definition in your own words: Desired Response: Example:

Repetition



Emotional Words




Lesser or Two Evils



Others –

Apologise (Apologize)



Bait and Switch



Photographic Manipulation



Product Placement


Card Stacking




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Here are some great videos that explain what proganda is. Some of them are also examples of propaganda.

Here is a video that students made that explain what propagansa is, including examples of three major types:


The following videos are entertaining and informative:








These are historic videos:




You might have seen this "Duck and Cover" video at some point during your schooling. It is an excellent example of proganda.