(I devoutly wish that a good editor had given this article a once-over before posting, but the content is well worth reading nonetheless.)
Example, slightly reformatted and edited by me for ease of reading:
# 2. Backstroke: Systematically belittling the goals of the subject of the article as the goals are being listed. For every step forward for the subject, the propagandist pulls the reader back.The Most Successful Propaganda Techniques (The Strategy Page)
Example:
"This year, the political party's stated goal is to give the rally a warm atmosphere. We walked into the cave-like coliseum as the preparations for the rally were taking place. 'We're trying to create a family atmosphere,' said one representative of the party as he squinted into the harsh lights. 'There are the children's rides,' he said happily, pointing to where union workmen smashed open wooden crates with iron crowbars."
Related resources:
- Wikipedia's "Propaganda" category, comprising some 59 articles
- The Propaganda Critic (site devoted to propaganda analysis; has many good examples from both the far left and the far right, as well as some stuff that's so out there as to be essentially unclassifiable)
- Propaganda Techniques Wiki (from SourceWatch - exhaustive and useful)
- War, Propaganda and the Media (GlobalIssues.org; leans left, quotes Chomsky, still has many valid points to make)
And last but certainly not least:
- "Methods of Developing Arguments", "Rhetoric", and "Structure" from The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (if you'd like to develop an argument in an atmosphere of intellectual honesty, you could do worse than reading this to re-familiarize yourself with what you should have, but probably didn't, learn in school)
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