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Category: Propaganda Methods

The Center for Immigration Rights Communication

The Center for Immigration Rights Communication

If you read this blog, you know the terms public relations, communication and propaganda are synonymous. All forms of public persuasion were once called “propaganda”. The negative connotations of government and military propaganda programs early in the 20th century resulted in the late Edward Bernays proposing the use of “public relations” as an alternative. Today, public relations has evolved into “communication” specialists. These terms are synonymous and describe the methods and programs used to persuade the public to adopt someone’s…

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Effective propaganda poster: Sanders and Trump both fly on jets

Effective propaganda poster: Sanders and Trump both fly on jets

TL; DR Summary Sanders has traveled by bus and also by airline coach but he recently began using a Gulfstream jet charter too. Trump flies on his own corporate aircraft. Trump is a billionaire and he does seem self-obsessed. Poster appeals to the populist perspective of Sanders and the greedy narcissistic perspective of Trump – but the implication that Sanders does not fly a private jet is no longer true. Truth means little in a good social media propaganda poster! (This was shared…

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How social media propaganda silences dissent

How social media propaganda silences dissent

The “spiral of silence” is a well-researched phenomenon in which people suppress unpopular opinions to fit in and avoid social isolation. It has been looked at in the context of social media and the echo-chamber effect, in which we tailor our opinions to fit the online activity of our Facebook and Twitter friends. Source: Mass surveillance silences minority opinions, according to study – The Washington Post Rather than increasing perspectives, social media naturally enforces a conformity in ideas, in order…

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Fake news is a profitable industry

Fake news is a profitable industry

TL;DR Summary Fake news is a profitable industry. More on that in a previous post. Fakes news that goes viral, generates lots of ad views; and it is not just The Onion. Social media sharing makes this possible. And makes propaganda sharing even easier. Fake news is, incidentally, a relatively new addition to the media landscape. The Internet’s always teemed with rumors and scams, of course. But the fake news industry — a crop of Web sites dedicated solely to…

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Denmark Fairy Tales: Denmark does not have a $20 minimum wage

Denmark Fairy Tales: Denmark does not have a $20 minimum wage

TL;DR Summary In Part 1 of this review, we showed the claim that Denmark is the happiest country in the world because of the listed items is a logical fallacy; its not true. In this part, we learn that the $20 minimum wage claim is not true either. Part 1: Denmark is the world’s happiest nation because of the following reasons (Not true) Part 2: Denmark has a $20/hour minimum wage (No, it does not). Part 3: Denmark has a…

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The most spectacular example of social media propaganda – so far!

The most spectacular example of social media propaganda – so far!

TL; DR Summary This poster is elegant in its design, use of “anchoring” and logical fallacy – but the poster is a work of fiction and an outright lie.  Yet it successfully engaged System 1’s quick and intuitive thinking to lead viewers into a false conclusion, and whose viewers then quickly shared it with their friends, encouraging their friends to reach the same false conclusion. Read through to learn how false this poster is – yet why it worked as…

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Rare use of data in an effective propaganda poster

Rare use of data in an effective propaganda poster

This is from Bill Gates. I have not vetted the content of the chart, but I assume it is true and correct. TL;DR Summary The point of this poster is to illustrate R&D spending on 3 categories: Defense, health and energy. It is effective in part due to its simplicity and use of  data. Data is not used often in propaganda posters because emotional appeals and pithy quotes are processed quickly by our System 1 thinking.