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Obama not attending First Lady Funeral is not unprecedented; social media poster is similarly ridiculous

Obama not attending First Lady Funeral is not unprecedented; social media poster is similarly ridiculous

TL;DR Summary Conservative media said that  President Obama not attending the funeral of former First Lady Nancy Reagan is unprecedented or wrong; it is neither. Defenders of Obama published this propaganda poster on social media but cherry picked the data to draw you to their desired conclusion. Why is the death of Jacqueline Kennedy omitted?

Logic will get you from A to B" – Einstein

Logic will get you from A to B" – Einstein

TL;DR Summary This poster comes through my FB feed frequently: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you Everywhere”-Albert Einstein. There is no evidence that Einstein ever said this. These “popular sayings” posters appear often, tend to contain fictional quotes or quotes out of context, or quotes attributed to the wrong person. From a propaganda perspective, they use appeal to authority or celebrity endorsement, but they often advocate nothing in particular. At best, they may be…

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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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Transferring dislike for one on to another using a false quote

Transferring dislike for one on to another using a false quote

TL;DR Summary Poster suggests that Hillary Clinton is advocating the same policies as Adolf Hitler by pairing up alleged quotes from both. There is no evidence that Clinton said this. The quote comes from a book whose author admits he made up quotes. The goal is to transfer one’s dislike for Hitler to Clinton via logical fallacy.

Context matters – poster from unions4workers deleted a key word to tell a lie

Context matters – poster from unions4workers deleted a key word to tell a lie

TL;DR Summary The poster conveys that James Madison believed in 1817 that business corporations are inherently evil regarding accumulation of property. The person who created this poster left out one word: “in perpetuity by [ecclesiastical] corporations” which completely changes the meaning. The quote is contained in a paragraph about the power of religious bodies, in a document that is entirely about “Ecclesiastical Bodies” (Churches). Unions4Workers is telling an outright lie.

Pre-propaganda – not all propaganda messaging comes with a “to do” list

Pre-propaganda – not all propaganda messaging comes with a “to do” list

TL;RD Summary A positive message, albeit, a “feel good” glittering generality. The message is honest . The design of the poster could be better by suggesting some action to be taken but in some ways, this might be viewed as “pre-propaganda”  which is messaging that preps the target for later propaganda that calls for action. The poster was on FB and came from BlueNationReview.com.  It uses the methods of “testimonial”, “appeal to authority”, “celebrity endorsement” and a “glittering generality”. The…

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