Social Influence by Manipulation: A Definition and Case of Propaganda

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Notes

¹ See further G. Jowett and V. O'Donnell (1999) Propaganda and Persuasion (California: Sage).

² J. Shanahan (Ed.) (2001) Propaganda without Propagandists? Six Case Studies in US Propaganda (New Jersey: Hampton Press), p. 4.

³ Jowett and O'Donnell, Propaganda, p. 3.

⁴ Refers to the US Committee on Public Information (CPI) that was organized to centralize wartime communication. When the United States entered the war, the CPI assumed the role of chief war propagandist; see J. M. Sproule (1987) Propaganda studies in American social science, Quarterly Journal of Speech, 73, p. 63. Bernays also had an interesting European background; According to S. Ewen, Bernays was the double nephew of Sigmund Freud and enjoyed the privileges of bourgeois life when he lived in Vienna at the beginning of the twentieth century; see further S. Ewen (1996) PR: A Social History of Spin (New York: Basic Books).

⁵ Sproule, Propaganda studies, p. 64.

⁶ J. M. Sproule (1997) Propaganda and Democracy: The American Experience of Media and Mass Persuasion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 56.

⁷ Ewen, PR, p. 4.

⁸ Ewen, PR, p. 58.

⁹ E. L. Bernays, Propaganda, p. 21.

¹⁰ E. L. Bernays, Propaganda, p. 22.

¹¹ H. D. Lasswell, in Psychopathology and Politics (New York: Viking Press, 1930), describes the connection between agitation and emotion with the following analogy: ‘… we may say that an agitator is one who exaggerates the difference between one rather desirable social policy and another, much as the lover, according to Shaw, is one who grossly exaggerates the difference between one woman and another’ (p. 78).

¹² Sproule, Propaganda studies, p. 62.

¹³ Sproule, Propaganda studies, p. 68.

¹⁴ Sproule, Propaganda studies, p. 66.

¹⁵ Sproule, Propaganda studies, pp. 72–73.

¹⁶ T. H. Qualter (1985) Opinion Control in the Democracies (London: Macmillan), p. 110.

¹⁷ C. R. Miller (1937) How to detect propaganda, Propaganda Analysis, 1, pp. 5–7. Miller's propaganda devices are still interesting, and include: name-calling (the propagandist calls opponents names such as ‘fascist’ or ‘communist’ (or ‘terrorist’) to provoke emotions such as hate and fear); glittering generalities (the propagandist employs words denoting virtue, such as truth, freedom, justice etc.); transfer (the propagandist transfers from something we respect to something the propagandist wants us to respect); plain folks (the propagandist as a member of a political or social elite courts the public by appearing to be an ordinary person and thereby wise and good); and card stacking (the propagandist applies half truths, omissions, and distractions to evade facts).

¹⁸ Qualter, Opinion Control, p. 129.

¹⁹ Qualter, Opinion Control, p. 110.

²⁰ Qualter, Opinion Control, p. 129.

²¹ See further Sproule, Propaganda studies.

²² See further Sproule, Propaganda studies, p. 72.

²³ Gitlin focuses on the mass media as core systems for the distribution of ideology and avoids the term ‘propaganda’. His description of how media functions may be applied as a definition of propaganda. ‘The media bring a manufactured public world into private space. From within their private crevices, people find themselves relying on the media for concepts, for images of their heroes, for guiding information, for emotional charges, for a recognition of public values, for symbols in general, even for language … the media specialize in orchestrating everyday consciousness … they certify reality as reality …’ (T. Gitlin (1980) The Whole World is Watching: Mass Media in the Making & Unmaking of the New Left (California: University of California Press) pp. 1–2). According to Gitlin, the media's ideology production defines and defines away (the new left) opposition.

²⁴ H. I. Schiller (1973) The Mind Managers (Boston: Beacon Pres) makes several interesting observations on mind control: ‘Where manipulation is the principal means of social control, as it is in the United States, the articulation and refinement of manipulative techniques take precedence over other intellectual activities … The means of manipulation are many, but clearly, control of the informational and ideational apparatus at all levels is essential’ (pp. 4–5). In this context, Schiller cites Richard M. Nixon: ‘Fundamental to our way of life is the belief that when information which properly belongs to the public is systematically withheld by those in power, the people soon become ignorant of their own affairs, distrustful of those who manage them, and—eventually—incapable of determining their own destinies’ (p. 146).

²⁵ J. Habermas (1981) The Theory of Communicative Action, 2 vols. (Boston: Beacon Press).

²⁶ Sproule, Propaganda, p. 217.

²⁷ N. J. O'Shaughnessy (2004) Politics and Propaganda: Weapons of Mass Seduction (Manchester: Manchester University Press) p. 47.

²⁹ R. E. Hiebert (2003) Public relations and propaganda in framing the Iraq war: A preliminary review, Public Relations Review, 29, p. 248.

²⁸ See further J. Ellul (1973) Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (New York: Vintage Books).

³⁰ See further A. R. Pratkanis & E. Aronson (2001) Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion (New York: Freeman).

³¹ K. Johnson-Cartee & G. A. Copeland (2004) Strategic Political Communication: Rethinking Social Influence, Persuasion, and Propaganda (New York: Rowman & Littlefield), pp. 6–7.

³² L. W. Doob (1950) Goebbels’ principles of propaganda, The Public Opinion Quarterly, 14, p. 428.

³³ Ideology might be a reason for having a hidden agenda instead of openly claiming complete and exclusive possession of political truth. Among several implications for propaganda that I do not apply explicitly to my definition are Clifford Geertz's contributions to ideology such as: belief-system has priority, which includes dualistic (we-they; those who are not with us are against us); alienative (working to undermine established political institutions); doctrinaire (claiming complete and exclusive possession of political truth and abhorring compromise); totalistic (aiming to order the entire social and cultural life in the image of its ideal); and futuristic (working toward a utopian culmination of history). See further Clifford Geertz (1964) Ideology as a cultural system, in: David E. Apter (Ed.) Ideology and Discontent (New York: Free Press), pp. 47–75.

³⁴ See further Jowett & O'Donnell, Propaganda.

³⁵ R. Nozick (1993) The Nature of Rationality (New Jersey: Princeton University Press), pp. 74–100.

³⁶ The application of media filters occurs so naturally that media news people, frequently operating with complete integrity and goodwill, are able to convince themselves that they choose and interpret the news objectively and on the basis of professional news values; see further Herman and Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.

³⁷ O'Shaughnessy, Politics, p. 47.

³⁸ A. M. Lee (1953) How to Understand Propaganda (New York: Rinehart), p. 18.

³⁹ A. R. Pratkanis & M. E. Turner (1996) Persuasion and Democracy: Strategies for increasing deliberative participation and enacting social change, Journal of Social Issues, 52, p. 190; and A. R. Pratkanis & E. Aronson (2001) Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use of and Abuse of Persuasion (New York: Freeman), p. 11.

⁴⁰ Jowett & O'Donnell, Propaganda, pp. 293–294.

⁴¹ See further D. N. Walton (1992) The Place of Emotion in Argument (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press); and (1997) What is propaganda and what exactly is wrong with it? Public Affairs Quarterly, 11, pp. 383–413.

⁴² The detailed suffering of a little girl and her kitten can motivate hatred against the Germans, arouse sympathy for the Armenians, make one enthusiastic about the Red Cross, or lead people to give money for support of a home for cats (see E. K. Strong Jr. (1921) Control of propaganda as a psychological problem, The Scientific Monthly, 14, p. 249). The cynical propagandist might use a ‘psycho-trick’ of a type that R. Dodge mentioned: Person X, having an intense antipathy toward dogs, one day discovers the ladies' rest room attendant giving a dog a drink from a communal drinking glass; from that moment, person X no longer could drink from the communal drinking glasses. Dodge claims that all propaganda is capitalized prejudice—in this case to capitalize upon person X's antipathy by allowing her to see the dog drink from the glass. This is a perfect case of propaganda resting on an emotional premise that is the motive force of the process: the derived antipathy represents the goal. See R. Dodge (1920) The psychology of propaganda, Religious Education, 15, p. 244.

⁴³ Walton, Place of Emotion, pp. 65–224, and What is propaganda?, pp. 388–392. Other arguments are argumentum ad absurdum, an appeal revealing the absurdity of one's opponent's point of view rather than establishing the merits of one's own position; argumentum ad captandum, an appeal based on arousing popular passions; argumentum ad crumenam, an appeal based on money or the promise of profit; argumentum ad inconvienti, an appeal based on the hardship or inconvenience involved; and argumentum ad verecundiam, an appeal to shame based on respect for authority. See E. Ehrlich (1985) Nil Desperandum: A Dictionary of Latin Tags and Useful Phrases (London: Robert Hale).

⁴⁴ Walton, What is propaganda?, pp. 396–400.

⁴⁵ According to Walton, a ‘fallacy’ is an argument that seems valid but is not. Fallacy, from the Latin fallacia meaning deceit, trick, treachery, stratagem, artifice, craft or intrigue (see Chambers Murray (1989) Latin-English Dictionary (London: John Murray) p. 263.

⁴⁶ Walton, The Place of Emotion, p. 264.

⁴⁷ See Walton, What is propaganda?

⁴⁸ See Walton, What is propaganda?, p. 395.

⁴⁹ See Walton, What is propaganda?

⁵⁰ See Walton, What is propaganda?

⁵¹ Walton, The Place of Emotion, pp. 214–216.

⁵² Walton, The Place of Emotion, pp. 214–216

⁵³ Walton, The Place of Emotion, pp. 214–216, p. 5.

⁵⁴ Walton, The Place of Emotion, pp. 214–216

⁵⁵ A. Bandura (1999) Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, pp. 193–209.

⁵⁶ A. Bandura (2004), The role of selective moral disengagement in terrorism and counterterrorism, in: F. M. Mogahaddam & M. J. Marsella (Eds.) Understanding Terrorism: Psychological Roots, Consequences and Interventions (Washington DC: American Psychological Association Press), pp. 121–150.

⁵⁷ A. Bandura (2006) Mechanisms of moral disengagement in support of military force: The impact of Sept. 11, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25, p. 141.

⁵⁸ Gore Vidal (2002) Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Te So Hated (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press) pp. 22–41, gives a 20-page around-the-world overview of such moral disengagement and euphemistic language in current US operations, completed operations, and operations from the cold war area—‘400 American operations during the last three decenniums.’ The different names of the operations are themselves a study in euphemistic terms, such as Provide Relief, Restore Hope, Continue Hope (Somalia, 1992–93), Shining Presence (Israel, Dec. 1998), Desert Fox (Iraq, Feb.–Dec. 1998), etc.

⁵⁹ Bandura, The role.

⁶⁰ Adolph Hitler (1925–27) Mein Kampf, 2 vols. (München: Franz Eher), pp. 182–183.

⁶¹ Pierre Joseph, Proudhon letter to Karl Marx, 17 May 1846. Available at http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/proudhon/letters/46 o5 17.htm (accessed 31 March 2009).

⁶² J. M. Sproule (1987) Propaganda studies in American social science: The rise and fall of the critical paradigm, Quarterly Journal of Speech, 73, p. 65.

⁶³ Sue John Locket, et al. (2007) Going public, crisis after crisis: The Bush administration and the press from September 11 to Saddam, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 10, p. 197.

⁶⁴ See G. T. Allison (1971) Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (Boston: Little, Brown).

⁶⁵ Les Payne (2003) Bible-Thumping War Drums. Available at http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0309-01.htm (accessed March 30, 2009).

⁶⁶ See further A. R. Pratkanis (1999) Propaganda, in: D. Levinson, J. Ponzetti & P. Jorgensen (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Human Emotions (New York: Macmillan), pp. 536–539.

⁶⁷ See A. Bandura 1999, Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), pp. 193–209.

⁶⁸ A. Bandura 2006, Mechanisms of moral disengagement in support of military force, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25, pp. 141–165.

⁶⁹ D.N. Walton 1992, Place of Emotion in Argument (University Park, Pennsyluvania: Pennsylvania State University Press).

⁷⁰ See C. R. Miller (1937) How to detect propaganda, Propaganda Analysis, 1, pp. 5–7.

⁷¹ J. J. Kimble (2005) Wither propanda? Agonism and ‘the engineering of consent,’ Quarterly Journal of Speech, 91, p. 201.

⁷² John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt (2007) The Israeli Lobby and US Foreign Policy (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux), p. 102.

⁷³ R. L. Ivie (2007) Fighting terror by rite of redemption and reconciliation, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 10, p. 233.

⁷⁸ A. Eisman (2003) The media of manipulation: Patriotism and propaganda—mainstream news in the United States in the weeks following September 11, Critical Quarterly, 45, p. 57, p. 60.

⁷⁴ Sue John Lockert, et al., Going Public, p. 201.

⁷⁵ Sue John Lockert, et al., Going Public, p. 201

⁷⁶ A. Eisman (2003) The media of manipulation: Patriotism and propaganda—mainstream news in the United States in the weeks following September 11, Critical Quarterly, 45, p. 57.

⁷⁷ A. Eisman (2003) The media of manipulation: Patriotism and propaganda—mainstream news in the United States in the weeks following September 11, Critical Quarterly, 45, p. 57

⁷⁹ A. Eisman (2003) The media of manipulation: Patriotism and propaganda—mainstream news in the United States in the weeks following September 11, Critical Quarterly, 45, p. 57, p. 55.

⁸⁰ Herald Tribune, October 14, 2008.

⁸¹ Qualter, Opinion Control, p. 124.

⁸² Pratkanis & Turner, Persuasion, p. 191.

⁸³ See A. Rojecki (2008) Rhetorical alchemy: American exceptionalism and the war on terror, Political Communication, 25, pp. 67–88.

⁸⁴ See A. Rojecki (2008) Rhetorical alchemy: American exceptionalism and the war on terror, Political Communication, 25, p. 69.

⁸⁵ C. T. Maier (2003) Crusade Propaganda and Ideology: Model Sermons for the Preaching of the Cross (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 3.

⁸⁶ As cited in Ivie, Fighting Terror, p. 235.

⁸⁷ As cited in Ivie, Fighting Terror, p. 235

⁸⁸ B. Vivian (2006) Neoliberal Epideictic: Rhetorical form and Commemorative Politics on September 11, 2002, Quarterly Journal of Speech, 92, p. 17.

⁸⁹ Les Payne, Bible-Thumping War Drums. Available at http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0310-01.htm (accessed 31 March 2009).

⁹⁰ Ivie, Fighting terror, p. 224.

⁹¹ Available at http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0310-01.htm (accessed).

⁹² Available at http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0310-01.htm (accessed), p. 224.

⁹³ Available at http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0310-01.htm (accessed), p. 239.

⁹⁴ Ellul, Ethics of propaganda.

⁹⁵ Walton, What is propaganda.

⁹⁶ The Atlantic Online January 2007. Available at http:/www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200701u/cannon-interview (accessed 31 March 2009).

⁹⁷ P. Ekman (1992) Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage (New York: W.W. Norton), p. 28.

⁹⁸ P. Ekman (1992) Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage (: W.W. Norton), p. 39.

⁹⁹ P. Ekman (1992) Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage (: W.W. Norton), p. 40.

¹⁰⁰ A.R. Mele (1987) Irrationality: An Essay on Akrasia, Self-deception, and Self-control (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

¹⁰¹ K. Hall Jamieson (2007) Justifying the war in Iraq: What the Bush administration's uses of evidence reveal, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 10, pp. 253–254.

¹⁰² K. Hall Jamieson (2007) Justifying the war in Iraq: What the Bush administration's uses of evidence reveal, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 10, pp. 253–254

¹⁰³ D. Zarefski (2007) Making the case for war: Colin Powell at the United Nations, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 10, p. 287.

¹⁰⁴ Hall Jamieson, Justifying the war, p. 255.

¹⁰⁵ Condoleezza Rice, quoted in Zarefski, Making the case, p. 289.

¹⁰⁶ Condoleezza Rice, quoted in Zarefski, Making the case, p. 289, p. 290.

¹⁰⁷ Senator R. Bennet, R-Utah, quoted in Hall Jamieson, Justifying the war, p. 262.

¹⁰⁸ For Fleisher's December 2, 2002, press conference remarks, see Senator R. Bennet, R-Utah, quoted in Hall Jamieson, Justifying the war, p. 258.

¹⁰⁹ Quoted in Senator R. Bennet, R-Utah, quoted in Hall Jamieson, Justifying the war., p. 252.

¹¹⁰ A memorandum to guide key Israelis and pro-Israel US leaders in public statements about the war stated: ‘If your goal is regime change, you must be much more careful with your language because of the potential backlash. You do not want Americans to believe that the war on Iraq is being waged to protect Israel rather than to protect America’ (Mearsheimer and Walt, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, p. 238). In the Jerusalem Post, Israelis were cautioned to be more circumspect because the US media was portraying Israel as ‘trying to goad the administration into war’ (Senator R. Bennet, R-Utah, quoted in Hall Jamieson, Justifying the war, p. 429, n. 50).

¹¹¹ Zarefski, Making the Case for War, p. 294.

¹¹² Hall Jamieson, Justifying the war, p. 266.

¹¹³ Schiller, The Mind Managers, quoting Richard Nixon, p. 146.