The Tools of Integrated Apologetics Course 1.6.2
Analysis Of Propaganda Techniques
Dr. Johnson C. Philip, Dr. Saneesh Cherian
Chapter — 2
An Introduction To Their Techniques
Practically hundreds of methods are used to propagate ideas and control minds, but ultimately all of them can be classified roughly into a few overlapping categories. "Roughly", because it is difficult in the humanities to classify subjects in a water-tight manner, and "overlapping" because in real life more than one category tends to be used at the same time, producing some form or other of overlap. Here are these techniques:
1. Fear Of A Bad Name (Insecurity, Fear): Everyone is afraid of getting a bad name, and this feeling is reflected in the oriental saying that "Even the worst evil is better than a bad name". Propagandists manipulate this fear by using disagreeable words to arouse fear, hate or disapproval. This is always done without producing actual evidence to support the assertion. Since all humans shrink away from bad names, people try to abandon the thing hinted at in the propaganda. Words frequently used for this trick are: backward, outdated, obscurantist, reactionary, uneducated, primitive, narrow-minded, raw, etc. Nobody likes to be labeled by these words.
Several journals have recently reported how this technique has been powerfully used to attack moral standards. Researchers recently surveyed students in two American Universities that are known for permissiveness. Obviously, many people there have been engaging in extramarital sex, and people have just been assuming that they do it because they want to. The survey revealed just the opposite. Almost two thirds of the boys and girls who had such relations said that they did not enter them from choice. Rather, they said they did it because of their fear that otherwise they would be considered abnormal, incompetent, or narrow minded. Since they needed social approval, they tried to avoid earning a bad name by violating their conscience.The same techniques are used to induce young men to smoke and young women to become involved in loose living. The fear of a bad name is a very powerful technique, and society has been employing it successfully to attack every good thing, including the Christian faith.
2. Appeal Of A Good Name (Security, Allurement): The appeal of good names is just the opposite of the fear of bad names. Everyone desires to have a good name, honour, respect, fame and status. Propagandists exploit these emotions by using highly subjective and well-tried words. With the help of pleasant-sounding words, a halo of desirable associations is built around a person, product or movement to such an extent that the reader is trapped into desiring an association. This desire sometimes turns into such a yearning that people even lose their stability and balance when the desire is not fulfilled.
Persons under the influence of good-name propaganda are convinced that by identifying themselves with that person, product, or movement, they will obtain the benefit of a good name. But if any of these matters are related to spiritual life, such people will have to sacrifice their commitment to certain essentials of the Christian faith. This is one reason why many born-again people hesitate to leave dead and radical churches. They feel that the name of the church gives them a certain measure of respectability and therefore they should not break up, even if requires a bit of "accommodation" in their personal faith and commitment. Most of them realise only too late that all that glitters is not gold, but by this time their commitment to spiritual matters has weakened to such levels that recovery is almost impossible. Whenever true good is compromised for the sake of apparent good (which is nothing but evil at the core), the invariable result is destruction of spiritual life. No exception has been recorded, either in the Scriptures or in church history.
Some of the words used to create a good appeal include: progressive, broad-minded, cultured, scholarly, sophisticated, etc. The word "liberal" used for certain Christians also falls in that category. This is a nice-sounding word because a liberal is a person who tolerates and accommodates everyone. Obviously this is a propaganda trick because these so-called liberals are actually "radicals" who do not tolerate or accommodate any other viewpoint. The appeal of a good name has been used to cover up and justify a multitude of sins. For example immorality is now termed "sexual activity" and an immoral person is therefore just "sexually active". Bribe is now described pleasantly as tip, fee or even service-charge. Neglect of duty is called a "shortcoming". Adultery has become "sexual involvement". Sin has become a "weakness", and lust has become just an "attraction". The use of pleasant words covers up sins and takes away the sharpness of sin-describing words. Moreover, the good-sounding words even create an aura of respectability and desirability for sinful, unethical and carnal activities.
3. Appeal To Human Authority (Transfer): By this technique, the propagandist induces people to transfer their respect, admiration, reverence, or faith from a person to something (claimed to be) related to that person. It is common to see sports and cinema stars endorsing a particular commercial product. Masses who hold these persons in respect transfer the same respect and awe to the product endorsed by them. The same technique is also used to attack Christianity. People who spread deviant techniques, doctrines and viewpoints often appeal to the opinion of one scholar or another. People who motivate others to indulge in questionable activity often point to well-respected persons who are already indulging in that activity, and this breaks down all resistance.
The Bible itself reminds us that the example of people held in esteem motivates less mature believers to indulge in what they otherwise consider sin (I Corinthians 8:9-13).
4. Appeal To Persuasion By Individuals (Testimonials): This method is similar to the technique mentioned in the previous point, but with notable differences. In the previous method, the respect towards a person of fame is transferred to a product, belief or movement. That is why it is called "Transfer" or appeal to human authority. In the present technique, however, appeal is made to testimonials of people from all walks of life — people with whom everyone among the masses can identify. In their testimonials different persons tell convincingly how they discovered a solution to a presumed problem. The awed listeners immediately identify themselves with that person and accept his or her testimony as true for them also. These are the techniques used by advertisers who sell common products like soaps, shampoos and other household items by appealing to the testimony of housewives. But the same technique is used by emotion-dominant groups. The exaggerated teachings about tongues and healings spread in this way - not by appeal to the Scriptures, but by appeal to human experience. False cults also used this technique successfully. This is why one sees so much importance given to, and such stress placed upon human experience in these movements.
5. Appeal To Tricky Implications (Half Truths & White Lies): In this technique, true and authentic statements are coupled with false implications. The true statement is usually so appealing, authentic or striking that most persons are buried and lost under their weight. They do not realise that the publicised implication does not usually follow from the original statement. For example, those who would like to portray the Bible as an error-prone book use this technique with great success. They start with the authentic and innocent-sounding statement that "the main purpose of the Bible is to illuminate and guide men in matters of spiritual truth". None could disagree with that! Then, very soon, they add another statement, "obviously, the main purpose of the Bible is not to enlighten us about scientific truths". Once again, none would disagree with that. But these authentic statements are then exploited to bring forth some very tricky and deceptive implications.
The implication comes out when they claim that due to its spiritual nature, the geographical, historical and other such details need not be accurate. Then they go one step further and start talking about the presumed errors in the Bible. Starting with a true statement they lead people through tricky implications into gross error. This has been a well-tried and standard tool not only in the hands of radicals but also in the hands of deviant evangelicals. True, the primary aim of the Bible is to communicate spiritual truths, but this does not automatically imply that God inspired the Bible with different levels of reliability in different parts. Further, though the primary purpose is to communicate spiritual truths, the spiritual material, and the historical truths in are so inseparably linked with each other that the integrity of each aspect is necessary for the integrity of the other aspect. They are so interlinked with each other that the spiritual and the material aspects can not be separated from each other. Consequently, the implication mentioned above is not valid. It is only a propagandists’ trap.
Tricky implications can be used in many ways to deceive God’s children. About the Bible it has been used in two ways. One, to undermine its reliability as mentioned above, second, this trick has been used to imply that certain passages in it contain endorsement for error, cruelty, evil or immorality. The same technique was used by the serpent in the garden of Eden, by the false-cult known as the children of God, and by many others to justify error.
6. The Bandwagon/Mob-mentality Trick (Everybody’s Doing It): Here again is a very powerful technique for exerting pressure on people by appealing to "everyone else" who is enthusiastic about it. People have a tendency to follow what everyone else is doing. This tendency is reinforced due to the inherent insecurity that almost everyone has. This insecurity makes them afraid to be different from others. We all know how pioneers in many fields suffered terribly at the hands of people. Many of them were mocked, humiliated and even tortured to death. The European medical doctor who introduced the practice of washing of hands before examining patients became mad and committed suicide due to the same reason. Nobody else practiced it before him and therefore people harassed him even though he was able to show outstanding results due to such washing.
The band-wagon technique is used to induce people into buying things they do not need, talking about things that are not appropriate, and doing things that are questionable. The same technique is being used successfully to attack Christian morality and ethics. It is not unusual to hear that "educated people everywhere are abandoning the outdated morality of the Bible". This is an inducement and an invitation to jump on to the band-wagon of immorality! Very few people are able to resist such pressure. Even if they do not jump into outright immorality, only few of them will defend their stand with any conviction or confidence.
"Everyone else is doing it/buying it" is a powerful deception, and one should beware of this trap. 7. Card-stacking (Outright Deception): Card-stacking is a well-known art for cheating the ignorant or deceiving one’s gullible opponent. All the while the opponent thinks that the game is under his control, but the opposite is true. Card-stacking is such a powerful method for propagating error that even a person familiar with the methods of propaganda can be tricked a good number of times.
The person who wants to lure a Christian into drinking, using drugs, gambling, or any other kinds of questionable activity will usually reveal only one aspect of the game. Usually this short-lived aspect promises some kind of direct or indirect pleasure for a moment, but the hidden cost paid is tremendous. Usually no one talks about these costs, but only of the thrill, and so the naive victim is able to see only the immediate pleasure but not the long-term cost.
The same kind of arguments are used by errant movements and deviant groups to induce students to give up their studies or hard work, to convert energetic Christians into lazy bums, or to steal the fruits of chastity from young and godly, but naive men and women. Almost all statistics that tell you that people in this country now condone immorality, crime, euthanasia and other vices, are false. Most people do not favour such things, but then people who want to stack the cards do not go to the masses. Rather, they invite people of their own inclination to respond to the survey. The few thousand perverts who respond are then considered to represent the whole country, and the statistics are imposed upon the whole nation. Consider a survey conducted by a pornographic magazine among its readers. If eighty percent of the people who respond say that they regularly indulge in extra-marital sex, they immediately claim, "a recent survey has shown that eighty percent of all married men in our country indulge in extra-marital sex". This is card stacking.
The survey only shows that eighty percent of the respondents among readers of this pornographic magazine indulge in extra-marital sex. This has no connection with the national average, because the readers of pornographic magazines do not represent the average citizens of any nation. They are only an abnormal minority. Further, as our hypothetical but typical figure shows, even within this pornography-loving minority some people refuse to indulge in bodily immorality. This is the important outcome of the survey! So next time you read a survey and feel that it puts you among the minority, check the statistics once again. Most people hide the true story, but if you can somehow get to the original figures you will be horrified to discover how they are able to portray majority as minority and vice versa.
8. Titillation And Teasing (Fantasy Manipulation): This method has been well-tried for decades in many developed nations, and it traps people quite successfully. The spread of international TV through dish antennae and cables has now taken it even to the remotest countries where it is reaping a plentiful harvest.
Everyone has a fantasy-creating mind. Some of these fantasies relate to the man-woman relationship because humans have been created as sexual beings. Sex within God-ordained boundaries is not only proper, but also quite satisfying, thrilling and even necessary for stability — barring the exceptional people with the spiritual gift of celibacy. However, just as any human emotion or feelings or emotions can be manipulated, the sexual desires can also be played with. This is the heart of propaganda by titillation and teasing.
Further, of all the emotions that people have, sexual feelings produce the greatest impact upon the body and the spirit. The fantasy in which a music lover indulges about music, or book lovers about books, or people about security produces only a certain limited measure of emotions, but fantasies in sexual matters produce explosive emotions. People lose their common sense and the theme of sexual gratification dominates their thinking till they find some sort of relief. This is why fantasy is a powerful tool in the hands of the subtle propagandist.
Pick up any magazine or TV advertisement you will notice that they have more women models than men, even if the product advertised belongs to the male domain. Further, you will notice that most of the time the models chosen are very sweet and homely or very cute and sexy. They pose either in a homely or in a sex-arousing and inviting manner. The purpose is obvious — it is done to titillate your heart and trigger your fantasies. [Note: The word "homely" has different meanings in different countries. Here it means a woman desirable to establish a home with].
Recent Psychological researches have shown that fantasy might be powerful beyond imagination due to an added reason. It has been found that average persons speak at the rate of 100 words per minute. The same person thinks at the rate of about 250 words per minute. But when they indulge in fantasising, their speed of thought becomes equivalent to about 1800 words per minute. Obviously, our minds will surrender and yield under such an onslaught of ideas flashing in such quick succession. When the power of animated TV pictures is added to them, the power to manipulate becomes incredible.
Let me quote an interesting advertisement that uses titillation. This pamphlet was given to me in a clothes shop, and an attractive girl posing in a seductive manner says in bold and eye-catching print : "John and I will get married only next month, but we have already done it twice in secret … !!"
What have they already done twice in secret? In my seminars I frequently show this ad to mature (single as well as married) persons and ask what this girl was hinting at! What exactly did they DO in secret ?? Without exception they all replied, "They had sex, of course!". That is titillation and motivation for fantasy. As the ad goes on it became clear that the girl was actually referring to two secret visits to the exclusive "clothes shop!" Yet they use a statement with direct sexual overtone to catch the attention (and manipulate the subconscious) of the reader. Teasing works in the same way. When people are teased with sexual overtones for the first time they might be embarrassed or even horrified. But when such teasing continues for some time, their fantasies turn on. Gradually fantasy breaks down resistance and the persons find themselves lured to sin. This is the reason why young people should flee from the company of profane people who talk about sexual fantasies or who use sexual overtones in their teasing.
Fantasy is a powerful propaganda tool. It not only captures the attention, but also motivates people to lust and dirty their minds. Summary: The eight techniques above look very simple, deceptively simple in fact. However, the fact that advertising companies spend thousands of millions every year on them, and also the fact that monopolistic nations also spend thousands of millions every year to integrate these into their overseas propaganda shows that their simplicity is only deceptive and an outward facade for the lethal power they hide in themselves. Communists, atheists, humanists, the so-called rationalists, theological radicals and almost everyone who delights in attacking the Christian faith, but who do not have substance to fight against God’s word, use these techniques liberally. Their books, monographs, publications and even conversations are loaded with Propaganda Techniques. Thus every Christian needs to be acquainted with these techniques and also the methods to counter them.
Analysis Of Propaganda Techniques
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