Propaganda And The World Of Doublespeak

In William Lutz’s essay entitled “The World of Doublespeak,” from Christopher Ricks’s and Lenonard Micheal’s anthology State of the Language, Lutz examines the art of doublespeak. This essay is meant to enlighten people on examples and different uses of doublespeak and how organizations and others use it to mislead. Lutz begins by defining doublespeak as “language which pretends to communicate but doesn’t, language which makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant attractive, or at least tolerable” (278). Specifically, people who use doublespeak pretend to be conveying a certain message while in the real sense they are doing the opposite of that. The author gives specific examples of doublespeak that affect the

In her essay, “Propaganda: How Not to Be Bamboozled”, author Donna Woolfolk Cross explains the different types of propaganda and how it is used in the United States. The essay was first published in Speaking of Words: A Language Reader (1977). Cross defines propaganda as “simply a means of persuasion and so it can be put to work for good causes as well as bad” (247). In her article she discusses how propaganda works and explains how propaganda is used with thirteen different devices to manipulate people’s thoughts, opinions, and ideas. She uses this essay as an informative piece, giving advice on how not to be manipulated by propaganda.

Ever since its birth as a country in 1776, the United States of America has been a country surrounded by a certain aura that is not shared by other countries throughout the world. The country is one that was born out of a struggle and revolution, which has helped shape the character of its citizens and its national identity. Throughout the various wars the country has fought, such as the war of 1812, both World Wars, and the Vietnam War, propaganda has played an important role in influencing the people of America. The government of the United States has effectively used propaganda over the centuries to generate funds for war or relief efforts, save resources for war efforts, to get out and work or to possibly sway the minds of its citizens towards particular political ideals. Propaganda throughout the history of the United States, and throughout the world, have had various themes such as slandering an enemy as seen in anti-German, Italian, and Japanese propaganda in World War 2, or the opposite when trying to gain support for an ally. The main purpose of propaganda throughout history has been to persuade people to buy into or follow a set of ideals set out by whoever created the propaganda. Propaganda has played a large part in shaping the understanding of the United States by causing its citizens to buy into the beliefs of the government, which is a large reason why the country was able to become the great nation that it is today.

Double-think has a huge impact on propaganda, thus being able to convince the minds of citizens two believe the following, “War is

In the essay, “Propaganda: How Not to be Bamboozled,” and “The World of Doublespeak,” both authors discuss and explains the unusual types of propaganda and the misleading nature of doublespeak. First, Donna Woolfolk Cross describes the constructions and the specific methods propaganda presented in our day by day life, and how to avoid being tricked. Also Cross believes that it is important for people in a democratic society to be well informed about propaganda due to how people get manipulated into simply doing something except thinking. Additionally, Cross explains for us as readers the different sorts of propaganda and how we view the topics in a positive way. She highlights in her essay that propaganda is not continually negative; however, it also used in significant ways. Cross presents in her essay that there are thirteen different types of propaganda; such as Card Stacking, Name calling, and Glittering

World War II is one of many, most horrific and crucial events in world history and one of the most important events in the 20th century. Leonard and John (2007) define propaganda as “notions, facts, or accusations that are spread purposely with the objective of furthering one’s cause or damaging an opponent’s cause”. (7) They used media and propaganda in order to increase support for their side of the war. An immense feeling of patriotism was building up, and the nations used all the resources at their disposal to get their nations ahead of the race regardless of how humiliating and misleading the allegations were. Throughout World War II, propaganda was used to maintain the heat in fights and create unity among the citizens of a nation to achieve a single cause. People receive information on a daily basis since the beginning of the war and the parties of the confrontation. United States of America used propaganda for the creation of massive advertisements in the course of the war that could be interpreted as degrading to rival forces (Cogan, Brian & Tony, 53). Propaganda and information were distributed through numerous sources—radio, films, books and newspapers. The major aim was to impose on people the way of thinking and acting, both consciously and subconsciously (Rhodes 5). Though news sources attempted to be objective, there has always been ways to influence the way in which people interpret information.

When was the last time you were exposed to propaganda? If you think it was more than a day ago, you are probably unaware of what propaganda really is. According to Donna Woolfolk Cross in “Propaganda: How not to be Bamboozled,” propaganda is “simply a means of persuasion” (149). She further notes that we are subjected daily to propaganda in one form or another as advertisers, politicians, and even our friends attempt to persuade us to use their product, vote for them, or adopt their point of view. Propaganda is usually considered in a negative sense. However, when viewing propaganda as mere persuasion, one can readily appreicate that it is

Propaganda can be displayed in many ways as it, “…is simply a means of persuasion…” (Cross 247). You can persuade someone by giving them few options, sugar-coating the truth, lying, or even by misleading them. Doublespeak is an art of language that is used to manipulate, therefore making it a notable example of a way propaganda may be portrayed. William Lutz describes doublespeak in his article, “The World of Doublespeak”, as “the product of clear thinking and is carefully designed and constructed to appear to communicate but in fact to mislead.” This art of persuasion

When people hear the word ‘propaganda’, a negative image automatically seems to pop up in their heads. Propaganda generally revolves around hiding the whole story with information often being provided in a biased or misleading fashion.

We live in a world of technological innovation where mass media is a major part of us today. People make assumptions on what they hear. They do not try to analyze the situation to see who is right and who is wrong, and mass media is the main source of manipulating one's mind. The concept of propaganda has changed over time. Propagandists create ideas stereotypically through the use of propaganda and use media to promote it and target people's minds to have influence on their views towards a certain group of people. These ideas create negative or positive images in the intended audience's minds. However, it is notable that the information is only the one that is exemplified through media and therefore, can be

To some speakers and writers, propaganda is an evil instrument. The negative approaches make a part of the world think that propagandists hoodwink the population, use half-truths, lie, conceal and distort facts. Although there are many pessimistic perspectives, there are others who have a positive view and think especially of techniques, slogans, catchwords and other devices. They prefer effective language, the rhetoric way, to persuade the audience (Pan, 2012).

First, one must define propaganda and since many have done so already, I shall use the Sheryl Ross model. Her model defines propaganda as “an epistemically defective message designed with the intention to persuade a socially significant group of people on behalf of a political institution, organization, or cause.”

Propaganda is performed through print, audio, and visual mass media. It is used for the promotion of the public’s activities in their life such as purchasing goods through market propaganda, and it is also found in politics, foreign affairs, and in many other fields. Most importantly propaganda is depicted in the informercialization of the news, which is connected with subliminal advertising and commercialization of public events and individual promotion such in communication websites. However, there is great debate over propaganda and persuasion that is casted in the media, which I will be elaborating in this essay.

There are two types of propaganda: sociological propaganda; the spreading of an ideology through the mass media, and political propaganda; efforts that are sponsored by governments and political groups that alter a persons’ interests. All propaganda has a direction, and the overall quality determines whether it will have a positive or negative effect over the masses. Our entire nation is a vast propaganda operational system that is greatly linked to education, consumerism and politics. A great deal of what makes up propaganda and how it is placed among the masses lies in understanding the overall emotional and physical states of these groups of people and in finding a way to draw a persons’ attention to capture their hearts, breaking down

Chomsky (1997) uses, what he calls, the first modern government propaganda operation, the Creel Commission, to identify that the opinions of a population can be easily manipulated with a few well-timed messages and slogans. Woodrow Wilson was elected president using the “Peace Without Victory” platform in the middle of World War I (Chomsky,