"Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda."
The use of various media to influence public opinion and shape attitudes towards events, people, or ideas, from ancient times to the present day.
Historical context: Understanding the political, social, and economic factors that influenced the use of propaganda throughout history, such as war, revolutions, and totalitarian regimes.
Definition and types of propaganda: Defining propaganda and exploring its various forms, such as political, religious, and commercial propaganda.
Techniques of propaganda: Familiarizing oneself with the common tactics of propaganda, such as appeals to emotions, misinformation, and distortion of facts.
Propaganda and media: Analyzing the role of different media in spreading propaganda, including newspapers, radio, television, and social media.
Propaganda and psychology: Investigating how propaganda affects human behavior and decision-making, including the concepts of cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias.
Propaganda and censorship: Examining how governments and other authorities use censorship to control information and shape public opinion.
The effects of propaganda: Considering the short-term and long-term impacts of propaganda on society, including its potential to incite violence and undermine democracy.
Propaganda in contemporary society: Assessing the current state of propaganda in the world today, including the role of technology and the emergence of new forms of propaganda.
Resistance to propaganda: Highlighting the strategies that individuals and groups can use to resist propaganda and maintain critical thinking.
Ethics and propaganda: Analyzing the ethical implications of using propaganda, including its potential to manipulate and deceive, and its role in perpetuating stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes.
Ad hominem: This type of propaganda attacks the person instead of the argument or issue they are presenting.
Bandwagon: This is a type of propaganda that suggests people should jump on board with a particular trend or idea because everyone else is doing it.
Black-and-white: This type of propaganda presents an issue in terms of only two extreme possibilities or options, which often oversimplifies complex issues.
Card-stacking: This involves presenting only those facts that support a particular point of view, while ignoring contradictory facts.
Glittering generalities: This type of propaganda uses vague or positive-sounding words to create an emotional appeal to an audience.
Name-calling: This type of propaganda uses negative or derogatory words and labels to discredit an opponent or group.
Plain folks: This appeal attempts to convince an audience that a politician or group of people are just regular folks with the same values and beliefs as average citizens.
Propaganda by omission: This type of propaganda involves ignoring, under-reporting, or omitting important facts that are unfavorable or contradictory to a particular argument or position.
Testimonial: This type of propaganda uses endorsements or testimonials from celebrities, experts, or regular people to create an emotional appeal to an audience.
Transfer: This type of propaganda uses symbols or images that evoke emotions or feelings and connects them to a particular product, idea, or group.
"...may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception."
"...using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response."
"...in the 20th century, the English term propaganda was often associated with a manipulative approach."
"...historically, propaganda has been a neutral descriptive term of any material that promotes certain opinions or ideologies."
"Propaganda can be found in a wide variety of different contexts."
"A wide range of materials and media are used for conveying propaganda messages, which changed as new technologies were invented, including paintings, cartoons, posters, pamphlets, films, radio shows, TV shows, and websites."
"More recently, the digital age has given rise to new ways of disseminating propaganda, for example, bots and algorithms are currently being used to create computational propaganda and fake or biased news and spread it on social media." (Note: Please note that the following quotes are paraphrased selections that address the questions.)
"Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda..."
"...may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception."
"...using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is being presented."
"...the English term propaganda was often associated with a manipulative approach..."
"...historically, propaganda has been a neutral descriptive term of any material that promotes certain opinions or ideologies."
"Propaganda can be found in a wide variety of different contexts."
"A wide range of materials and media are used for conveying propaganda messages, including paintings, cartoons, posters, pamphlets, films, radio shows, TV shows, and websites."
"More recently, the digital age has given rise to new ways of disseminating propaganda..."
"...bots and algorithms are currently being used to create computational propaganda..."
"...fake or biased news and spread it on social media."
"...to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda..."
"...using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response..."