Fooling and deceiving people is an age-old practice. The quotation above by Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) talked about how people were being misled and fooled over 140 years ago. Today, the practice of fooling and deceiving people may be a bigger and more widespread problem, because we are constantly being exposed to images and messages on television, radio, the internet, newspaper, magazines, and even word of mouth.
This is an age of information, but it can also be an age of misinformation, unless you know how words and images can deliberately be used to mislead and deceive people. This was the main topic at a forum sponsored by the Hawaii State AFL-CIO on “Buzzwords and Propaganda.”
Bill Puette, director of the Center for Labor Education and Research, described how unions are often unfairly portrayed by the mass media. Labor strikes are big news, while peaceful settlements receive little coverage. Union leaders are called “bosses” and any hint of dishonesty is played up as another example of union “corruption.” Many of his examples were drawn from his book, Through Jaundiced Eyes: How the Media View Organized Labor, which details and analyzes the negative depiction of organized labor in movies, on television, in newspapers and cartoons.
Mel Chang, ILWU communications director, explained that propaganda is simply a way of presenting information to promote a cause or point of view. Advertising is a form of propaganda. Campaign literature mailed out by political candidates are propaganda. Even the union newspaper uses propaganda techniques to put unions in a positive light. However, propaganda is often used to mislead and deceive people, and that is why we need to understand how propaganda works, Chang said. The effective use of propaganda explains why people who have no experience with unions often have a negative image of unions. Chang reviewed 14 of the more common propaganda techniques that work by twisting words, facts, logic, and identity.
Chang cited the example of Republican Newt Gingrich who advised his fellow Republicans in the House of Representative that language is a key mechanism of control. Gingrich made up two lists of words—a list of positive words to be used to describe Republicans and a list of negative words to be used when describing Democratic opponents.
The two lists are based on all five of the propaganda techniques for twisting words. Some of the negative words are: decay . . . failure . . . collapse . . . crisis . . . destructive . . . destroy . . . sick . . . pathetic . . . lie . . . liberal . . . they/them . . . unionized bureaucracy . . . betray . . . limit . . . shallow . . . . traitors. Some of the positive words are: share . . . change . . . opportunity . . . legacy . . . challenge . . . truth . . . moral . . . courage . . . reform . . . prosperity . . . crusade . . . movement . . . children . . . family . . . candid . . . active . . . we/us/our . . . compete . . . humane . . . provide.
Don’t be fooled
Union members need to understand how propaganda has been used against them and their organizations. Following are some of the more common propaganda techniques in use today.
Propaganda Techniques: TwistingWords
• Euphemisms or Word Substitution. This technique tries to create a more favorable impression by replacing offensive or negative words with words that have a more positive meaning. It is an intentional process of choosing words or terms that have similar meaning, but bring out a more positive response from people—for example the use of “Capital punishment” instead of “execution.”
Euphemisms can be deliberately deceptive when the substituted words are used to disguise or mask the real intention of the original words. The term, “Right To Work,” is a good example of using positive words to mask the real intention of making union security clauses illegal. Civil Service “Reform” is often used to disguise efforts to dismantle the civil service system. Similarly, neutral or positive terms can be replaced by negative words to deliberately create an unfavorable impression. Union “leaders” are often referred to as union “bosses” to create a negative impression.
Following are some examples of euphemisms: “Right-size” instead of “Downsize” to describe job eliminations and layoffs; “Privatize” instead of government job elimination and “union-busting”; “Collateral Damage” instead of “killing civilians.”
• Word Pairing or Conditioning by Repetitive Association. Word Pairing is a process of constantly and repeatedly using negative terms and words with certain individuals or groups. Over time, people are conditioned to associate the negative words with those individuals or groups. The words “boss” or “notorious” are often used with “union leader.” The word “dictator” is often used with names of people the U.S. considers enemies—i.e. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
• Negative Adjectives and Verbs. ““Adjectives” are words that modify a noun and give additional information about that noun. For example, in the phrase “reasonable demands,” “reasonable” is an adjective that describes the noun “demands.” Negative adjectives can be used to cast doubt or in some way belittle the object of the qualifying adjective—for instance, “Tax and Spend” Democrats. “Burdensome” regulations.
The verbs can be changed as well. “Clinton lied about Monica Lewinsky” is a more negative way of saying “Clinton was not forthcoming about Lewinsky.” “Powerful government unions killed civil service reform” uses powerful and killed to reinforce a negative image about unions. “Bureaucratic or red tape” is often used with “government” and “regulations” to build a negative image about government.
• Buzzwords. Buzzwords are created as the result of successful propaganda. People become conditioned to respond emotionally to certain key words. Buzzwords become a shortcut that short-circuits intelligent and rational discussion of the issues. “Big Government and Big Unions” are terms used by people who want to cut government and weaken unions.
• Glittering Generalities. Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing words so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that they carry conviction without supporting information or reason. These words appeal to such emotions as love of country, home, desire for peace, freedom, glory, honor, etc. They ask for approval without examination of the reason. Though the words and phrases are vague and suggest different things to different people, their connotation is always favorable.
Glittering generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations. The intention is to move the audience by use of undefined phrases, without analyzing their validity or attempting to determine their reasonableness or application.