Propaganda techniques

Propaganda techniques involve an effort at mass persuasion through propaganda using words, gestures, pictures etc. They have a long history and were used very effectively by, for example, Adolf Hitler.

Examples

Repetition

Repeating a particular viewpoint day in and day out (propagandist's viewpoint or perspective) has a deepening impact on the target audience.

Accentuating one side of the argument

Giving a complex and fabricated relativity towards the audience to the point of their losing interest in any opposition towards this view.

Taking names

Presenting testimonials and supporting one's cause by taking names: Use of the authority of admired figures of politics, religion, mass culture, and academia.

Fear or emotional appeal

For fear, it could involve emotional manipulation by the propagandist trying to manipulate the viewer's feelings by "playing on" whatever concerns they may have or their direct emotional base. Depending on the particular media used, it could be constructing a story around particular events involving selected people (more so, perhaps people who either fit into or are fabricated to exemplify a particular stereotype familiar with the target audience) in which certain aspects and outcomes of the event are made to "play on" (or manipulate the viewer's emotions. However, viewers can overcome this by understanding how these events actually play out or that the events depicted have nothing to do with them personally. Therefore, they've nothing to actually feel guilty over.

Demonization of the enemy

The use of vile stereotypes of the national, ethnic, racial, behavioural, religious, or class Enemy. Exaggeration of physical characteristics or behavior, irrespective of the validity of such stereotypes, serves to contrast heroes against villains.Enemies are often animalized as predatory creatures or as vermin. They may be associated with such disreputable characters as the Devil or the Grim Reaper. Nazi stereotypes of Jews showed Jews as ugly, domineering, exploitative oppressors. Soviet stereotypes of pre-Soviet capitalists showed the reactionaries as devious, rapacious characters with aristocratic clothing and foreign capitalists as grotesquely obese -- even with grotesque discoloration.

Vilification of slackers

Masses are caused to question whether their loyalty, competence, faith and effort are adequate so that they may be pressured to work harder or cling more closely to the cause contrary to tendencies to become cynical toward the demands of leadership and organizations. At the extreme the slacker or backslider is shown as an unwitting accomplice of the enemy or is in danger of similar judgment. Undesired behavior (such as waste of resources, drunkenness, taking a day off, paying attention to dissident or foreign news sources, or careless talk) is portrayed as causing delight to the Enemy.