Propaganda how not to be bamboozled summary

This week is going to be about Propaganda and Double Speak. and honing your skills of hunting for relevant quotes in a sea of information. There will be two essays to read, and two writing assignments. The first assignment is longer, and the second one much shorter. Please read over the assignment descriptions before reading the essays, and as always everything is due via email by next Friday. And I hope that every week you emerge more intelligent than the week before!

Here is the link to the first essay:Week 5: Propaganda, Doublespeak, and Skimming for Relevant Quotes

Read: "Propaganda How Not to be Bamboozled" by Donna Wilfolk Cross

In this essay, she gives 13 examples of propaganda, as well as examples to illustrate each one.

Your assignment is to give an example to illustrate each of the propaganda techniques from the following sources: (3-4 pages total)

3 examples should be taken from CNN

3 examples should be taken from Fox News

3 examples should be taken from Advertisements

4 examples should be taken from social media, real life conversations and/or memes

This will require you to understand what the propaganda technique is, paraphrase it, and be able to locate an example. Consequently, you will have to use the skill I like to call "scanning for relevant quotes" that we've been working on. Also, keep in mind that propaganda isn’t a partisan issue, both liberals and conservatives use it, so make sure you give examples to illustrate it on both sides.

The first technique she talks about, for example, is “name calling.” This is where somebody calls somebody else a name instead of addressing a particular issue with facts. I started the assignment by going to CNN website where, of course, are a bunch of news stories. I know I can’t read all of them so I use my "scanning skills" to look for titles of controversial subjects, opinion pieces, and stories might have an emotional charge that devolves into name calling. I literally look for titles to articles that either have name calling in the title or that look ripe for name calling. I also use any insider information I have about the news such source I am using. Since I know Fox tends to be Conservative, and CNN more liberal leaning in their stories and I am on CNN, I find an opinion article titled, “Thank You For Your Service Jared Kushner.” Even though this sounds pro Jared Kushner, it could be sarcastic since Jared is the Son in Law of Donald Trump, and CNN generally is at odds with Donald Trump, so I go in and scan the article for what it is about, and specifically any name calling. I quickly deduce that the article is, indeed, criticizing Jared’s handling of the coronavirus, and so once I get this, I scan (not read) the rest of the article looking for an example of name calling. If you don't know how to scan, you better learn because college will be much easier once you can do it. I am literally just looking for a quote that shows some name calling, and sure enough I find it. The author writes of Kushner as, “the feckless son-in-law as coronavirus czar prattling on about bringing more private sector efficiency to government.”