Are your beliefs and opinions actually yours?

This is a wake up call. Everything that you think is actually a clever manipulation. Modern propaganda techniques are so clever, that most people don't even realize they are being "told" what to believe. The biggest example, and easiest for people to identify in their own lives, are political campaigns. I will be putting some examples of techniques that both major political candidates are using, and let you draw your own conclusion.

Lets start with the democrats, and the Obama Campaign:

The biggest methods employed by the Obama campaign are Bandwagon, Common Man, Glittering Generalities, and virtue words.

The bandwagon stratagy is also called "Inevitable victory". In the latter days of the Obama campaign, the MSM has been writing stories on the assumption of an Obama presidency. A prime example is this : www.telegraph.co.uk... rrorist-attack.html

What they are not telling you, is that the McCain campaign was ALSO briefed, instead reporting to make it look like the current president has come to believe the election will result in an Obama victory. This strategy is an appeal to people who are metaphorically "sitting on the fence", to chose to vote for Obama. It all but comes out and says "come join the winning side"

Common Man tactics are when the propaganda-ist tries to appeal to the average person, making the argument that the position being presented reflects the common sense of the average citizen. These tactics work even better when put into layman's terms, and spoken in person using less lofty language. Obama is attempting to do this by simplifying how he explains his tax purposals.

Glittering Generalities are charged words, usually strongly tied to emotions within the common person, but is really vague in nature, or sometimes offers no substance. Obama is going to "Change" washington, and gives some ideas on how this will happen, but in general is very vague about the idea of change.

Virtue Words are words that people tend to view as positive. Peace, Love, Truth, Freedom and leadership are all examples. The intent is to attach these words that conjure images of virtue to a particular person, to make them appear much more positive than they really are.

It is important to note, that almost all methods of propaganda used by the Democrats this election cycle, are designed to appear to be positive, and non-negative methods of running a campaign. This gives the perception that the Democrats are running a much more positive campaign, with fewer attacks, and appealing to the american desire to see more "Honest" politics.

The McCain campaign's favorite methods of manipulation include Appeal to fear, appeal to prejudice, Labeling, Transfer and unstated assumptions.

Appealing to fear is an attempt to trigger the "fight or flight" response in the target listener/viewer.

Appeal to Prejudice is not what it sounds like. Instead it is using terms to attach "goodness" to believing a certain view. The newest appeal to prejudice attacks are using the "Joe the Plumer" style attacks, using phrases like "any hard working taxpayer", "hard earned dollars" and the like.

Labeling has always been quite prevalant in the republican campaigns. Labeling is designed to, for lack of a better phrase, "devide and conquer". A prime example is the use of the dysphemism Liberal. The republicans have drivin it into the minds of the people that Liberals are bad. Therefore if you vote or believe in X, you are liberal, and therefore also bad. labeling is actually a complicated propoganda technique that can also be filed under the category of "Logical Fallacy" (for those researchers out there )

Transfer is also called "association. Successful transfer is done by attaching positive, or negative values of any given person, idea, party, etc, to another to make it more acceptable or less acceptable. This "guilt by association" attack style is most prevalant in the Ayers and Wright comments made by the McCain campaign.

Unstated Assumption: This is when the propaganda-ist stops just shy of making an all out accusation that could be proven false, instead leading the audience's subconcious to make the connections themselves. i.e. by saying some of obama's ideas are socialist, the campaign is stopping shy of blatently accusing Obama of being a socialist, leaving the listener's subconcious to do the rest of the work.

Some of these examples are overly simplified, as a good propaganda artist will use more than one technique at a time to ensure that the listener gets the message loud and clear. Most of the time, you are not even aware that you have been manipulated.

However there is an additional catch that makes it extremely difficult to rise above the propaganda: If their message has gotten to you, and affected you, you will not know it. there is no possible way for you to realize you have been manipulated into your beliefs until after you have been deprogrammed, which is not an easy process. Identifying and researching the methods of manipulation is only the first step on a long journey of self realization.

It's amazing what we think, we think?..............we are all being influenced in some manner.I agree with you that much of what we believe may not be our opinions after all................................

The most interesting aspect of observing propaganda in action, is how easily the masses are swayed.

I can't for the life of me figure out why propaganda is so effective. this is very apparent during an election cycle. Every 4 years, Americans are divided into 2 groups, that end up hating the other faction's candidate with a passion. If it is possible to do with only a few months of propaganda... imagine the effectiveness of a more subtle, long term propaganda campaign...

We'd probably have no clue we were being influenced...

I'm almost positive that this has been going on in the United States since WWII...

We'd probably have no clue we were being influenced...

There are so many ways, NLP,Subliminal from TV,ads,etc...............

The TV effect is also something facinating, which would account for some of the effectiveness of televised propaganda...

The TV effect is pretty much once the viewer starts watching, their body and mind automatically relax and go at ease...

Full on report here, its pretty brainy though:

www.allacademic.com...

I don't know how much I believe in subliminal messaging... I know its been a technique employed in the past, but I thought studies had shown that its not all that effective in the grand scheme of things.

We lost every form of control that we had to society, so what makes you think our opinions and beliefs are ours. From birth we are told how to think and what is wrong and right. I agree with you fully that is campaign is a perfect example of the level of idiocy in our country. The commercials that they run are a blatant attempt to start mudslinging. The sad thing is it works, the citizens supporting candidates start speaking and discussing the issues. The start talking to others around them about some "facts" about the campaign not knowing that it stemmed from false advertisement.

-IgN0raNt

Well yes, your thoughts and beliefs are ingrained into you from a very young age... but this isn't so much the government. Its more your parents impressing their beliefs on you, and molding you into what they view as a productive citizen. This could be the result of a long term more subtle propaganda campaigns that have been waged for years...

The american government on the other hand, is able to condition you to actually rally around what they want you to agree with. I'm almost positive that we are the victims of both White, Black and Grey propaganda attacks on a daily basis.

Any speculation though on why propaganda is so effective? I honestly can't figure it out (i'm not a psych major either... or it might be easier).

There have even been times I've watched something, knowing full well its pretty propaganda laiden... and had to remind myself of that several times while viewing.

We've been trained to believe that communism and socialism are bad... but, does anyone know why? what can people honestly remember in great detail on why they believe those forms of government is bad? Most people don't even know what socialism is these days... yet, they know they believe its evil...