Propaganda techniques

SO HOW do we go about propagandizing?
The use of stereotypes. “Typing” people along unvarying socio-cultural patterns blurs individuality. Generalizations, instead of specifics, are fixed in the mind of the audience.
Damn political correctness here. Hence, Ilocano as kuripot (tightwad), Capampangan as mayabang (braggart), and in the global arena, the “Shrewd Jew,” and the “Muslim terrorist.”
Stereotyping agitates, nay, inflames cross-cultural biases and prejudices. Hate campaigns spring from there.
Name-calling. Substitution of real names with colorful aliases or appellations for greater recall or ridicule. Hence, Asenso Pusakal, Jun Balas, Litong-lito Lapid, Monkey Tong, Don Pipit Mercado, on the positive side, Smart Buddy. Of the current crop of candidates, Giba Teodoro, Abnoy Aquino, Money Villar. Invitation to libel always open there.
A caveat: Name-calling can backfire. Aesthetically-challenged, the late Apalit Mayor Tirso Lacanilao turned that liability to principal asset.
The first time he ran, Lacanilao’s posters were plastered with “PANGIT” by his rivals. He stopped putting up his own posters, reproducing by the tens of thousands those that disparaged his looks and plastering the whole town with them. Unwise to the scheme, the electorate found Lacanilao the harassed underdog and gave him the vote.
Canalization. Of the volumes of data at the propagandist’s disposal, he opts to use only those that will advance his cause, controlling or censoring adverse information. Canalization is directing the minds of the given audience towards the information the propagandist deems as “right.” That is, serving his purpose.
So mayoralty bet Tony Mamac, Balibago village chief, has been carping on perceived irregularities in the P600-million sports complex project of Mayor Blueboy Nepomuceno.
So did the Nepo camp respond with solid arguments backed by detailed data to demolish Mamac’s accusations? No. It is Mamac’s P12-million barangay hall, not Blueboy’s complex, that warrants questioning. So they responded. So was the issue canalized.
Believable lie. Falsehoods – to be “effective” – must be believable. A Kapampangan saying holds true here: Kapani-paniwalang kalaraman, dinan ditak a katutuwan.
Magnification. A close kin of the above, this is stretching the truth. Making a mountain out of a molehill. As in one activist who spent but a few hours at the reception area of a stockade but thereafter referred to himself as a “prisoner of conscience.”
Doctored surveys finding their way in the media are an example of magnification too.
Repetition. A statement repeated too often will, in time, be an accepted fact. Think of the Buddhist mantra, albeit on the spiritual plane.
Sloganeering. A variation of repetition, the use of crisp slogans impacts in the minds of an audience with greater effect than long winded exposes or treatises, no matter how rational and factual.
Remember Taiwan damned the re-election of Congresswoman Didi Domingo in the 3rd district in 1995.
Asenso Mexico re-elected Mayor Ernesto Punsalan.
Bawal ang Pangit sa Mabalacat earned its wordsmith, the late Fyodor Fabian, a case of libel but doomed its object to electoral defeat more than twice.
Porac Pamu mobilized the residents to fight all attempts of government to make the town a catch basin for lahar.
Manaplit ka, Apalit warranted landslide victories in three consecutive terms for its mayor.
A further variation of sloganeering is the use of catchy tunes for political jingles. That, I leave to the ears.
Assertion. The propagandist rarely argues but always makes bold assertions in favor of his position. The way of propaganda is the presentation of one side only, and therefore, necessarily, the deliberate limitation of the free-flow of thought and the eradication of inquiry.
Pinpointing the enemy. As the propagandist is for someone or something, he is necessarily against someone or something too. An enemy – even if only imaginary – has to be identified as the one frustrating the will of his audience, as the one obstructing them from their ideals.
Scapegoating is another term for this technique. Hitler for example made the Jews as the source of all ills that plagued Germany and therefore should be exterminated. To militant Iraqis and Muslims, America is the “Great Satan.”
Appeal to authority. There was that soap commercial that went “gamit ng mas maraming duktor sa Amerika.”
The authority appealed to or cited maybe a prominent political figure, a religious leader, an expert in his field of endeavor.
Cory’s candidate was a most desired appellation for every candidate in the first two elections after the EDSA Uno Revolution.
Celebrity endorsement falls under this category. Believing that the celebrity has enough following to sway to the endorsee, if not star power to rub off him and onto the latter.
Appeal to the crowd. Identification with the great mass is a blue-chip stock in the propaganda trade, from Magsaysay’s “man of the masses” to Marcos’ tayong mga dukha spiel at every Labor Day rally in his time, to the outgoing Bacolor mayor’s Buddy Dungca, anac yang maluca, mayap at maganaca.
The bandwagon effect aspired here too: as everybody’s in it, so one may as well join in.
Final notes: Soft-sell makes the best propaganda, being subliminal. Hard-sell makes the worst, being too direct. Still and all, neither overestimate the intelligence of some people, nor underestimate the ignorance of many others.