Cuenca 1

Maria Cuenca
Mr. King
Honors English 1
5 November 2014

Definition/Analysis Essay
Honesty has a beautiful and refreshing simplicity about it. No ulterior motives. No
hidden meanings. An absence of hypocrisy, duplicity, political games, and verbal
superficiality. As honesty and real integrity characterize our lives, there will be no need to
manipulate othersCharles Swindoll. This is a quote based on duplicity. Duplicity is
deceitfulness in speech or conduct. A type of duplicity is propaganda. The art of
propaganda is the persuasion or manipulation to thinking in a particular way in order to
establish either a positive or a negative meaning.
Propaganda is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to
promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Propaganda is
everywhere, such as in commercials, billboards, print ads, and even in political campaigns.
The military, media, advertisers, and politicians, all use propaganda. In other words,
propaganda operates in the real world today. There are seven types of propaganda
techniques. The seven techniques are bandwagon, testimonial, name calling, plain folk,
glittering generalities, card stacking, and transfer. Some are used in a positive way and
some are used in a negative way. However, what they all have in common is that they are
trying to influence the attitude of a population toward some cause or position.
Like said before, propaganda is the act of manipulating into a particular way of
thinking so that there can be a new established narrative which could be negative. The

Cuenca 2
Maria Cuenca
Mr. King
Honors English 1
5 November 2014

reason to why it is negative is that it alters the minds of the people who are trying to make
decisions. Some propaganda is generally an appeal to emotion not intellect which alters
minds. An example of negative propaganda is creating a false dilemma. This is when only
two choices are being offered as if they are the only options. For example, a president
saying that in order to reduce the deficit, we have to either tax the wealthy more or ask
seniors to pay more for Medicare. Another example of negative propaganda is building
false images. This is when presidents try to appear to be common folks but in reality they
really arent. Some real world examples are Bill Clinton eating at McDonalds or Ronal
Regan chopping wood.
In addition to how it is negative it can also be positive. Examples would be health.
However it is still altering and manipulating peoples minds which is still pretty bad. An
example of positive propaganda is the act of generating fear. The fear is generated to
change the behavior of the people. For example, an ad will show a bloody accident then
remind people to wear their seatbelts. Propaganda can be positive, just make sure to use it
right.
Propaganda influences our daily lives, whether we like to believe it or not. The
duplicitous language of propaganda is never good not even for the right reasons. If we dont
pay attention to the effects that propaganda has on us we are being brainwashed in some
way. So try to pay attention because the art of propaganda is the persuasion or manipulation

Cuenca 3
Maria Cuenca
Mr. King
Honors English 1
5 November 2014

to thinking in a particular way in order to establish either a positive or a negative meaning.

So next time you turn on your TV dont fall for the product.