Institute Of Propaganda Analysis

“All that glitters is not gold .” As not everything that is shiny is gold , not all forms of language will fulfill its actual meaning, communicating information. Efforts using language to mobilize attitude and opinions are as old as human history ( What is
Propaganda 1 ). Words always serve the people who know how to use language and control the thoughts of the others. Language can be used for either good or bad purposes.
Using several propaganda devices and types of doublespeak, the office holders and the leaders make us accept certain ideas without giving much thoughts. Words can make people do things that would make them guilty
with proper thoughts. Language becomes powerful tool for politicians who tend to manage people’ s thoughts in order to keep their status or to get more followers. Political language could convince people to kill and/ or exercise the ideas that would be avoided with proper reasoning. Political language, propaganda and double speak, sometimes give people false information. Some professional – like language could be used to stop the trains of thoughts while most leaders convince their supporters with the things that they value. Language can not only communicate but also give false information. “Promotion in politics, stimulus for propaganda”, and doublespeak that used to deny the truth are effective in persuading people to do certain actions ( What is Propaganda 2 ). In actuality, propagandas and doublespeak serve for both good purposes and bad ones by swaying the emotions of the public. Good propagandas merge with the history and get the credits while bad propagandas receive all the blames for their purposes. Martin Luther King, Jr. who won the Nobel Peace Prize, actually relied on the propagandas and his commitment to nonviolent struggle laid the foundation of the civil right movement ( Khan 2 ). On the other hand, the bad guys in history, such as Hitler of the Nazi party, the dictator of Italy Mussolini utilized the emotions for their selfish ends and inhumane purposes ( What is
Propaganda 3 ). Due to the different purposes of using propaganda, the history changes its trend accordingly. Therefore, leaders and the politicians tend to use propaganda to control the thoughts of their audience or the public. With proper method, language can be used to conceal thoughts. Over time, professional groups, such as doctors, mechanics, or lawyers, develop jargon, the language that only particular groups can understand. Jargon means to “allow[s] members of a group to communicate with each other clearly, efficiently, and quickly” ( Lutz 226 ). Usually, professionals use jargon to get more money out of our pockets. However, that language becomes a device to cover the ears of the public when the politicians get a good use of it. Abuse of jargon and bureaucratese, pouring all the vocabulary in the speech, prevent public from understanding the actual meaning of the policies, and leave good impression
( academic sensation ) in public’s mind. Such “kind of overwhelming the audience with words” conceals thoughts, and tricks people to accept the ideas or policies without much notice on the concept or meaning of that speech ( Lutz 226 ). This simple kind of political language device makes ineffective communication seem academic. In politics, several language devices, such as propagandas, play the important role.
Propaganda is “the battle for men’s mind” while gathering followers for certain actions
( What is Propaganda 1 ). According to communist Vietnamese politician Mai Chi Tho, the cause of defeat in Vietnam war would be propagandas for Ho Chi Minh convinced people that Americans are invaders ( Propaganda, Wikipedia ).
The symbolism and the portrayed authority would easily make people to accept any ideas present as using symbols: church, flag, celebrities, famous persons, etc. is powerful transfer device
( Institute of Propaganda Analysis ). For example, Adolf Hitler used “the pure Aryans
( German people )” as symbolism to stir up people into Nazism presenting “the master race idea”. Also, Japan appealed to the pride of Samurai, the military nobility of Japan, and succeeded in getting volunteers for the Kamikaze attacks ( suicide attacks ) during
World War 2. These applications of symbolism actually make people proud of killing and doing evil things. Those power pursuers use language to manage the actions through thoughts. Another usage of symbolism for getting support from the people is to stimulate extreme emotions of people: hate, fear, pleasure, etc. Politicians commonly used name calling device amongst all the propaganda devices. Without presentation of the true meaning of the bad names, the office holders label the opposite sides and attack
that label to gain more reputation ( Institute of Propaganda Analysis 200 ). On the other hand, the politicians attain their status by relating good names with themselves. During the
2008 Presidential campaign, “Hope” and “Change” become the great tools of symbolism to shake the entire America and the world to vote or support Barack Obama. This usage of glittering generalities, one of the propaganda devices, really help Obama to become the
44th President of the United States.
Words can indeed influence the thoughts and actions. Sometimes, clever and skillful use of language covers up the deception of the politicians. The inflated form of wording and doublespeak conceal truth and make ordinary seem big. When President Bill Clinton faced his ugly sex scandal, he used clever diction to get out of trouble and minimize the case. Also, after 9/11 terrorist attack, the definition of torture is changed to conceal truth so that the public is convinced the
United States is not torturing people. Using euphemism to cover up distasteful reality, and applying inflated language are able to alter the actual image of unfavorable things. For examples, “pacification” hides the real terror of bombing and killing everyone in sight, and also killing the enemy sounds better by replacing the words with “servicing the target” ( Lutz 226,227 ). Language could change the image of reality completely if proper devices are properly used; by doing so, making the public blindly follow the lead of the
false
information.
Language can used both as communication and as manipulating device. Especially, political language consists a lot of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness (Orwell 6 ). Politicians skillfully use language to attain their goals. Using doublespeak “to appear communicating but doesn’t” , the rule makers stop our thoughts and appeal several emotions to pull us to their likeness (Lutz 266). Political speech and writhing are defense of indefensible (Orwell 6). Language is indeed a powerful weapon for the ones who know how to use it. Looking at the politicians’ usage of language, words are really effective in changing the ideas that originate the actions. All in all, language would make the perfect companion for those who pursue power. In history, people gain power and their goals by stepping on the proper propagandas and doublespeak. Words can always manipulate the ideas that stimulate actions. Using advanced certain jargon, language with symbolism give the feeling of righteousness to people for even evil deeds. Labeling good or bad names also stir up emotions to take certain actions without much thoughts. Instead of distasteful names, euphemism adds gold layer over the terrible situations. Such usage of language is capable of changing the world. By carefully analyzing these devices of language, we should prevent ourselves being dragged along by the people who wield language as a weapon.

Works Cited 1. Institute for Propaganda Analysis. How to Detect Propaganda. 198-203. 2. Khan, Shah N. The Act of Propaganda. Google Sites. 22 Sep. 2012 .<http://netvert.biz/articles/propaganda.html> 3. Lutz, William. Doubts about Doublespeak. 225-227. 4. Orwell, George. Politics and the English Language. PlainLanguage.gov. The Plain Language Action and Information Network ( PLAIN ).19 Sep. 2012 .<http://www.plainlanguage.gov/whatisPL/definitions/orwell.cfm> 5. Propaganda. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 18 Sep. 2012. Web. 19 Sep. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda> 6. What is Propaganda? Constructing a Postwar World. The American Historical Association. 20 Sep. 2012. <http://www.historians.org/projects/GIRoundtable/propaganda/Propaganda4.htm>