As I read "The Declaration of Independence" I did notice several propaganda techniques used by the Continental Congress in the iconic American document. I think that by visiting the website that we used in class, it really gave me an idea as to what propaganda techniques really are and how they can be used in both positive and negative ways. As I was reading the selection out of the book, I kept referring to the website to try to pinpoint the name of the technique being used. I think that the authors of the great American document were very strict with the wording used to make everything they wrote make sense to all who read the document. The first thing that caught my attention was in the Before You Read section: "A man of contradictions, Jefferson opposed slavery in principle but owned slaves himself" (Jefferson 120). This sentence really gives the readers a hint that Jefferson is probably going to use some faulty logic and bad propaganda techniques. I thought that the definition of propaganda techniques given on the website was really good. It reads as followed: "Methods or approaches used to spread ideas that further a cause: a political, commercial, religious, or civil cause" (Recognizing Propaganda). The first type of propaganda technique that the website discussed was name calling or attaching a negative label to a person or thing (Recognizing Propaganda). I think I found an example of this particular technique used in the passage from the book. He is talking about the King in Britain and he says, "He is... and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation" (Jefferson 124). I got a couple of ideas from this example and the first one is that he is trying to totally bash the King because he has no respect for him and the second is that he think that he would make a much better leader, so he is trying to tear the King down to build himself up as a person. I have noticed that human nature is really shown when one person tears another person down just to make themselves appear "more superior.” I think that another technique that I noticed that Jefferson used was “card stacking” (Recognizing Propaganda). On page 123, Jefferson says, “He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.” (Jefferson 123). I saw this as the use of the card stacking technique because the method is used to “slant the message” (Recognizing Propaganda). I think that listing all of these bad things that the King does, Jefferson leaves no room to think or talk about anything good that he has done. The website says that key words or unfavorable comments may be omitted to make the reader only see the author’s opinion. The last example that I am going to share was found on page 123 and it said, “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” I think that this is a really good example of faulty logic because Jefferson just floods the readers’ minds with his own opinion. Logically, Jefferson states no evidence to back up his opinion, so I do not view his opinion as being logic.
Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 120-124. Print.
"Recognizing Propaganda--Guide to Critical Thinking--Academic Support." 3 June 2011. Web. 27 Sept. 2011.
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