Emotional Appeals and Propaganda

Propaganda, whether spoken or written, has been used for centuries to try to sway the attitude of a group of people toward an idea or action. Many speeches reference historic events or are given for a historic occasion. Political speeches or speeches that reference politics are common sources of propaganda. Some speeches include storytelling and memorable phrases to connect with the audience.

While the word "propaganda" often carries a negative connotation, it is not always bad. For example, non-profit organizations use propaganda to make students aware of and prevent bullying in schools. The U.S. government also used propaganda strategies to convince the American people to conserve resources during World War II. As an American consumer, however, you are already familiar with a number of propaganda devices that are used to sell you products or services. Advertisements and commercials use many of the same rhetorical devices used in propaganda.

 

 

Click on the forms of propaganda in the learning object to learn more about how each attempts to persuade an audience. Click the player button to begin.

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Persuasive Rhetorical Devices and Patterns

Propaganda piggybacks on common rhetorical forms. It may use logos to appeal to the audience's logic by using facts, examples, or andecotes and scenarios. Authority figures are used in propaganda, as well as explanations of cause and effect, to give credibility to an argument. Propaganda can appeal to the emotions of an audience through pathos with the word choices and images that evoke certain feelings. To appeal to audience's ethics, propaganda creates a credible ethos through tone and establishing the qualifications of the author.

Learn about rhetorical devices and patterns that are used in persuasive speeches and writing to persuade an audience to listen and empathize with their opinions and ideas in this learning object. Click the player button to begin.

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Analyzing Nonfiction and Rhetoric

When reading nonfiction and analyzing the rhetoric used it in, it helps to have a system in place. Follow these steps:

Propaganda in Sermon

Puritans of early America used concepts of propaganda in order to keep alive their beliefs. Puritan minister Jonathan Edwards made a name for himself with his “hell and damnation” sermons. Edwards helped bring about the Great Awakening, a religious revival that took place in the 1730s. Edwards saw man as basically evil and God as both distant and punishing. Although he was a Puritan, he also believed in the philosophy of the Enlightenment that helped to bring about the American Revolution. He believed in science, experience, and reason as sources of knowledge and that the power of human will could shape a man’s destiny. As a leader of the Great Awakening, however, he emphasized emotion to make religion both more popular and more democratic.

Fear is a powerful propaganda tool and one which Edwards employed to great effect in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” a sermon which lasted nearly six hours on a July day in 1741. Nothing motivates and blinds an audience like fear. It is a simple technique that is still used today. Edwards used obvious and pointed elements of fear to persuade his audience to change their behavior and thinking.When you read the excerpt from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” you will see that Edwards makes both emotional (pathos) and logic (logos) appeals. His ethos is found in his tone, which goes from one of threatening to derision to hopeful.

Propaganda Review

Check your knowledge of propaganda and the techniques used. For each question in this non-graded activity, drag and drop the correct answer to each blank provided. Click the player button to get started.

 

Grammar – Parts of a Sentence

Remember, the basic sentence structures include a subject and a verb and sometimes a direct object. The other parts of a sentence give the reader more detail and context. Review the parts of the sentence:

Grammar Review – Parts of a Sentence

In this non-graded activity, identify whether the underlined portion in the sentence is the subject, verb, direct object, indirect object, preposition, linking verb, or subject complement. Click the player button to get started.