I Have a Dream Excerpt

Obama Dedicates MLK Jr. Memorial

Hot Coffee Trailer

Here's the film I was talking about, it was shown on HBO last year and it has some really frightening examples of how media can shape public opinion on an issue.  

http://youtu.be/93fsFvVqviA

President Kennedy Inaugrual Address

Since we're doing a project where we're writing our own speeches, I thought this resource would be useful for the class.  It's an article talking about what made US President John F. Kennedy's Inaugrual Address so successful, and memorable:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12215248

This speech is on the shortlist of memorable American speeches with The Gettysburg Address and I Have a Dream, and an example of the calm behavior, and mastery of speaking that made JFK the youngest US President ever elected, despite what his father's original plans were. (His older brother was expected to be the leader of the political empire before he died in WWII, and his younger brother Robert was assasinated while running for President, five years after John's assasination.)

And here's the speech itself:

Correction of a person, by that person, for the people

I'm doing this post to apologize for shoving my foot in my mouth, and essentially calling out Tala, when I said the '...government of the people, by the people, for the people ...' quote from the Gettysburg Address, was from the US Decleration of Independence, which I checked and found it isn't.  So sorry, to Tala.

Lincoln wasn't the first to express this sentiment, though he was the first to do it using those words.  In 1830, during an address to the US Senate, Daniel Webster said, 'It is, Sir, the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.  The people of the United States have decleared that this Constitution shall be the supreme law.'

The phrase was commonly used in the 1850's by abolitionist (of slavery) preacher Theodore Parker, though worded, 'Democracy is direct self-government over all the people, for all the people, by all the people.'  Lincoln apparently marked these words in a copy he had of a sermon by Parker before writing the Gettysburg Address.  Parker also at a different time defiend democracy as, 'a governemnt of all the people, by all the people, for all the people.'

Ironically, a version of the phrase was used by Stephen A. Douglas on July 9, 1958, in a debate AGAINST Lincoln.  He said, 'In my opinion this government of ours is founded on the white basis.  It was made by the white man, for the benefit of the white man, to be administered by white men, in such a manner as they should determine.'  I don't think it's really nessacary to elaborate much on the clear fact that Douglas was was a pro-slavery candidate running against the anti-slavery Lincoln.  Lincoln's opinions on people of African descent however, is a different topic for a different day.

The mistaken idea that the statement is part of American law seems to be held by a somewhat large amount of the American public.  In 1996, then President Bill Clinton said, 'The last time I checked, the Constitution said "of the people, by the people, and for the people." That's what the Decleration of Independence says.' On the bright side, I said this in English class, not on national TV during a Presidential debate like Clinton did.
Source
So that's that.  Que laugh track, and I'll try to keep my mouth shut so I won't make mistakes as often.  Or, is the issue that I wasn't talking as much that class, which is why I did make a mistake?

I Have A Dream

This doesn't really relate to persuasive language, but I thought it was interesting to see how much of an effect Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech had on people. In 2007, the movie Freedom Writers came out. One of the songs that stuck with me the most was one about freedom and included words from the I Have A Dream Speech.

Advertising, or entertainment

Adidas and Nike have a high profile competition for the major shares of the European and American markets in sporting goods, the focal point of which is soccer cleats (or boots, or whatever floats your boat).
Thus, they from time to time will cut at each other, without trying to make it obvious.

Take this video for example. Adidas released it after Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or, (Golden ball award for best player of the year) for the second time in a row.  And of course, the had to rub it in to Nike, whose headlining player, Cristiano Ronaldo, was the last player who isn't Messi to win it, and at times seems to be a super fashion model (no, I'm not going to link to an Armani commercial of Ronaldo walking around in his underwear, if you want to see it, go find it yourself).  The character who shows up around 42 seconds has been said to be a caricture of 'CR7,' and is wearing the colors of his original team, Sporting Clube de Portugal (or Sporting Lisbon) and the Portugese national team, which he captains.

Nike, realeased the below video after taking the sponsorship of the French national side from their longtime jersey makers, Adidas.

The words of the film (its name is literally, 'Le film') are taken from a monologue in the play Cyrano de Bergerac:

French	English Literal	English, poetic
Élégant comme Céladon, Agile comme Scaramouche, Je vous préviens, cher Mirmydon, Qu'à la fin de l'envoi je touche !	Elegant as Celadon (a type of Ancient Chinese ceramic.  If anyone can find something that makes more sense, please do tell me) Agile as Scaramouch (Character in Italian masked opera) I tell you, dear Myrmidon (Achilles’ soldiers in the Illiad) At the end of the poem, I strike	Graceful as Phoebus (Apollo), Round I wheel, Alert as Scaramouch, A word in your ear, Sir Spark, I steal – At the end of l'envoi, I touch
- Tac ! je pare la pointe dont Vous espériez me faire don;— J'ouvre la ligne,—je la bouche. . . Tiens bien ta broche, Laridon ! A la fin de l'envoi, je touche	Tap! I parry (block) the tip (of a sword) that you wished to give me I open  the line – I block … Hold well your spit, Laridon! At the end of the poem, I strike.	Tac! I parry the point of your steel; -The point you hoped to make me feel; I open the line, now clutch Your spit, Sir Scullion – slow your zeal! At the end of the verse, I touch. <>   <> <>   <>
Envoi. Prince, demande à Dieu pardon ! Je quarte du pied, j'escarmouche, Je coupe, je feinte. . . (Se fendant): Hé ! là, donc ! A la fin de l'envoi, je touche !	Prince, as pardon from God. I move a step, I I cut, feint (He thrusts) What! There, then! At the end of the poem, I strike	Envoi. Prince, pray Heaven for your soul’s weal! I move a pace – lo, such! And such! Cut over – feint! (Thrusting) What ho! You reel? At the end of the verse, I touch

Anyways, Nike enlisted the new French Captain, Florent Malouda, and some other people including a top French rapper, to make this.  Missing however, is French playmaker Samir Nasri (other stars Patrice Evra and Franck Ribery were still suspended from World Cup antics).  Wait, I forgot, Nasri's an Adidas guy.

And this is a Volkswagen commercial that ignores almost everything about the car, other than that it has a large gas tank, and can go for more than 13 hours without refuling.  But it is entertaining.

Rammstein - Amerika

I know it concerns our previous topic of how consumerism is replacing culture but I still though that it would be a good idea to throw this out here.

Basically, this is a song by a German rock band "Rammstein" and it talks about our school work- how globalisation and consumerism influence cultures. Watch the clip, that's the main part.

Matt may finds this particularly interesting....

Identify as many persuasive techniques as you can find on the site.

Credibility- Qatar Academy logo next to ‘Qatar Foundation’

Intensity- The curriculum has been specially developed to meet international standards

Repetition- continuous expressions about the greatness of the school

Warm and fuzzy- sentimental images of family, kids, and students all over the place giving the viewer a comforting feeling about the school

New- ‘‘our vision is one where technology is a natural and essential part of a everyday school life for teacher and student as well as community members’’

Celebrity- “founded by His Highness Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the state of Qatar”

Do you think these techniques are effective?

Although the school website has not been updated in a long while and may not cover as much of the persuasive techniques as it should- since it is part of Qatar Foundation, which is becoming a very successful foundation, It still has a degree of persuasion used to convince the viewer the incredibility of the school, and how successful it is. The school mission is a great example, it states how the Qatar Academy leads to the student to a great and successful future and an elite university, making its students part of an elite group.

The techniques used above are surely effective, due to the fact that they connect with the people on an emotional and intellectual level, showing the schools success.

Are they propaganda?

Qatar academy is propaganda, the website communicates to the viewers that there school is of an elite class, and therefore of highest education making them the best choice for parents to send there children to this school, it would also inform the parents on the schools curriculum, admission programs, facilities and any positive information that a parent would need so that they would decide on enrolling their children to Qatar Academy.

Propaganda is presented in an indirect way. Obviously the creator of the website is trying to provide information about the school, but they are also trying to convince the viewers to in role into the school, and that is propaganda.

Save the Children

1.
-Fear: Unlike other typical situations the fear that was demonstrated throughout this website was not fear of bad breath or terrorism but instead the fear of losing children to starvation or wars. So, through videos many people who represent the 'Save the Children' association were speaking out and describing how bad the situation was. Other than raising awareness, there other purpose must have been to persuade people in aiding those poor children.
-Repetition: Throughout the website there was a lot of repetition, especially when it came to the pictures. The website was constantly illustrating images of poor children who seemed very vulnerable. Additionally, the words 'Save the Children' were apparent at different pages of the website. Basically, through repetition the organization hope to send out a clear message that would stick to the minds of the viewers.
- Warm and fuzzy: Many sentimental images and videos were used in the website. Although poor many of the children had smiling faces. This must have surely affected the viewers as they would see how aiding the children with the smallest of things could bring such happiness to them.
-Glittering Generalities: This technique was mostly used in order to persuade viewers to help out or be a part of the organization. For instance, "Creates a unique bond between you and the child in need" was used as well as words like "help, foster...". Those are pretty effective words and when put together to form a meaning they certainly create a very important message.
-Analogy: In some parts of the websites, especially in the featured videos people would compare between what normal children have and what they are blessed with in comparison to the poorer children who have to suffer daily. This was used to raise awareness and to make people more appreciative of what they have.
2. I surely think that those techniques are effective. Naturally, any person who explores a charity website would be intrigued about the things they are offering to the children, but initially their main purpose is to 'explore'. However, eventually they become so affected and influenced by the situation (because of all the techniques) that they become eager to be a part of the organization and maybe even donate money or better yet, sponsor a child. This was actually the case with myself - I actually looked through the process of sponsoring a child. Therefore, all those moving pictures as well as the effective sentences proved to be very influential.
3. Propaganda is a form of communication that tries to influence people towards a certain idea while being biased by only showing selected facts. When it comes down to the "Save the Children" website there certainly is no use of propaganda as they are aiming towards a true and beneficial cause. Also, there are no hidden facts as the cause is legitimate, people believe in it and not everyone feels like they need proof in order to comply. In some situations propaganda could be justified, depending on people's perspectives. Sometimes people feel that websites or campaigns are cheating them where as at other times people believe what they are seeing as the website would be trying to only convey a certain message; this should not be considered propaganda.

PETA Persuasion Techniques

PETA uses various methods in their attempts to convince people to align with their views, including:

Bandwagon – Has many people appearing in their commercials, representing them in public places

Beautiful people – Has celebrities like Lea Michele, Pamela Anderson as pitch people

Celebrities – Has celebrities like Lea Michele, Pamela Anderson as pitch people

Intensity – See, ‘Rather Go Naked’ campagin

Repetition – Repeats mantra of leave animals alone throughout website

Humor – T-shirts try to get things across ‘comically’

Warm and fuzzy – Pictures of dogs, chickens

Testimonials – Has many pitch people, showing up in commercials and ads

Name calling – Attack non-vegetarians, imply everything that’s wrong with the world is their fault and they’re evil

Card stacking – Doesn’t say anything about positive things gained from animal testing

Scapegoat – Blame eating meat for pretty much everything

Straw man – Says wearing fur is bad because all fur comes from cruelty to animals, and keeping them in cages.  This is easier to argue than why people shouldn’t have pets at all, which is one of their views

Association – They have ads with Justin Bieber and Steve-O, among others, to associate themselves with what’s seen by most people as ‘cool’.

Fear – Love us, don’t eat us.  Do you like sad animals?  Then love them, don’t eat them

Maybe – Pictures of baby chickens and captions, ‘We are not nuggets,’ doesn’t really paint an entirely true image of how nuggets are probably made.

Charisma – Celebrities question you with, ‘Whose skin are you in?’

Name-calling – Refers to McDonald’s on its site as ‘McCruelty’

Simple solution – Let all animals roam free/don’t eat them, have pets, wear their skin, and so on.  But what happens to people who work in those industries?

Bribery – Signing online petitions earns ‘PETA Points.’

Identify as many persuasion techniques as you can find on the web site. (http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm)

1) Association - this is done by naming the goals of the organisation Save the Children، its accomplishments and its contact numbers. It is shows smiling children, implying that others throughout the world can make children smile.

2) Plain Folks - this is expressed because it is made really easy for people all of the world to donate to these children that are associated with Save the Children

3) Repetition - the same message about portraying the smiles of the children, their miserable faces before the aid of Save the Children, and the help they are now getting are posted all over the website.

4) Warm and Fuzzy - this is one of the main persuasion techniques used throughout the website, because the pictures used, letting out rushes of warmth and newly brought happiness as they change from one into another, are all over the website!

5) Extrapolation - although Save the Child is a very well-structured organisation, it makes it sound so easy to get the money to those in need of it in Africa. Although that is somewhat true from the donators' side, transferring the money, or transporting it there and using it for the correct reasons is not something that can be done within a day or two.

6) New - There is still a 'new' post up on the website, from Summer, which started at the end of May and the beginning of June! There's a 'NEW!' holiday catalogue for projects that the organisation Save the Children has been working on.

7) Scientific Solution - 'An organisation you can trust' says the bottom of the website, with fairly recent information in both statistic and pie chart form from 2010.

8) Symbols – the logo of the organisation, which is a red person either asking for help while throwing their hands in the air, or someone who has helped the children and is reaching to hug one of them, is all over the website as well. This reiterates the humanitarian feel of the website, attempting to persuade people to help, by creating such a noticeable logo.

Are these persuasion techniques effective?

Yes, definitely! I personally found most of these persuasion techniques to be really effective mostly because they came from a humanitarian point of view. Since they were to do with bettering others’ lives, I found the pictures especially to be really efficient when it came to persuasion, because they depicted sights that were heartbreaking, and they were set up to do just that. The other techniques have been used a lot when advertising such humanitarian organisations, however to me, sad pictures never get old and always draw me towards them.

Are they propaganda?

In this case, it is not propaganda because the sites depicted in Africa and the other poor countries of the world that Save the Children attempts to help, really are living under the line of poverty and the pictures that they use are true. Nevertheless, in other cases and on other websites, the pictures used for example could be 100% propaganda, exaggerating something to great extents.

Is propaganda justified?

No, propaganda is never justified, because it is not moral or ethical to exaggerate about something, or lie about it, no matter what the outcome of that would be. Customers should be persuaded to buy/do something for what it really is and not for what the persuaders dream of it to become.

Mikheil and Shayan's joint response

The website reviewed in the following analysis is goarmy.com. It is a US army website that tries to persuade people into enlisting. It makes use of different persuasive techniques from all three categories.

Bandwagon: This is the most obvious technique that would be expected of an army website. The Go Army webpage shows the number of people that joined the US army and offers you to join the bandwagon.

Association: The Go Army website links joining the military with positive rather than negative aspects of life. The best example in on the website is how the persuader tells that the skills that you learn in the army, can be applied in specialised civilian jobs/activities. This technique makes the user want to learn those skills and make their life experience richer. Paratroopers in the army can become parachuting instructors or do it as a hobby. The US army even has a racing team in order to appeal to the public.

Experts:  There is definitely testimonials from army experts on the website. There sections on the webpage where you can contact experienced soldiers and ask them about their opinion/recommendations. Also there are pictures of professionally trained soldiers preforming specialised tasks and a statement in bold that says that "the army trains you to be the best, both as a soldier and as a civilian".

Intensity:  Even without looking at the website, it is safe to say that the army will use some intense vocabulary in order to try and persuade you to join. Even the title (Go Army) already glorifies the armed forces and puts a positive connotation beside it. Words like "Best", "Strong", "Benefit" and "Skills" are literally throw at the viewer in size 72 font. They play a MAJOR role in trying to persuade someone to join.

Maybe:  Even though most of the content is believable due to the US army being one of the best in the world, there are inevitably some maybe's in the website. For example the website states that it is guaranteed that your life will change for the good once you join, that is not always the case, especially when your friends and you start getting shot at.

Plain Folks: As the army mostly consists of non commissioned (low ranking) officers, the website uses ordinary soldiers as means of persuading other to join. Similar to the experts section, the viewer has an ability to read the stories of current US soldiers. The stories were obviously selected and only talk about the good thing in the army. There is also a lot of reference to advantages that an ordinary civilian can get through enlisting.

Charisma: There is definitely  Charisma involved in the website.  It is indirect charisma. It is mostly conveyed through pictures of bold, confident and professional-looking soldiers, rather than the author's point of view.

Flattery:  This technique is used very prominently in the website. Almost every other sentence that is thrown at the viewer has the word "you" in it. A good example is "By joining the intelligence you will become the eyes and ears of the army...". It is used to make a viewer think that he is guaranteed to be more successful in the army than he would be in a civilian job.                                                                                         

Rhetorical questions: There are not too many of those on the website that we spotted BUT there was one major rhetorical question on the frontage. "Can you rise to the challenge?". This question creates a sense of interest or even doubt in a viewer and may end up persuading him to join up.

Symbols:   There are a lot of symbols used throughout the website. They are mostly used to make the army look good and link it to all the positive things in life, therefore all the symbols are positive. They include; Home, family, music, leisure, sport, religion, nation, lifestyle, job, civilian life and may more.

Card Stacking: This technique was used very simply but very effectively in the website, even though it is easy to spot. At no point in the website, there is anything that mentions the probability of one getting shot while on duty. The reason behind hiding these fact is the fact that people will stop joining if they are told that they are going to die.

Yes we think that these techniques are effective because people join the army. The US army is one of the biggest in the world therefore, websites like these do work, otherwise they would not exist. The website uses numerous techniques in order to try and persuade a person, so if one fails, there are more methods that may change the viewer's opinion. Its not only about the quantity, some of the persuasive techniques are very effective on standalone because they emotionally appeal to people's needs and wants in life.

Well, some of the aspects of the website  can be considered as a bit exaggerated, but we would not necessarily classify the website as a source of any major progaganda. yes, propaganda can be jistified because sometimes it takes some exaggeration in order to persuade people into doing something good. A good outside example would be WW2, where the Allied soldiers were told that they were winning in order to boost their morale (Even if that wasn't always the case, especially in the beginning of WW2).

Language Persuasion : Save The Children

There are multiple persuasion techniques used on the Save The Children website. Some of the ones used are

· Association

• Huge numbers of associations.
• Examples include TY Toys, Bulgari, Good Morning America, IKEA, KRAFT Food, Microsoft and Wal-Mart Foundation. Those are only a few of the corporate partners.
• Everyone knows all of these companies, so if they see any one of these companies working with Save The Children, then it at least gets them to start thinking about the organisation.

· Glittering generalities

• “An Organisation You Can Trust"

· Beautiful people/plain folk

• Beautiful people are used through the cute little kids. They’re all happy and smiley and so look cute.
• But also use plain folk as the children aren’t celebrities or famous by any sorts

· Warm and Fuzzy

• Because the children are so happy and smiley, they make viewers/potential donators/actual donators feel all warm because they know that by donating they make children smile
• The main is how by donating money you feel good about yourself

· Experts

• Shows how they use the money
• Financial annual reports with analyses of the donations

· Bandwagon

• Lots of people already donating
• Mentioned loads with associates
• “Join the million moms challenge” – suggests that a “million” mothers are participating in some sort of function with the site

· Testimonies

• Success stories with people who’ve received donations
• People who’ve donated stories (e.g. the Miller Family)

· Flattery

• Empowering the general public - It's in their hands to make children feel good. And because it’s in their hands, it makes them feel better when they do

· Simple Solutions

• By donating you save children

· Repetition

• You
• We

Do you think these techniques are effective?

I think that these techniques used are quite effective. They were able to use a broad band of different types of techniques throughout the website. The most successful would be the flattery. Through flattery, the company is empowering those to donate. How? They use words that show that you have the power. And because of this power you create through donations, you become “powerful” and feel good about yourself. It’s quite a sneaky way to get people to do what you want.

Are they propaganda?

In some ways yes, this is propaganda. Obviously it’s not the usual political style propaganda that we’ve seen in the past, but it is still a form of it. Propaganda is basically some form of communication which is trying to influence the thoughts/opinions of others in order to benefit a particular cause. In this case, Save The Children is the cause (because you’re donating money to help children). As a charity, they are trying to get money to help said children. They are trying to influence the general public with feel good messages, empowerment, and the use of the cute little kids smiling.

Is propaganda ever justified?

In this day and age, you have to ask yourself, what is not propaganda? In some ways, almost everything we come into contact with is propaganda whether we realise it or not. Is it wrong to shove your beliefs down someone else’s throat? Yes it is wrong as everyone should be able to make the decision by themselves. Propaganda is a form of brainwash if you think about it. It’s not full on brain-wash, but subtle.

When asking if it can be justified, morals come into play. A lot of people say that propaganda can be justified if used for good. But what defines good? It depends on opinions and views. To me, propaganda is scary but can always be justified. Whether it’s justification is good or not, it can always be justified.