Propaganda techniques

I thank the newspaper for its public service in running the ad paid for by Friends of Angus in last Friday's edition (July 25). Besides insuring First Amendment rights and doing business, the newspaper keeps the public informed about propaganda techniques used to influence voters in an election year.

The ad uses at least six propaganda techniques:

1. Transfer of negative ideas about criminals to the person who defends them.

2. Repetition of key words, such as "criminal," criminals," "defends repeat drunk drivers", reinforce negative feelings about an attorney who defends the accused. "NO" is used 5 times about this other candidate.

3. Emotional Words, such as "criminal" and "repeat drunk drivers," help here to create negative feelings in the reader about the other candidate.

4. Poison the Well techniques present negative information about someone in order to discredit that individual. Here the negative words contribute to that impression as does the blank spot about the other candidate's family values. The blank spot is the traditional "If you can't say anything nice about someone, then say nothing at all" used to suggest that there is something wrong about another person. No proof is needed to use this technique or any of the other propaganda techniques.

5. Faulty Reasoning through the use of Guilt by Association makes its point without proof or evidence about the other candidate. The Internet sourceyourdictionary.com coincidentally gives the following example, among others, of guilt by association: "Viewing a criminal defense lawyer as an evil and dishonest criminal himself because he defends criminals as a living, even if he is just doing his job and has never actually done anything wrong or broken any laws. "

6. And finally, Hidden Fears suggests that here because the other candidate has so many negatives associated with him, only the candidate supported by the Friends can protect the public against criminals and therefore the public should re-elect this person.

Interesting enough, the first five techniques listed above for this particular ad undermine the very notions of our legal system by assuming that being accused is the same as being guilty and by calling into question the integrity of all defense attorneys. The Friends evidently do not understand the roles of judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys in our legal system.

Voters will appreciate the newspaper's active role in making the public aware of such propaganda techniques. Thank you.

Duane Pitts

Moses Lake