Saturday, March 05, 2005 The Oregonian ROBERT LANDAUER
"Social scientists, I sense, are already outlining articles on George W. Bush's legacy. Their topic: Persuasion vs. Manipulation in the Bush Presidency.
Not since the collapse of the Soviet Union over 13 years ago has an administration produced so much material for a case study on governmental propaganda techniques. Case-building arguments and conclusions by President Bush and his surrogates regarding Social Security reform repeatedly redraw the line between fact and fiction, between information and indoctrination.
Propaganda in this case involves deliberately withholding relevant facts and spreading misinformation in order to reach preconceived ends that don't solve the declared problem and don't stand up to fact-based scrutiny.
Government propaganda campaigns typically include creating overblown fears and inflated desires or expectations; exaggerating the urgency of an issue in order to deflect attention from more pressing or unpopular issues; and attacking the motives and integrity of messengers of differing views rather than refuting the evidence they bring and the conclusions they draw.
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