Reply #146: No, Laskoff's point is that "we" *ARE* like THEM [View All]

[sangh0]

Propoganda is basically the science of persuasion. People are persuaded to believe certains for certain reasons, and Laskoff argues (as the science does) that the overwhelming majority do not become persuaded solely on the basis of facts and reason.

People are more likely to be persuaded by people they trust, and people are more likely to trust people who seem like themselves. People who think and believe much as they do. Persuasive people know how to gain people's trust because they KNOW about human nature. Left, right, middle, religious, atheist, it makes no difference. You are still ruled by your nature, and it's a human nature.

If we ignore what is persuasive, and insist on sterile recitations of facts and statistics, we may feel very bright, but we're only going to "persuade" those who already agree with us, because no one else wants to listen to that crap.

Values are persuasive. Everyone has them, and most people share many of them. Left or right, you value "freedom" even if you may have a different idea of what the word means. Religious or not, you value "integrity". If you can show someone you share their values, you've gone a long way towards earning their trust, and a long way towards persuading them.