Reaction Paper to Public Persuasion
October 2009
Opinions and persuasion seem to emanate somewhere, coasting in and out of a sea of abstract thought and objective-oriented principles. These imaginary seas settle in our minds and somehow as fishing lines are tossed in; we become an eclectic school of fish and gnaw on desirable bait. We are persuaded and therefore commit to an essential opinion. This process may not exactly be ‘hook, line, and sinker,’ but closer to the role of ‘catch and release’ as influence can be either transitory or life-changing according to several authors.
The springboard for perceiving something intangible such as public opinion and persuasion were best served in the movie The Persuaders. Made recently to communicate the approaches used today, the movie senses a new change facing persuasion. It may be true society is at the apex of competitiveness, but that is the forefront of this persuasion brigade as the narrator viewed it. The atmosphere opens opportunities for persuaders to not only compete for money, but for a mutual satisfaction.
The customer must feel comforted yet yearning for a commitment. Glorifying identity (such as Song airlines) and a pseudo-spiritual campaign (in contemporary Nike ads) is becoming an ingredient to reeling in the masses. Nothing can be ‘crispier’ or ‘stronger’ like in ads from the 1960’s where generic brands recapitulate a simple concept of consumption. The tides have changed course with the recycled routines and platitudes. Persuasion in advertising is seeking every angle to grasp one’s heartstrings, tugging with no remorse. Groups have studied cults and their attitudes as to why the devotion remains. They feel it is necessary to plant seeds of confidence for those sensitive and vulnerable enough to such promising aspects their brand of persuasion entails. Psychological factors that are also burgeoning include subtleties such as FedEx used in Cast Away help spur an unconscious urge.
After reading and watching, I’ve realized emotion plays a critical role as Frank Luntz’s research on linguistics helped fuel decisions. A good chunk of his findings emphasizes people are sold by the precise style of rhetoric and lexis which plays a larger role in such innovations as ‘narrow casting’ and the uses of research orchestrated by the company Acxiom, which looks into close hand profiles of countless U.S. citizens. By crunching numbers, companies like Acxiom willingly pursue people of all races, creeds, and areas to find the right fit. Like an invasive internet date, they are trying to weave the right ways of winning people over in polygamist terms of bonding.
The fulfillment of winning a plethora of people over pulls the strings of public opinion. Persuasive techniques that mesmerize one by bells and whistles rather than reasons are illogical yet effective today. Historically, assembling techniques became a craft of ending inertia of the public. It has worked in time, from leaders instituting doctrines to outspoken rogues like Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels.
The finest result of swaying opinions (according to Edward Bernays) occurs when one figures that sociology is a factor. Educating the public to new ideas, strengthening latent ideas, and overcoming clichés surround an opportunity of spurring participation. A prime case stemmed from the National Association for the Improvement of the Colored People’s conference to propagate the fight against Jim Crow laws in the South. This juxtaposition of group leaders gathering in the heart of Atlanta while embellishing the dispute helped change attitudes.
In Walter Lippmann’s essay, I believe he is trying to elucidate that public opinion is one apparatus intended to surge together, like a piston that helps fuel society. If kept in the dark of, such as the case of a private person, governments will not concern over that anonymous sort. The person is accountable for specific opinions which involve their own personal acts like picking a job.
Higher powers that authorize and keep a stable democratic society such as the United States tend to demonstrate initiatives that only affect other ranks of the higher powers, coast to coast. I feel they are the bellwethers for general opinions, inhibiting what the so-called educated voter should share perspective with. The broader the general opinion is disseminated, the more symbolic acumen is laid out for society to be spoon fed by. Any sort of knowledge from a private citizen cannot prevail over the transmission of this general opinion.
Lippmann also ruminates over the fact that self-interested groups (separately) cannot support an entire vanguard of the public opinion. It gets too specific and detrimental to the complex functions that make each group unique. We as humans inevitably get relegated to the simple citizen (unless we work in the government) where we take part in a system that only punches a ticket of leaders to move in and out of office. Nothing is on simple citizens’ terms today, as it would be an impossible task to handle.
The boomerang circles the whole subject collectively as in the end; the free-floating mind of an individual cannot go with one type of opinion without the other. Advertising, governments, and numerous consultants are aware what is happening by how culture is shaped by effusive ways of utilizing the pathos (emotion) and logos (logic) buttons on a simple person. It has become an endless sequence of immeasurable synergized rhetoric, the bait that inevitably lures someone to take a bite.
Response Paper to Framing, Intellectualism, & Propaganda
November 2009
It seems that some people gain a marginal view of the world. Some may not face the opportunities and consequentially lose perspective when it’s too late to make a decision during an election or during some sort of overhaul of the government. The public is entitled to know what the atmosphere is offering. The concepts a private person must grasp in order to understand the betterment of society may fuel a revolutionary change in outlook from insight of such writers.
America as a whole takes pride in having democratic faith while ensuring fortitude of its scope of knowledge on how to handle it. By means of the judicial, legislative, and executive branches an ideal system in the range of this can make everything even keel. There is no right or wrong answer in my opinion to how Americans operate, as long as we are far from collapsing in morals. Incessantly working daily, the average man or woman is caught in a tight spot when it comes to participation. Communities cannot adjust by an unrelenting schedule as Archon Fung declares in his article, Deliberation’s Darker Side. I also believe communities and individuals need to correspond effectively to not overstep boundaries on turbulent issues, but to reach out and synergize as a whole to augment what needs to be accomplished as town hall meetings are the prime examples.
Iris Marion Young brings up a point from Fung’s article that “deliberations are best done by a small committee of people, equal in status and power, who have a shared set of interests.” To trim controversy and garrulous qualms, society needs to forego a service to the people that verifies the importance of what is signified. A portion of this answer may lie within the machine of mass media.
There are certain problems delving into this that may expose some flaws merely on the surface. According to Chomsky and Herman, “Working-class and radical media suffer from the political discrimination of advertisers”. I feel that the world is marketed, watched, and presented from a dense orb of hidebound officers and corporate bellwethers to the naïve working class, herded into an inevitable frame of perspective that we are entrapped by.
Yet, this must be the basis for Americans or else I feel that a Civil War of opinions and decisions could ensue. From the summit of general news released by wave of (let us say) the USA Today, a springboard is there to bestow public reaction and consumption pertinent to local news. Both are corollary to each other I see it as a mold for oratorical balance. The example that comes across would be for a classroom of students. Rather than robotically processing information given by a book (the general wave of sourced information), employing individual response for sporadic feedback and comprehension increases awareness in a student’s life.
The case mentioned might tie into the clash of opposing experts. Flipping an unmarked coin, society is compelled to identify with one side. From what I’ve read and watched, it seems that an intellectual (from either side) has instilled confidence for followers in order to carry means of innovation rather than acting dependent. A group concentrating on certain ideology has the potential to create organic thinkers, the tail end proliferation of that one side of the intellectual coin.
Coherence possibly lies within the layers of this societal onion. We cannot relegate our cohabitants of the nation as other pawns of a system. I merely have an input on the conditions which look similar to what Gramsci invokes within his Intellectuals article. Psychologically, people need to know their value and decide on relationships between their governments and their media accumulating the concentration of interest.
The Realms of Identity
December 2009
I’ve paced myself diligently in the library and local bookstores pondering what role I can play in this well-rounded discussion of intellectualism, technology, rhetorical branding, and much more. Skimming pages of concise opinion led on a gradual realization that my effort to chase the appropriate topic is a struggle similar to many others on a daily basis—Identity. Reasonably so, during the research process one must filter everything that is in its worth, and a Bob Dylan song strengthened my focus with the lines “But I was just too stubborn to be ever governed by enforced insanity…someone had to reach for the risin’ star…I guess it had to be me.” This musing melody constructs an angle at which individual identities are effective or ineffective when textual ideas and societal supremacy influences certain qualities of the predisposed person.
From past readings by John Ramage and identity, we finished the section with a bolted down take on how insight (like how a summary of something contrasts a gist) can be a building blocks to establishment of identity. Identity, (processed in my own words) is a multi-layered entity of one’s categorical offerings cut down to conscious convictions. Identity demonstrates that it can be manufactured for self-reflection and assessment of other identities. Ramage brings forth in his chapter ‘Rhetoric and Identity’ this suggestion as he emphasizes rhetoric as a “powerful tool for understanding, forming, and preserving identity” (34). The following does apply to everything Ramage mentioned in terms of identity, and I always wanted to stress the magnitude of how our identities are nurtured yet adapt to the hustle and bustle environment of today. Although there are some ways society is manipulated by pretentious trends, sketchy innuendos, and distorted modes of propaganda, ones’ flexible access to its resonance is crucial to an individual’s foundation of identity.
From the ground up, the nature of one’s self and how it all it develops begins in the earliest of years. Infecund yet porous like a dry sponge waiting for water, I believe an identity must saturate life changing events, social knowledge, and set expectations on a course given to develop. Based on textual research provided by Arnold H. Buss in Chapter 3 of Personality Structures in the Life Course, three factors contribute to a self’s development: Self-esteem, a sense of covertness, and perspective-taking (92). These three standards along with the incessant use of verbal or written language are what help us branch out and advance society unlike primates throughout the course of time.
Historically, humans have marked success and established innovators across the globe. From William Shakespeare, Elvis Presley, and Barrack Obama, the flood gates opened for bold actions and ideas. Each person who has made significance in history has arduously crafted unique designs that society foregoes amid the winds of change. They have flicked the switch nobody else will at times. Some may question just how so when others fail. Identity motives are at the heart of the matter and to what they trigger. According to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, “…People are not necessarily aware of these motives—nor are they necessarily unavailable to consciousness” (Beyond Self-Esteem 309). In a subsequent statement, it also reviews how identity motives are associated with positive emotions.
Self-esteem may be the weight that holds all the pieces together of an innovator. Achieving a high self-esteem juxtaposed by empathetic influence maintains fortitude, especially when tied to emotion. The greatest lesson I’ve learned from the myriad class discussions is a quote by Warren Beatty: “People will forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel” (Luntz 18). Something intangible yet simple like this will latch on as the result of any communication.
Some may wonder just where the large chunk of self-esteem is derived from. Besides the jargon of psychology that can take a toll, the condensed explanation is merely term called Constructivism. A learner in the world must be, according to Anita Woolfolk, “…active in constructing their own knowledge and that social interactions are important to knowledge construction” (Educational Psychology 374). Broken down by social and psychological distinctions, the social aspect is what drives self-esteem forward. I tend to think of Constructivism as a seed to growing everything out within an innovator. Woolfolk states, “By participating in a broad range of activities with others, learners appropriate the outcomes…” (375). Gathering the intake of how others think, react, adapt, and communicate at the earliest of ages is the best way in which someone fathoms for themselves the fascinating aspects of society. The growth here is essentially the ingredients that help the seed burgeon within the innovator endowing them with an enhanced sense of participation. Bridging the personal construction to one’s own worth is only the first step.
Focusing on the striking yet distinct capability people gain in personalities with a sense of covertness can piece out what one is internally processing. Our environments and culture can become tools to how we can perceive the world. Margaret Wetherell’s analysis of an anecdote of a boy on a subway car pretending to be Joan of Arc with a lance for defense evokes the idea of one embodying another through not only imagination, but by the disposition of subjectivity (Wetherell 74). I hear the term ‘subjectivity’ thrown around a lot through literature and politics, but I never seemed to grasp what it meant. Wetherell defines subjectivity as the substantiate acting, thinking, and feeling being of oneself (75). This thought process according to Wetherell provides “interiorization of attitudes, values, expectations, and memories” (75). Making use of this as a gateway, one can vicariously discover and emerge ideas to represent complex traits within a person. That sense of covertness, to decipher our values and gather what complements our individuality becomes an apparatus to a functional mind.
If it were up to Edward Bernays from his article Manipulating Public Opinion, his assessment of much of my reflections would be that the innovator catalyzes techniques to power public persuasion. It’s certainly an immeasurable ability, yet it exemplifies prominence in regards to indicative techniques once people assemble to a course of action. An innovator that can mesh with the attitude of an issue has the ball in his court. Whether it is derived from someone who gains authority or reciprocity, they usher in the idea to fly. Bernays also asserts, “He [the innovator] employs the technique of statistics, field-surveying, and the various methods of eliciting facts and opinions in examining both the public, and the idea or product he seeks to propagandize” (Bernays 52).
Today’s usage of innovator influence may be branded by current U.S. President Barrack Obama. Beyond everyday interactions from his background and campaign, some may say he is merely perceived by his logo and ambitious role in culture rather than one whose identity can be placed under a microscope. From political and social factors, the differences and similarities of Americans have somehow manifested a malleable consensus that Obama is focusing on ‘deracialized’ or ‘post-racial’ discourse for stirring the passion of a new generation of voters (Boyd 76). Wiping away the controversy of Reverend Wright’s diatribe on September 11 causes, Obama made clear his stance on race and the American Dream in his March 2008 speech ‘A More Perfect Union’ (76).
The same can be applied to famous writers and their works, such as William Shakespeare. In branding identity from literature, the term Shakespearian adds another dimension that has been harnessed into our education. Kids in school are brought up to learn his works. An interview done by Jane Coles strives for why they feel it’s necessary. One student enjoyed Macbeth’s storyline, while others found it difficult in language and ineffective on changing their lives. One student pointed out, “…it’s all about posh people wanting to show off, pointing out they’re better than us” (Coles 49). Coles notes that the students are aware of their limit in choosing texts besides Shakespeare while simultaneously it promotes fulfillment of fundamental knowledge others have taken in. Shakespeare in English texts not only are a harbinger to enlightenment of dramatic and comedic themes, but a strong source of (what Coles asserts) ‘cultural practices’ (51).
In the changing times of a technology revolution, nobody can ignore how much of an influence electronic media and entertainment have lured an eager generation of critics and consumers. Books have also gained attention, but in a different momentum to filter into the public landscape. As Silent Spring was published in 1962, Rachel Carson connected to society by revealing conflicts in the nature of DDT pesticides used excessively on crops and the consequences it led to wildlife and birds. In the article framing Carson’s pragmatic purposes, Tara Clapp observes that Carson’s book “created a social identity—a grammatical interpretation of the world that has been used rhetorically in social organization, identification, and division” (Clapp 1). Her book intended to stimulate a catharsis to the adverse effects in order to fuse a universal opinion on the cause. Clapp endorses Carson’s motives as a way to weave together identification as the public reactions extended to government affairs on the matter (1).
Clapp includes famous rhetorician Kenneth Burke’s assessment of how Rachel Carson’s book may be advocated. Burke maintained to deliberate that language was a tool primarily used for persuasion and action (Larson 108). Burke assembled his own opinion to persuasion as “the use of language as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols” (108). Hence, the cooperation method comes into play with identification, as one may generally agree with another’s perspective.
This is where I wish to uncover the bittersweet beauty of Carson’s book on someone’s identification. Her persuasion and visualization of constructing what the consequences of DDT would permeate readers and in effect caused the horrid images to imprint an irrevocable connotation by what her text was stating. Clapp moreover mentions “Carson crafted a social identity through Silent Spring to help her audiences interpret a new situation of a chemical threat. In order to connect to that audience, Carson drew on shared resources of form and interpretation” (Clapp 2).
Clapp furthers her comprehension of recognizing social identity. I support her examination of what her definition is when she states, “…social identities function as organizing devices for both adherents and opponents. A familiar social identity allows an adherent to understand their own position of the world, and to be understood by others as representing a position that is understandable…social identities allow social organization” (2).
Two books that became valuable sources to my research in social organization and how it relates to identification were psychological texts merging with social tools to enhance revealing traits of the individual and the individual pitching a business.
The first book is titled Get Anyone To Do Anything by David J. Lieberman. Published in 2001, Lieberman tends to engage with the inclinations of how one must win relationships over by utilizing psychological cues he conceived. He is introducing current trends and skills that encourage one to excel at autonomy within daily interactions. I will do not reject his logical casuistry nor question where it was derived. Accepting these orchestrated (yet simple) techniques, Lieberman focuses on mending ways for people to connect and open their innate feelings without the fear of vulnerability. Skimming chapters, you may find ‘Get Anyone to Find You Irresistibly Attractive’ or ‘Get Anyone to Take Immediate Action in Any Situation’. I believe Lieberman utilizes subjectivity to harness the internal beliefs of many Americans that accumulate when people conform. Lieberman reflects his goals for the reader on tangible success, whether it orbits pride, relationships, or career aspirations.
In my second book, Sam Horn published POP! , a guide that steers and directs the reader with methods of intriguing an audience for public relations, advertisement, and expenditure. Rhetoric and communication that bridge a first impression sets in tone a purposeful bond is the initiative in Horn’s guidance. Horn’s bedrock principle is to prompt the motives of determining construction of identity (in the realm of entrepreneurs). Horn intends to reach out to her entrepreneurs in the book by operating with what Kenneth Burke would refer to as ‘sharing of substances’ (Larson 109).
As Larson indicates, “All words have emotional loadings and reveal the feelings, attitudes, values, and judgments of the user” (109). Sharing substances in my view means that identity consciousness is apart of everyone’s life. Wrapped around the factors of self-esteem a sense of covertness, and profound perspective taking, an enhanced reflection of an autonomous person can shed light on the appearance of identity in the eyes of others. As mentioned in the Bob Dylan song on my take of identity, (anyone) governed by enforced ‘insanity’ should not be the fuel to reach for a star. One must do it all on their own however felt necessary.
Works Cited
Bernays, Edward. Manipulating Public Opinion: The Why and the How. 1928.
Boyd, Michael S. “De-Constructing Race and Identity in US Presidential Discourse: Barack Obama’s Speech on Race.” Atlantis Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies 31.2 (2009): 75-94. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. <http://www.atlantisjournal.org/ARCHIVE/31.2/2009Boyd.pdf>.
Clapp, Tara L. “Social Identity as Grammar and Rhetoric of Motives: Citizen Housewives and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.” K.B. Journal 5.1 (2008): 1-13. 5 June 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2009. <http://www.kbjournal.org/tara_clapp>.
Coles, Jane. “Much Ado About Nationhood And Culture: Shakespeare and the Search For An ‘English’ Identity.” Changing English 11.1 (2004): 47-58. Goldsmiths College.
Golledge, Jen, Eugenia Scabini, Camillo Regalia, Claudia Manzi, and Vivian L. Vignoles. “Beyond Self-Esteem: Influence of Multiple Motives on Identity Construction.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90.2 c (2006): 308-33. American Psychology Association. Web. 22 Nov. 2009.
Horn, Sam. Pop! Stand Out in Any Crowd. New York: Perigee Trade, 2006.
Larson, Charles U. Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility. 8th ed. New York: Wadsworth, 1998.
Lieberman, David J. Get Anyone to Do Anything and Never Feel Powerless Again–With Psychological Secrets to Control and Influence Every Situation. Boston. St. Martin’s Griffin. 2001.
Luntz, Frank. Words That Work Its Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear. New York: Hyperion, 2007.
Rabin, Albert I. Personality Structure in the Life Course Essays on Personality in the Murray Tradition (Murray Lectures Series). New York: Springer, 1992.
Wetherell, Margaret. “Subjectivity or Psycho-Discursive Practices?” International Journal of Critical Psychology (2008): 73-81.
www.palgrave-journals.com/sub. Open University.
Woolfolk, Anita E. Educational Psychology, Active Learning Edition (10th Edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2007.
Tour Guide Brian 