has a cluster of related words and images, noted here in terms of: name-calling (attack words, demonizing the enemy);"horror stories"& "atrocity pictures" (telling and showing what the enemy does, or will do). Note the common problem/solution sequence: Threat (stirring up emotions, intensifying fears); Bonding (getting together a group); for a Cause (a sense of duty, idealistic purpose); Response (targeted action). Such "committed collective action" is here called the "pep talk."
from Persuasion Analysis | Hugh Rank | ©2005 | http:// faculty.govst.edu/pa [Home]
Naming & describing the threats, the feared actions, and the agents --
arrest
ban
bind
bondage
captivity
capture
censorship
censors
constrain
contain
curb
enslave
hinder
imprison
inhibit
jail
limit, limitation
oppressors
prison, prisoner
prohibit, prohibition
regulate, regulators
regulation
restrain
restrict, restriction
seize
slavedrivers
slavery
The feared threat is any restraint on our freedom, ranging, at one extreme, from slavery, bondage, or imprisonment, to any restriction imposed upon us by any rule, law, or limit established by society.
Imprisonment of ourselves is greatly feared; imprisonment of others, is usually defended or justified as a means to an end to protect society.
In international politics, the imagery of slavery was often applied
to the USSR (Iron Curtain, Berlin Wall, Captive Nations) in contrast to
the "free world." Libertarians and "free enterprise"
advocates often use intense slavery imagery to equate any laws or regulation
with oppressive bondage.
Censorship is the attack word to label those laws or restrictions
which are disagreeable to us. To defend restrictions which we favor,
we emphasize that they are necessary, prudent, reasonable, for the common
good: "there ought to be a law. "
Conservative rhetoric of those who HAVE certain benefits (freedom, liberty) stresses protection (keep the "good") and prevention (avoid the "bad"). HAVES fear loss (capture, seizure, enslavement, limitation).
Progressive rhetoric of those who HAVE-NOT certain benefits (freedom, liberty) stresses acquisition (get the "good") and relief (change, get rid of the "bad.") HAVE-NOTS fear continued deprivation (slavery, restriction, restraint).
Images common in "atrocity pictures"
Images of slavery and imprisonment are most common:
chains, bonds, handcuffs, fetters, prison bars, walls, barbed wire fences, guardtowers, searchlights, police dogs, chain-gangs; Berlin Wall, Gulag Archipelago, Iron Curtain.
Anti-regulatory cartoons depict government regulations: "red tape" choking, strangling, ensnaring, encircling Business.
Censorship cartoons: "Big Brother is watching you" - TV monitors, spy satellites, other surveillance agents; bookburning;
Social bans: Puritan clothing, "A"; stocks, witchhunting, scolding and shaming postures
