1. Beneath the Surface
finding the argument design

3. Powerful Arguments

4. Powerful Arguments
• Often they are in disguise (reports, histories songs, advertisements, etc...)

5. Powerful Arguments
• Often they are in disguise (reports, histories songs, advertisements, etc...)
• The Objectivity Disguise: Fools the audience into thinking the presented
information is unbiased.

6. Powerful Arguments
• Often they are in disguise (reports, histories songs, advertisements, etc...)
• The Objectivity Disguise: Fools the audience into thinking the presented
information is unbiased.
• Facts can be objective, but their placement can create a framework that
is subjective

7. Powerful Arguments
• Often they are in disguise (reports, histories songs, advertisements, etc...)
• The Objectivity Disguise: Fools the audience into thinking the presented
information is unbiased.
• Facts can be objective, but their placement can create a framework that
is subjective
• Today in Florida, protestors blocked sidewalks and caused undue
congestion in downtown Miami. The protestors were demanding a change
in voting statewide. When reached for comment, the Miami chief of police
said that two people were arrested for blocking the free flow of traffic, and
that everything was back to normal by 6:00 p.m.

8. Beneath the Surface

9. Beneath the Surface
• Today in Florida, protestors blocked sidewalks and caused undue
congestion in downtown Miami. The protestors were demanding a change
in voting statewide. When reached for comment, the Miami chief of police
said that two people were arrested for blocking the free flow of traffic, and
that everything was back to normal by 6:00 p.m.

10. Beneath the Surface
• Today in Florida, protestors blocked sidewalks and caused undue
congestion in downtown Miami. The protestors were demanding a change
in voting statewide. When reached for comment, the Miami chief of police
said that two people were arrested for blocking the free flow of traffic, and
that everything was back to normal by 6:00 p.m.

11. Beneath the Surface
• Today in Florida, protestors blocked sidewalks and caused undue
congestion in downtown Miami. The protestors were demanding a change
in voting statewide. When reached for comment, the Miami chief of police
said that two people were arrested for blocking the free flow of traffic, and
that everything was back to normal by 6:00 p.m.
• First Sentence: Protestors = nuisance

12. Beneath the Surface
• Today in Florida, protestors blocked sidewalks and caused undue
congestion in downtown Miami. The protestors were demanding a change
in voting statewide. When reached for comment, the Miami chief of police
said that two people were arrested for blocking the free flow of traffic, and
that everything was back to normal by 6:00 p.m.
• First Sentence: Protestors = nuisance
• Second Sentence: Protestors

13. Beneath the Surface
• Today in Florida, protestors blocked sidewalks and caused undue
congestion in downtown Miami. The protestors were demanding a change
in voting statewide. When reached for comment, the Miami chief of police
said that two people were arrested for blocking the free flow of traffic, and
that everything was back to normal by 6:00 p.m.
• First Sentence: Protestors = nuisance
• Second Sentence: Protestors
• Third Sentence: Protestors = criminals

14. Objective View
• Today in Florida, over five thousand protestors assembled in front of the
courthouse in Miami to draw attention to the inequity in voting technology
across the state. According to organizers, wealthier counties have more
updated voting technologies than poorer ones, and officials have yet to
address the disparity. Said Martha Krug, a voting rights advocate, “It’s un-
American, and against the basic principals of democracy.”

15. Questioning To See Beneath the Surface
• How are the two passages different?
• How are protestors portrayed in the first passage?
• How are protestors portrayed in the second passage?
• Are the facts distorted?
• Compare to your Website Evaluation.

16. What Determines Which Facts Are Included?
• The arguer’s values and ideologies play a MAJOR role in determining
which facts are included.
• How can you find out if an argument is disguised as objective information?
• ASK QUESTIONS - LOOK BENEATH THE SURFACE
• How might the selection and placement of facts make an argument?
• What might the selection and placement of facts reveal about the
arguer?

17. Personal Taste Disguise:
• Camouflages an argument by appealing to the reader’s personal taste or
desires
• Can use this disguise in essays, songs, advertisements, speeches, etc...
• This disguise can be repeated with the reader/viewer so often that it can
actually begin to shape ideology

18. How can you uncover Personal Taste Disguise?
• How does this text appeal to the audience’s personal tastes or desires?
• Is the appeal easy or difficult to notice?
• What argument does it disguise?

19. SPIN
• HEAVILY BIASED PORTRAYAL OF INFORMATION
• Spinning of an event - what does that mean?
• What is spin most commonly connected to?
• Is spin negative or positive?

20. How to uncover SPIN:
• How does the text move attention away from an obvious or apparent
meaning and into something else, favorable to the arguer’s position?
• Is the shift in meaning legitimate or deceptive?

22. Propaganda

23. Propaganda
• Complex • Crushes
set of difference
strategies s in
used to thinking
drive
audiences
into a
uniform
way of
thinking
and
feeling
• Can use the OBJECTIVITY DISGUISE and
the PERSONAL TASTE DISGUISE to achieve
its goal

24. Propaganda
• Complex • Crushes
set of difference
strategies s in
used to thinking
drive
audiences
into a
uniform
way of
thinking
and
feeling
• Can use the OBJECTIVITY DISGUISE and
the PERSONAL TASTE DISGUISE to achieve
its goal

25. Tools of Propaganda
• Vague or ill-defined words and phrases
• Repetition of simple words and phrases (slogans)
• Strong appeals to emotions (fear, anger, happiness, regret)
• Strong appeals to human need
On
• Strong appeals to character Handout
• Intellectual and moral certainty
• Conflation of groups (US vs. THEM)
• Logical fallacies

26. Finding Propaganda

27. Finding Propaganda
Commercial Example

28. Finding Propaganda
Commercial Example

29. What is the problem with PROPAGANDA?

30. What is the problem with PROPAGANDA?

31. What is the problem with PROPAGANDA?

32. Reading Words & Images

33. Reading Words & Images

34. Reading Words & Images

35. Reading Words & Images