# Understanding Propaganda: The Epistemic Merit Model and Its Application to Art  ## Metadata - Author: [[Sheryl Tuttle Ross]] - Full Title: Understanding Propaganda: The Epistemic Merit Model and Its Application to Art - Category: #articles - Summary: insert summary - My notes: - Document Tags: [[toread]] - Summary: Propaganda means trying to persuade people, often for political purposes. It is seen as propaganda when the message is misleading or false, and aims to influence a large group. The epistemic merit model helps us identify propaganda by checking if it is intended to persuade, is defective in truth or logic, targets a significant group, and supports a political cause. - URL: https://readwise.io/reader/document_raw_content/348120313 - Source File: Understanding Propaganda by Sheryl Tuttle Ross.pdf ## LLM Chats ## NotebookLM ## LLM Audio ## Highlights > The term "propaganda" was originally associated with propagating or spreading the Christian faith. The word was coined by Pope Gregory XV in 1622 to refer to the congregio de propaganda which was an organization of the Roman curia that had jurisdiction over missionary territories. "The congregation's mission...was to reconquer by spiritual arms, by prayers and good ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k47cgt42shjs4vv87nzst5ex)) > F.C Bartlett, following along similar lines as Lee, claims that "propaganda is an attempt to influence public opinion and conduct - especially social opinion and conduct - in such a manner that the persons who adopt the opinions and behaviors do so without themselves making any definite search for reasons.6 His definition, by claiming that the recipient need not search for reasons, comes closer to identifying the pejorative sense of propaganda. However, commands given in a computer manual would have to be considered propaganda under this definition. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k47czv8vfnn5d73eb1z9447t)) > Theories of propaganda analysis became popular as propaganda, associated mainly with totalitarian regimes and war efforts, was perceived as a threat to liberal democracies. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k47cjcj5gcymakjx463hzxn5)) > Perhaps the most general definition of propaganda is: "any attempt to persuade anyone of any belief. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k47cp6mccgyp9ztrt17np57t)) > Alfred Lee also holds that propaganda involves persuasion, but adds further conditions that restrict its scope. He defines propaganda as "an expression overtly set forth or covertly implied in order to influence the attitudes and through the attitudes, the opinions and action of a public. "5 This is not just mere persuasion, but rather adds the condition that the target of the persuasion is a public. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k47cxbde4xepndgw5kv6pz1p)) > Revising Speier's condition, I contend that a second condition is that propaganda is sent on behalf of a political institution organization or cause. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k47d8xcwpzxzmkq9httskq63)) > It does not seem that propaganda is aimed at merely one person; rather, propaganda must be aimed at a group. To capture this intuition, I propose that the third condition is the recipient of propaganda be a socially significant group of people. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k47dh5vpd5hz5xm1kcp0dvfv)) > Thus far, we have gathered that propaganda involves (1) an intention to persuade, (2) a socially significant group of people, (3) on behalf of a political institution, organization, or cause. This does not account for the pejorative sense that propaganda has come to have such that it is associated often with lies, appeals to emotion, and psychological manipulation. In short, it seems that the pejorative sense of propaganda stems from how its message is thought to function. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k47dkwykva2dc1r6m60zgh12)) > Accordingly, what makes propaganda effective and potentially dangerous is its appeal to emotions which subvert reason. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k47ecvn92tebsp4ar7znfea6))