R/W post #10

    I would like to take this blog to bless, address, and press Kerrigan's work! After the amazing presentation on persuasive writing, Kerrigan went above and beyond to answer some questions she still had. She posed the question of how propaganda is different from persuasion? As I was looking through all of the blogs this question really stood out to me because I had always thought propaganda was a type of persuasive writing. Throughout her research she found that both propaganda and persuasive writing are both used as a form of communication used to influence a person/group and change their mind, behaviors, and/or attitudes. The difference is that the propogandist (the person writing the carefully organized propaganda) is typically the only one who benefits from the propaganda, and rarely the consumer does. She also noted in her findings that propaganda is typically more negative than persuasive writing. I found it interesting that there are three types of propaganda (black, gray, and white) and three types of persuasion (ethos, pathos, logos), it makes sense why the two are so often lumped together. Kerrigan did an amazing job helping me understand the distinction between the two forms of writing, great work!

    How can we help our students create this distinction between propaganda and persuasive writing? When should we incorporate this learning? Should it be when we introduce persuasive writing, or should we wait until students have a good understanding of persuasion and show them a piece of propaganda and have them decide why it is different?

How can we use this opportunity to teach students to be conscious consumers (ex: avoiding scams, creating opinions on their own, etc.)?

    You stated that through your research propaganda is typically more negative and typically only benefits the propagandist, could you argue that advertisements could be considered propaganda then? Many advertisements, especially ones used to uphold stereotypes, typically only benefit the producer and create more problems for the consumer (ex: diet programs leading to eating disorders)

I also noticed the photo that you added in the top, a famous piece of feminist propaganda. Through this information on the distinction of propaganda and persuasion I now wonder if this would be considered a persuasive ad instead. In my opinion it does not seem negative and is not only benefiting the feminist movement but rather the entire US as women are taking over jobs while men are at war. What do you think?