Quotes on Propaganda, Persuasion, and Rhetoric

330. Condense some daily experience into a glowing symbol, and an audience is electrified. RALPH
WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882), Eloquence, 1877.

331. The moment our discourse rises above the ground line of familiar facts, and is inflamed with passion
or exalted by thought, it clothes itself in images. RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882), Nature,
1836.

333. The findings suggest that media messages can indeed move audiences in directions counter to their
predominant dispositions...opinion toward the unfamiliar are more susceptible to media influence that
those toward the unfamiliar. ROBERT M. ENTMAN, Democracy Without Citizens, 1989


332. The media do not control what people prefer; they influence public opinion by providing much of the
information people think about and by shaping how they think about it. ROBERT M. ENTMAN,
Democracy Without Citizens, 1989.


The following quote is saying that the cable companies influence the public's opinion by providing what they are going to see and shaping how they see it. For example Fox gives a very republican view of the news, while CNN gives a very democratic view of the news. Furthermore, the media may control the public through its commercialization of different items.