Propaganda, Persuasion and Deception.pdf

Propaganda,
Persuasion
& Deception
Over 1,120 Selected Quotations for the Ideological
Skeptic

2005
124 pgs

Compiled by
Laird Wilcox
www.lairdwilcox.com

Laird Wilcox is founder of the Wilcox Collection on Contemporary Political Movements in the Kenneth Spencer Library at the University of Kansas.The collection, established in 1965 and maintained by the library staff, occupies over 2,100 feet of shelving and contains over 5,600 books and pamphlets, 4,100 serial titles, 1,000 audio tapes, an extensive collection of flyers, brochures, leaflets, and other ephemera, and files on more than 8,000 originzations.
THE CATALOGING PROJECT
From 1986 to 1989 the collection underwent a $345,000 cataloging project funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant. It is regularly used by researchers and scholars and is recognized as one of the largest collections of its kind.
Over the years, the collection has been the primary source of numerous books, articles, theses and dissertations.

Foreword
These quotations come from a wide variety of sources, primarily previous collections I have authored or
coauthored, most particularly, Selected Quotations for the Ideological Skeptic (Editorial Research Service,
1992). Be Reasonable: Selected Quotations for Inquiring Minds, by Laird Wilcox and John George
(Prometheus, 1994), and The Degeneration of Belief, by Laird Wilcox (Editorial Research Service, 1999).
Other sources include my own notes, quotations sent to me by friends, internet searching, and the reading
of a very large number of books.
It’s important to bear in mind that quotations are, almost by definition, statements removed from their
original context, i.e., brief statements taken from an often vastly larger work. Even in cases where the
quotation is brief, to the point and matter-of-fact, the larger work may frame it in a particular way that
might get lost or muted when considered apart from it. In addition, people are often inconsistent. A person
may say one thing in a particular work and then say something quite the opposite in another, or
sometimes even the same work.
Another factor to consider is state of mind. I have heard writers say, “I knew what I was thinking when I
wrote that,” implying that it was somehow different from what the statement appears to mean now when
read by others, perhaps of a different persuasion. People are often inconsistent in their beliefs and double
standards often appear in their writings. For example, a person may defend freedom of expression
and write glowing statements in its behalf, and then advocate denying that same freedom when it is
claimed by a hated person or group. Politicians are particularly prone to this distressing behavior.
Having said all of this, nevertheless the vast majority of quotations in this volume do, in fact, mean what
they appear to say in plain language. However, it’s important to realize that there may be cases in which
the author or others may dispute this. My advice is this: if you are going to use a quote from this volume
in an important way, i.e., in an academic thesis or dissertation or in work for publication, it may be to your
advantage to go to the original source and determine its suitability and/or accuracy for yourself.
Fair Use Notice: This compilation contains copyrighted quotations the use of which has not always been
specifically authorized by the copyright holder. I am making these quotations available in an effort to advance
understanding of political, social, philosophical, legal and scientific issues. I believe this constitutes
a “fair use” of any such copyrighted quotations as provided for in section 107 of the U. S. Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 the quotations in this compilation are distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information for research and
educational purposes. For further information please go to the web site maintained by the Cornell University
School of Law: law/cornell.edu/ uscode/17/107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this
compilation for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the
copyright holder.
Laird Wilcox