Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
Let’s start off by doing a quick review of a compliance tactic that we covered earlier this season, the Low-Ball technique. The Low-Ball technique happens when someone gets you to agree to a really good offer knowing full well that after you’ve agreed to it, they’re going to change the offer into something they didn’t think you’d agree to…but they’re hoping you’ll accept anyways. In fact, they’re counting on the fact that you already committed and won’t want to back out of your commitment.
The question to ask yourself if you think you’re getting low-balled is this: “Did they change the deal we agreed to?
If you want to review or hear more about this tactic, go back & check out Episode 134.
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Today, we are starting to wind down this little miniseries on propaganda tactics, I think we only have a few more episodes left until we wrap up this series. But today we’re going to be talking about a tactic called hyperbole. Hyperbole is when someone makes an extravagant statement or uses a figure of speech for effect or added emphasis. We would normally not think that hyperbole statements are intended to be taken literally - and usually they aren’t - but sometimes they’re used with the hopes that they’ll be taken literally.
Here are a few examples of hyperbole that I’m sure you’ve heard and likely even said yourself:
1. I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse
2. My feet are killing me
3. I died of embarrassment
4. That plane ride took forever
5. This is the best book ever written
6. I love you to the moon and back
7. The pen is mightier than the sword
8. I've told you this 20,000 times
9. My parents would kill me if they found out…
10. Cry me a river
Another place hyperbole happens often is in advertising. For instance, There was an Isuzu ad from the 1980s that bragged that theirSUV had "more seats than the Astrodome" and could "carry a 2,000-pound cheeseburger." Ok, can you see the hyperbole there?
Now, are any of those examples propaganda? No, they’re just figures of speech, used to try to make something seem more interesting or to try to really make a point. However, hyperbole can be used manipulatively, and that’s when it becomes a problem. And often, hyperbole is used in a negative way. I know I’ve used a lot of examples from politics lately, but that’s one of the big places where we see a lot of these tactics being employed.
During a debate for Virginia Governor, one of the candidates accused the other candidate of having a plan to “unleash Covid” because he wasn’t planning to mandate Covid vaccines. Can you see the hyperbole language there? Just because the other candidate didn’t plan on mandating vaccines doesn’t mean he was going to be unleashing Covid. But the language is intentionally used to make his decision seem terrible.
Another example is another state representative saying that the federal government is “being held hostage by the NRA”. Now, is the NRA actively holding all the people in the government hostage? No, of course not. But this language is again used to incite annoyance and anger about a particular policy or organization. And by the way, this isn’t a tactic only used by one side of the political aisle. Trust me, both sides use it liberally and often because they’ve found it works on people. It appeals to their emotions and helps get people on their side.
Question to ask yourself when someone is using hyperbole is this: “Are they using that figure of speech to get an emotional reaction?” *repeat*
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
