If we regard language as a map of the territory of reality, it follows that the more Cognitive-Semantic Distortions there are in language, the more inaccurately the map represents the territory, and we're more likely to be lost, misled and susceptible to fear.
When professional hypnotists perform hypnotic inductions, they try to avoid using jarring language by letting the patient fill in the gaps. They do this by being non-specific. For example, they might say, "...you feel pleasant feelings in your body...". The hypnotist doesn't say what the pleasant feelings are, that's left to the patient to fill in. Being more specific runs the risk of jarring the patient into resistance.
similarly propaganda intentionally loads language with Cognitive-Semantic Distortions to induce "hypnotic" effects. This normally works by the "map" so inadequately representing the "territory", that the audience has to "fill in the gaps" in their own minds.
This process of "going inside" one's mind to fill in the gaps of the "map" corresponds to "hypnotic induction."
For example, they might talk of "defending our deeply-held values", and each audience member experiences a different personal interpretation of "deeply-held values" according to their own inner maps.
When Tony Blair says:
"The extreme views of many of the anti-war campaigners", most people probably fill in the gap by projecting their own interpretation of "extreme" onto their map of the campaigners. "Extreme", to most people, undoubtedly means lunacy and/or destructive tendencies.
and REMEMBER.....effective propaganda already takes disagreement into account, therefore its better to "deconstruct" than disagree.
The Propaganda System
