Crowd Pressure

"The Bandwagon technique aims to get you to follow the crowd. It creates the impression that something has widespread support, and plays on the instinct to be on the winning side. It also plays on feelings of loneliness or social isolation if these are present. The message simultaneously encourages those not on the bandwagon to join, and for those already on the bandwagon to stay on board. A variation is to say if you do not join now, you will be left behind, abandoned. Either way, a person is encouraged to get with the strength on-board the bandwagon. The best defence is to calmly ask yourself what exactly is the propagandist’s program? What are the pro’s and con’s of the program? Others might be supporting it, but is there a good reason for me to do so? In the Card Stacking technique, the propagandist cherry-picks only those facts that strongly support their case, while presenting their opponent’s case in the worst possible light. It is dishonest because we are being urged to accept a carefully selected sub-set of the truth as the whole truth. The technique is difficult to detect because it does not present all the information necessary to make an informed decision, while implying that this is the whole truth. The best defence is to calmly ask yourself are the facts being distorted, or are they missing altogether? Does anyone else independently support this point of view? Propaganda techniques like these have been successfully used in organisations to shape culture and instil values. Most of the time, there is nothing unethical about this. Sometimes though, the corporate culture is about profit above scruples. If you find yourself in such an environment, at the very least you should be aware of what kind of people you are associating with and becoming like. You would be well-advised to leave gracefully and as soon as possible."