Top 3 Greek Government Propaganda Techniques

Greek Government Propaganda Techniques – 1. Denigration

Definition:

The trivialization and/or deliberate failure to acknowledge criticism, complaints or grievances to marginalize, humiliate and vilify those voicing dissent

The absolute number  most popular method of Greek government propaganda. Denigrate the opinions and feelings of the population whenever it is negative and targeted towards the political class.

Denigration of the people’s opinions and feelings is designed to emasculate and humiliate the population to erode their feeling of self-worth with the goal of crumbling any resistance or criticism of government actions and abuses and to dissolve any motivation to take action against perceived government abuse, corruption, incompetence and so on.

Generic Examples:

“These people are in the minority and their goal is to disrupt the lives of the majority”

Actual Example:

Papandreou – those responsible were seeking to divide the Greek people and to harm democracy and the country’s democratic traditions.

Christos Papoutsis – a small handful with a stunted sense of social and political responsibility chose to organise their action and acts in an attempt to humiliate the institutions, the Nation and the people,

Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis – Camping in a public space is not a constitutional right

Greek Government Propaganda Techniques – 2. Appeal to Fear

Definition:

Seeks to build support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population

The Greek government likes to propagandize the population  by using fear. This method has become more popular since 2008 since the Greek government ran into cash flow problems and it is used with the express goal of getting the Greek population to accept the dishonoring of government contracts and to accept massively increased taxes.

Generic Example:

“If you cannot graduate from high school, you will live in poverty for the rest of your life”

Actual Example:

Venizelos – Greece is not even experiencing “the worst phase of the crisis” yet, he rages, which is why the important answers to the question of how to go about rescuing the country are needed now. “Everything else means absolutely nothing.”

Papandreou – “I will not do anyone the favour of allowing the country to collapse,”

Papandreou – “I would rather that we all lose something than that we should all lose everything forever,”

Papandreou – “This is a battle for the country’s survival,”

Greek Government Propaganda Techniques – 3. Glittering Generalities

Definition:

Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing words that are applied to a product or idea, but present no concrete argument or analysis.

Most commonly used by the politicians in power and is a favourite tool of Venizelos and Papandreou to persuade Greeks that the dishonouring of government employment and pension contracts is patriotic and that increasing taxes after specifically saying taxes will not be increased is for the good of the country.

Glittering generatlities are always vague and have positive connotations. To quote Wikipedia

Words and phrases such as “common good“, “reform“, “courage“, “democracy“, “freedom“, “hope“, “patriotism“, “strength”, are terms with whom people all over the world have powerfulassociations, and they may have trouble disagreeing with them. However, these words are highly abstract and ambiguous, and meaningful differences exist regarding what they actually mean or should mean in the real world. George Orwell described such words at length in his essay “Politics and the English Language”

Generic Example:

It is patriotic to accept the government increasing taxes against your will

Actual examples:

Papandreou “We often failed to make the necessary changes as compromises with vested interests were put before the common good,”

Government spokesman George Petalotis – “We are fighting the battle to serve the common good, in the most crucial moment in the country’s modern democracy.”

Papandreou – “It is important for us to give with clarity this stigma, within the government, to Greek society, and internationally. That we are proceeding rapidly with the great reforms,”

Papandreou – “reaffirmation of our mandate to continue with a difficult national effort.”

Papandreou – We must develop our own powers, our own comparative advantages, which we know are many. And this course requires the participation of all. We know that we can do it,

Summary

These are the most obvious techniques used by Greek politicians but the whole spectrum of propaganda techniques are used. Click here for more information on propaganda

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