What are some of the consequences of sowing doubt and confusion rather than framing a definitive “truth”?

1770N Techniques of Persuasion Final Assignment: Total 30 marks
Instructions: Please read carefully
This is a take-home assignment. From April 4th you will have ONE WEEK to complete this assignment (the assignment is due on April 10th at 11:59PM EST.) No extensions will be given beyond this point and failure to upload this assignment by the deadline will result in a mark of zero. No exceptions or extensions are possible because I must submit the final marks quickly.
You may use any course materials to complete your answer. When you are finished, please upload to the Turn-It-In drop box on the course E-class site. Please upload as a Word document only (no PDF or Pages files please)
Please consult the Final Assignment study guide for detailed instructions for writing this assignment.
Part I: Short Answer
Define and discuss the importance of any ONE of the following terms (10 marks). You should write a maximum of about one page, double-spaced; you may also write less.
1. Hegemony
2. Engineering of Consent
3. 5 Filters
4. Pathos
Part II: Essay Question
Write an essay on One (1) of the following two questions. Discuss all the relevant course material that relates to the questions. Focus on demonstrating your knowledge of course material rather than just stating your opinion. You should make an argument in the process of answering the question that is informed by course material. Your answer is worth 20 marks and should not exceed 3 double-spaced pages. For each of these questions, do not answer
each question one after the next; instead write an essay. Use these questions as ways to think about your answer,
which should be an argument based on the topic as it is presented.
1. In the film Merchants of Doubt corporations are shown to have developed techniques of persuasion involving the use of uncertainty and competing narratives. Do these techniques differ from the “engineering of consent” developed by Bernays at the start of the last century? In what way(s)? Do corporations and their associated Public Relations firms still try to frame information as Chomsky suggests in his discussion of media hegemony and the five filters? What are some of the consequences of sowing doubt and confusion rather than framing a definitive “truth”? Has one of these approaches replaced the other or do they manage to coexist in our “managed democracy”? Who bears the costs of these techniques?
2. What do the techniques of persuasion Bernays pioneered, as examined by Adam Curtis in Century of the Self, have in common with what Chomsky calls “necessary illusions” in Manufacturing Consent? What are these “necessary illusions”? For whom are these illusions “necessary”? Are they truly necessary? How does the elite media view compare to the model of “elite democracy” affirmed by Bernays but criticized by Chomsky? Discuss these questions using examples of techniques of persuasion found in the two films (i.e., in Century of the Self and Manufacturing Consent).

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