II. Case:
North Korea appears to have ramped up its propaganda war against South Korea and the U.S. by turning to Twitter and YouTube – websites that most citizens of the reclusive communist country are banned from viewing.
The North's government-run Uriminzokkiri website posted an announcement last week saying it has a Twitter account and a YouTube channel.
More than 80 videos have been uploaded since July to the global video-sharing site under the user name uriminzokkiri. The series of clips include condemnation of "warmongers" South Korea and the U.S. for blaming North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.
"Those who enjoy setting flames of war are bound to burn in those very flames," a narrator says in one video.
A clip titled "Who will win if North Korea and the U.S. fight?" claims the North possesses nuclear fusion technology. North Korea said in May that its scientists succeeded in creating a nuclear fusion reaction, but experts doubt the isolated country actually has made the breakthrough in the elusive clean-energy technology.
Another clip calls the South Korean foreign minister a "pro-American flunky" who should make his living by "mopping the floors of the Pentagon."
The Twitter account, which opened last Thursday under the name uriminzok, which means "our nation" in Korean, has garnered more than 3,000 followers in less than a week.
As of Tuesday uriminzok tweeted 11 links to Uriminzokkiri reports that threaten "merciless retaliation" against South Korea and the U.S. and call South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's administration a "prostitute of the U.S."
III.
A. Propaganda Techniques:
Name calling: This techniques consists of attaching a negative label to a person or a thing. People engage in this type of behavior when they are trying to avoid supporting their own opinion with facts. Rather than explain what they believe in, they prefer to try to tear their opponent down.
False Analogy: In this technique, two things that may or may not really be similar are portrayed as being similar. When examining the comparison, you must ask yourself how similar the items are. In most false analogies, there is simply not enough evidence available to support the comparison.
Either/or fallacy: This technique is also called "black-and-white thinking" because only two choices are given. You are either for something or against it; there is no middle ground or shades of gray. It is used to polarize issues, and negates all attempts to find a common ground.
B. Fallacies:
False Cause: A temporal order of events is confused with causality; or, someone oversimplifies a complex causal network.
Example: Stating that poor performance in schools is caused by poverty; poverty certainly contributes to poor academic performance but it is not the only factor.
Arguing from Ignorance:
Someone argues that a claim is justified simply because its opposite cannot be proven.
Example: A person argues that voucher programs will not harm schools, since no one has ever proven that vouchers have harmed schools.
IV. Personal Assessment
Not convinced since the bandwagon effect (since everyone does is so should we) of majority of the world claiming North Korea as a dangerous untrustworthy country is embedded in our heads without first-hand experience with North Korea.
By: De Jesus & Suarez
Sources:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/north-korea-uses-twitter-to-target-us-south-korea-45016
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/478896/Propaganda-Technique-in-the-World-War
