Journal Entry #2- Propaganda and Dr. Rich Enos

Yesterday in class, Dr. Rich Enos came and discussed perception and persuasion. I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Enos and the way he was able to keep us engaged in what he was talking about. The card trick in the beginning really tricked me at first, and then I was able to figure out what happened once he started talking again. This reinforces the idea that we need to pause and reflect in order to sort out the fallacies from what is actually truth. 

His demonstration of Mia (the baby) and Fang (the diamondback) was a wonderful way to help us experience the difference between perception and reality. Not only does it educate us on perception, it allows us to understand other people during times where we have different realities. For example, if there's a misunderstanding between me and another person, it's most likely just a difference in perception and what we think is true. Learning that time is a factor in persuasion is also applicable to real life because oftentimes, we need to just pause to properly use logic. 

All of this also connects to Paper Moon as well. Moses' customers believed he was selling them bibles because he was able to play on their emotions, creating an illusion and a different reality for the customers. This allowed him to manipulate them and have them spend money on something that held less meaning than they perceived. 

Knowing that propagandist play at your emotions and select what is true helps each of us take a step towards being more educated and logically people when going about our everyday lives. Dr. Enos was a great guest speaker to have in class and I hope future guests are as engaging as he was!

Comments

  1. williams.dan76September 8, 2026 at 6:23 AM

    Nice review of Sr. Enos's propaganda presentation, and I appreciate your tying it back to Moses and Paper Moon. The one continuous thread that runs throughout propaganda and phishing scams is the play on emotions. Once emotions are turned on, rational thought is increasingly difficult. Good post.

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