Readings

• Charles Pierce. 2011. Idiot America. NY: Anchor. (chapter 2, ‘The war on expertise’). In Canvas.
• Robert Cialdini. 2017. Pre-suasion: A Revolutionary way to Influence and Persuade (chapter 3: ‘The importance of attention is … attention’). In Canvas.
• Timothy Wu. The Attention Merchants. London: Atlantic Books (Chp 22, ‘The rise of clickbait’). In Canvas.
• Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson. 2007. Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion. New York: W.H. Freeman (Chapter 32, ‘What is news?’ pp 268-79). In Canvas.

Lecture material

• Stratagems of persuasion
• Framing war for public consumption (note the four stratagems of persuasion)
• Mass persuasion  
• ‘Rules’ of ‘Idiot America‘
• Week 4 Small group questions

Imagery

• Headlines from January 25, 2026 (re: ICE officers shooting two local residents)

Video

• From Century of the Self (on Edward Bernays–who some consider the ‘father of propaganda’–and some of his early experiments in mass persuasion)