"BEFORE YOU USE A WEAPON, WE WILL APPLY THE WORD". TEXT MARKERS FOR UNLIMITED LIE AND FOR LITTLE TRUTH IN THE STATE NEWSPAPER(through the pages of E. Zamyatin’s novel "We")
The article deals with the problem of manipulations with public consciousness inthe state newspapers. The article also has its aim to help the readers develop critical thinking and skills of recognition of truth and falsehood propaganda texts.A stylized fragment of newspaper text from Zamyatin’s novel “We” served as research material. Dystopias are valuable because they are indicators of the stereotypes of mass consciousness that are used by manipulators. Utopia is a ready-made coherent system of social stereotypes, so manipulators easily “juggle” even the most inoffensive utopian ideas. The main attraction of the Utopian constants is their strong link with the cultural and historical memory of the people and the unconditional positive evaluation, which blocks critical thinking. In the analyzed passage of the novel we present a typical model of the newspaper manipulation.The article analyzes the technology of public opinion manipulation using speech patterns that make mechanisms of manipulation invisible - blocking of critical thinking (flattery, intimidation), deformation of the original image, formation of the key manipulating illusions, setting the desired target. The manipulation technology unfolds hidden in the subtext, which uses speech patterns: patterns of the sentence actual division; incongruous combination of connotative words; use of words with weak or no substantive value; formation of the desired background using associative allusions, partially distorting the meaning of the ancient texts; transformation of syntactic phraseological units, substitution of notions, repetitions, etc.The propaganda character of the text in the state newspaper is understood by the repetition of elements of the text, their strict sequence verified by laconic forms and the lack of “lyrical digressions”. Honed propaganda texts are the result of the action of a typical mechanism of manipulations with public consciousness.