Reinforcing by condemning
 Reinforcing by condemning(propaganda technique)   | |
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Reinforcing by condemning is a propaganda technique to stealthily reinforce underlying narratives while seemingly condemning them.
For example, after 911 Western governments went out of their way to condemn racism against Arabs and Muslims. The condemnations had several benefits. While promoting policies that were symbolically protective of Muslims in the West, it also reinforced the underlying notion that the official narrative of 19 angry Muslim hijackers is correct. And it allowed them to ravage the Middle East while not appearing anti-Muslim.
During Covid in 2021, governments first engendered suspicions about China and Chinese people being “the source” of a hyped or non-existent lethal virus. Then they condemned these suspicions as racist. In rejecting the accusations, they at the same time reinforced the underlying idea of the existence of a deadly virus. And at the same time it strengthened the enemy image of China.
During the attempted 2022 Monkeypox pandemic, the WHO declared" "In the context of the current global outbreak, continued reference to, and nomenclature of this virus being African is not only inaccurate but is also discriminatory and stigmatising,"[1] allowing for spreading fear about Africa, and then claiming that fear is racist.
