A simple tip for better propaganda: forget the antecedent

In an effort to improve propaganda writing everywhere, we will post suggestions here from time to time. (Please be advised that official propaganda teachers are aware of the suggestions here and will expect you to incorporate them as your own ideas if you want full credit.)

In grammar, an antecedent is the thing referred to by a pronoun in a sentence. In order to be unambiguous, it should be stated clearly before it is used. The following sentence uses antecedents poorly:

John and Joseph were talking, when he said that he wanted him to take him to the store.

In each instance it is not clear whether "he" refers to John or to Joseph. A less ambiguous statement would be:

John and Joseph were talking, when John said that he wanted Joseph to take him to the store.

In normal writing it is important to take care with antecedents to prevent ambiguity, but in the art of propaganda it is often useful to be less clear (as in the first example sentence) as it leads the readers to conclusions that fit what you are telling them, letting them ignore impertinent facts so as to understand the message you want them to hear.

When the need is more extreme, antecedents can be ditched altogether, or disguised, as in this article. First note the second paragraph, where our two characters are introduced:

"Retired soldier Lian Jiansheng, 66, broke through a police cordon and reached out to shake the hand of would-be jumper Chen Fuchao before shoving him off the bridge."

A careful reading of the rest of the article will show that the only time Lian is mentioned again is in the last paragraph. The quotes and the information about being detained by the police is attributed to someone without an antecedent called "Lai". This is a masterful example of how to use subtle antecedent "mistakes" to make your stories more interesting or more "informative." At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not informative!