Media and the Fallacy of Repetition

Mohamed Omara Taqi alden

One of the logical fallacies committed by many media outlets against the masses is their constant repetition of a slogan´-or-idea.


With continuous repetition, this slogan´-or-idea often turns into what can be considered a fixed truth that settles in the recipient s consciousness and conscience, which is called in logic the fallacy of repetition (Argument by repetition).


Some believe that this method is likely to bear fruit greatly in the event that the state, the ruling elite, an interest group,´-or-an ideological group control the media and tighten their grip on it, so that the other opinion disappears and diminishes, and information and opinions flow in one -dir-ection.


Then, the fallacy acquires, through its frequent repetition and insistence, a status closer to the axiom, the self-evident,´-or-the founding thesis that may not be questioned, approached,´-or-its validity and credibility questioned.


The most famous person who used this fallacy was the Nazi media. Goebbels, Hitler s Minister of Information, always repeated his famous saying: "Lie and lie until you believe yourself, then others will believe you." Justifying the importance of the repetition strategy by saying: "If the Catholic Church is steadfast, it is because it has been repeating the same thing for two thousand years, and countries must follow suit."

Hitler also used to repeat: "The masses take a long time to understand and remember, so it was necessary to repeat," and Napoleon used to say: "There is only one form of eloquence, which is repetition, because through repetition it will be accepted as an absolute truth." (1)


Hence, ideological´-or-authoritarian media resort to repetition in an urgent manner, and advertisers repeat their advertising campaigns around the clock, so through repetition the media message takes root in the subconscious and becomes as if it came from within.

This technique also depends on repeating the presentation of the idea in different contexts, as the topic is always the same, but it is presented and repeated in different forms and images across the media (2).


Repetition that takes different forms can greatly affect the recipient, as presenting an idea in the same way may make the viewer turn away from it´-or-adopt an opposing position, which is well known to those responsible for propaganda in the media, so they resort to repetition but with a variety of presentation methods, as it is the same material but in new bottles.

The truth is that frequent repetition has an important psychological factor and effect, as the message, when repeated frequently, becomes, as previously stated, as if it were a fait accompli´-or-established facts that are not subject to questioning´-or-discussion (3).

In the final analysis, there remains a word that means that you, as a recipient and consumer of the media, must pay close attention to the reality of this logical fallacy, its internal structure and mechanism of action, as the media, when it calls for this fallacy, is in fact either deceiving you with this repetition by falsifying the facts and then wants to instill this falsehood that it promotes in your conscience.

´-or-it wants to obscure another central issue by involving you and throwing you into a dense and tangled forest of repetition so that it is impossible for you to escape from its clutches, so you remain a prisoner of its theses and vocabulary until the central issue dies in your mind and conscience and then in the mind and collective conscience of the rest of the masses.


References for the study:
(1) Gustave Le Bon: The Psychology of the Masses, p. 133.
(2) Muhammad Kamal Al-Qadi: Propaganda and Psychological Warfare, p. 178.
(3) Muhammad Yunus: The Making of the Dictator..... A Study in Propaganda Methods for Political Leaders, p. 116.

( Mohamed Omara Taqi alden : Egyptian academic in political sociology and Arab-Zionist conflict)

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