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31st Week

1st Day

New Words

prüd′ nt

Choose Sagely*

Today, the paramount* influence in the forming of public opinion is propaganda. It is not a heresy to our democratic beliefs to state that pressure groups play an important part in our lives. Propaganda makes one vulnerable* to the influences of others. The prudent person will choose between cogent* and specious* propaganda efforts. While propaganda has the ostensible purpose of informing the public, the most fervid propagandists use methods that must be examined by the thoughtful citizen. The ability to distinguish the spurious from the true facts requires more than a perfunctory* examination of prevalent* propaganda efforts.

Sample Sentences

Use care. The words have many meanings.

1.His __________ appeal for action threw his adherents* into a frenzy*.

2.He accused the leader of the opposition of political __________, and the mob was exhorted* to burn his effigy*.

3.In the bedlam* that followed it was not __________ to appear too apathetic*.

4.While the __________ enemy was the opposition leader, the main purpose of this rash* behavior was the eradication* of all opponents.

5.In the conflagration* that followed, no one questioned whether the original charge had been __________. Definitions

Study the fine differences. Be sure how to use them.

Page 196

2nd Day

New Words

A Free Society

In a free society it is intrinsic* that individuals and groups have the inherent* right to propagate ideas and try to win converts. We do not look upon an idea different from ours as an anomaly that should be precluded*. Nor do we permit only innocuous or congenial* beliefs and forbid those that we believe are dubious* or spurious*. In a country of competing pressures we are accosted* by a surfeit of propaganda that tends to overwhelm us. Thus, we live in a milieu of ubiquitous* bombardment from countless, and often unrecognized, propagandists.

Sample Sentences

Insert the new words in these sentences.

1.I must inveigh* against your attempt to __________ the belief that your political system will result in a panacea* for all problems.

2.It is incongruous* to find an abstemious* person in a __________ of avarice* and affluence*.

3.Siamese twins are considered a birth __________.

4.There appears to be no such thing as an __________ heresy*.

5.When can we expect a respite* from the __________ of TV commercials?

Definitions

Match the new words with their definitions.

Today's Idiom

without rhyme or reasonmaking no sense