from politics to social media to David Icke, we look at how the name calling technique of propaganda is used to persuade and influence our views and opinions.
What is Name Calling in Propaganda?
Name Calling is when someone tries to discredit a person, group, or idea by attaching an insult or a negative label instead of engaging with what’s actually being said.
Instead of arguing why something is wrong, name calling simply implies that the person is bad and therefore the audience should not even consider the other person’s viewpoint.
Name Calling is also known by other names such as labelling, ad hominem, and poisoning the well.
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Name Calling: How Labels Replace Arguments (and How to Spot It)
The articles found in the pages of this hub can be seen as background information for the themes which run throughout our books
- By Will Camden
- Everyday Persuasion Articles, The Theory
- Reading Time 6 Minutes
Table of Contents
Whether it’s name calling, ad hominem or labelling, the mechanism is always the same:
Instead of using logic and reasoning to win an argument, the technique is to go straight in with a personal attack on their character in order to influence the audience and deflect from the actual issue.
The power isn’t in the insult itself, but in the implication that the person is somehow untrustworthy or flawed.
How Does Name Calling Work to Bypass Reason and Logic?
This mechanism works through three main channels:
Loaded terms condition the audience’s emotional response before any facts are considered. Introducing someone as “disgraced” or “radical,” or using a sensational headline, tells people how to receive them in advance, short-circuiting critical judgement.
Arousing Prejudice and Fear
By labelling targets as dangerous, inferior, or threatening, name calling triggers fear that overrides rational thought. Historically, terms like “parasites” or “savages” made cruelty seem justified, with the label itself standing in for evidence.
Tribal Signalling and the End of Thought
Modern labels act as ideological shorthand, collapsing complex views into simple tribal categories. Words like “woke,” “fascist,” or “Karen” signal group identity and shut down discussion. By framing disagreement as moral corruption, stupidity, or mental instability, the label offers emotional satisfaction to the in-group while explaining nothing.
Classic Examples of Name Calling from History
Nazi Germany
Jewish people were repeatedly labelled as “parasites,” “degenerates,” or “vermin.” These labels stripped individuals of humanity, making cruelty easier to justify.
McCarthyism (1950s USA)
Calling someone a “communist” or “Red” was often enough to destroy careers. Proof was optional. The label implied treason, and the fear did the rest.
World War I Propaganda
Enemy nations were routinely reduced to crude caricatures — “Huns,” “savages,” “brutes.” Once an enemy is portrayed as a monster, public support for action follows.
Colonial Propaganda
Indigenous populations were framed as “uncivilised” or “primitive,” which allowed domination to be sold as “progress” or “order.”
How Name Calling Is Used Today
Politicians
Words like “woke,” “snowflake,” “fascist,” “extremist,” or “traitor” are deployed to end discussion rather than open it. The label tells supporters how to feel about the target.
Newspapers
Tabloids rely heavily on loaded terms — “loony,” “militant,” “hard-left,” “far-right,” “eco-zealot.” A headline uses psychological priming to tell the reader how to feel about a story before they've even read it.
Talk radio & opinion TV
Guests aren’t debated — they’re framed. Once someone is introduced as “controversial,” “disgraced,” or “radical,” the audience already knows how to receive them.
Social Media
Idelogical Shorthand
Used to collapse complex views into a single tribe.
Woke
Fascist
Nazi
Commie
Tankie
Neolib
Motive & corruption labels
Used to suggest hidden incentives or bad faith.
Paid actor
Bot / AI bot
Glow-up fed / Fed
Asset
Controlled opposition
Industry plant
Intelligence & competence attacks
Used to imply the person is too stupid to listen to.
Idiot
Moron
Clown
Low IQ
Smoothbrain
Mouth breather
Moral dismissal
Used to suggest the person is ethically corrupt.
Evil
Corrupt
Soulless
Grifter
Sell-out
Sanity & credibility attacks
Used to frame disagreement as psychological defect.
Unhinged
Delusional
Unstable
Off their meds
Conspiracy nut
Group-identity slurs
Used to mark someone as an outsider.
Tourist (borrowed from subculture gatekeeping)
Normie
Boomer
Karen
Pick-me
Platform-specific flavour
Different platforms develop their own shorthand.
X / Twitter
Blue-tick brain
Main character syndrome
Ratioed (as identity, not event)
Redditor moment
Bad faith actor
Touch grass
TikTok
Chronically online
Delulu
This ain’t it
These labels are all forms of the name calling technique of propaganda, and all do the same job:
Explain nothing
Signal tribe
End discussion
Feel like insight
Once a label has been attached to a poster, crowd behaviour tells the rest of the group how they should react.
David Icke Ad Hominem and Name Calling
Name Calling is one of the most blatant uses of propaganda used by the conspiracy movement to influence, and none more so than David Icke.
You can get a closer look at the techniques used in the novel
Confessions of a Professional Conspiracy Theorist.
Sheeple. Zombies. Asleep.
David Icke uses a range of propaganda techniques to build belief with his audience, and name calling plays a central role.
He applies labels to anyone outside his group, with especially strong language reserved for people in traditional positions of power.
Much of his website is made up of articles that focus on personal and ad hominem attacks, using derogatory framing and the technique of card stacking in place of argument or discussion.
The Unthinking Masses. The Herd.
Michael Wright is a character in the novel Confessions of a Professional Conspiracy Theorist.
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