Appeal to Values
Attaching a position to a shared value — patriotism, family, faith, freedom — so that opposing the position looks like opposing the value.
An appeal to values fastens a specific position to a value almost nobody argues with. Security, family, faith, freedom, sovereignty, the safety of children: once the position and the value are welded together, disagreeing with the position reads as disagreeing with the value. The persuasive work happens in the weld, because the value itself says nothing about whether this particular policy achieves anything.
It is the third most common technique we record — more than 3,800 instances, about 8% of everything we log. Articles containing it average 52.9 on the manipulation score, above the corpus average of 45.9 but only just — the third-lowest figure of the 23 techniques we track. That narrow gap says something about how ordinary value language is in political writing: one instance tells you very little. It starts to matter when the value stands in for the missing link between an action and the result it is supposed to produce.
What separates it from ordinary moral argument is whether the value is doing the arguing. A column that states a moral premise and then reasons from it openly is making a declared case, and we do not count that. We flag the construction where the value arrives exactly where evidence should be — the paragraph that answers "will this work?" with "this is who we are."
Two exclusions carry most of the weight. Values quoted from a speech belong to the speaker: a leader who calls a war a sacred duty is being documented, and we flag the article only where it adds charge its sources did not supply. And under the power-direction rule, an appeal made on behalf of a population being harmed — grounded in rights, humanitarian obligation, or the protection of civilians — is not this technique however forcefully it is put, because the bar for flagging anything at all in such coverage is deliberately very high. The version we pursue hardest runs the other way: a value invoked to license the conduct under discussion, as when a "right to defend itself" is attached to bombing that killed civilians.
What we have recorded
| Instances recorded | 5,026 |
|---|---|
| Articles containing it | 4,564 |
| Share of all recorded techniques | 8.8% |
| Average manipulation score where present | 52.2 (corpus average 45.1) |
Outlets where we have recorded it most
| Outlet | Instances recorded |
|---|---|
| aljazeera.com | 400 |
| rt.com | 382 |
| israelnationalnews.com | 348 |
| nbcnews.com | 230 |
| ynetnews.com | 213 |
Counts reflect the articles we have analyzed, which are not a representative sample of any outlet's output.
Recent examples
"the arrogance of those young [Israeli army] soldiers that my tax dollars are funding"
Invokes the shared value of fiscal responsibility and national investment—specifically the American taxpayer's contribution—to frame the actions of Israeli soldiers as a moral betrayal, thereby leveraging a shared civic value to strengthen criticism of Israeli conduct.
A timeline of West Bank attacks on Palestinians and foreign officials"We need unity, we need calm and respect"
Invokes shared civic values—unity, calm, respect—to encourage conformity and discourage further protest, framing these abstract ideals as necessary for national stability without engaging with underlying grievances.
‘Anger and shame’: Macron denounces France’s nationwide rioting, looting"Without a determined European Union capable of making strong decisions Putin would have gone much further by now"
Appeals to shared values of collective strength and moral responsibility by framing EU unity as the sole barrier against further Russian aggression, reinforcing the importance of solidarity.
Ukraine war latest: Drone attack sparks fire at industrial facility in Russia's Surgut district"Washington’s new approach to the ex-Soviet region – pragmatic, purely transactional and devoid of speeches about democratisation and human rights."
The phrase frames the abandonment of human rights and democracy promotion as a positive shift by appealing to the value of pragmatism, implying that moral considerations are impractical or unnecessary in foreign policy. This justifies the current US stance by elevating transactional realism over values like human rights.
Rubio’s Uzbekistan trip underlines Central Asia’s hunt for diverse partners"The interest is mostly geopolitical and military-strategic, considering the region’s location in the zone of Russia’s and China’s interests"
This quote justifies the US return to Central Asia by appealing to national strategic values—security and global power competition—positioning the transactional approach as necessary for US interests, thereby sidelining ethical considerations as secondary.
Rubio’s Uzbekistan trip underlines Central Asia’s hunt for diverse partners"For Ukrainians, this is a war of survival – the survival of an independent nation."
Appeals to the shared value of national sovereignty and survival to justify Ukraine's position, framing the conflict in existential moral terms that resonate emotionally with readers.
Off the Record: Trump blames Zelenskyy to cover up his own mess"Storming a TV channel with a police raid at dawn and appointing a trustee is something only dictators do"
Uses shared democratic values—opposition to dictatorship—to frame the government's actions as morally illegitimate, appealing to the audience's commitment to democracy and freedom rather than focusing solely on legal or procedural critique.
Govt takes control of Turkey's most-watched news channel"return to the time-tested principle that lasting peace is secured through strength — not accommodation"
Invokes the value-laden concept of 'strength' as a moral and strategic virtue, positioning toughness as inherently righteous and framing accommodation as weak or dishonorable, thus justifying opposition to the waiver on ideological grounds.
Trump waives Russia-related sanctions before they kick in, prompting backlash from Ukraine and US lawmakers | CNNCommon questions
Is it manipulation for an article to appeal to shared values?
Not by itself. An argument that states a moral premise and reasons openly from it is a declared case. We flag the construction where the value arrives exactly where evidence should be, answering whether something will work with a statement about who we are.
What is the difference between this and flag waving?
What is invoked. An appeal to values names a principle such as security, family, or faith. Flag waving names a group and turns the question into a loyalty test. The two often appear together and we record them separately.
Do humanitarian appeals count as an appeal to values?
No. Appeals grounded in rights or humanitarian obligation on behalf of a population being harmed are not treated as this technique. The version we flag hardest is a value invoked to license the conduct under discussion.
Why do articles with an appeal to values not score higher?
They average 52.9 against a corpus average of 45.9 — above it, but by one of the narrowest margins of the 23 techniques we track, because value language is ordinary in political writing. It moves a score meaningfully only when it substitutes for a missing causal link.
Other Justification techniques
Check an article for appeal to values and 22 other techniques.
Analyze a URL