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 | 3,927 |
|---|---|
| Articles containing it | 3,507 |
| Share of all recorded techniques | 8.3% |
| Average manipulation score where present | 52.9 (corpus average 45.9) |
Outlets where we have recorded it most
| Outlet | Instances recorded |
|---|---|
| israelnationalnews.com | 341 |
| rt.com | 329 |
| aljazeera.com | 221 |
| ynetnews.com | 201 |
| dailywire.com | 192 |
Counts reflect the articles we have analyzed, which are not a representative sample of any outlet's output.
Recent examples
"Western-backed armed coup in Kiev"
Invokes negative associations with foreign interference and illegitimacy by emphasizing 'Western-backed,' framing the Ukrainian government as externally imposed rather than domestically legitimate. This appeals to anti-Western sentiment and national sovereignty values to undermine the legitimacy of Ukraine’s constitutional decisions, including its NATO aspirations.
Kiev used virtually all NATO tools against Russia – ex-top general"reflect on its history of aggression"
Invokes shared moral and historical values, particularly the imperative to acknowledge past wrongs, to pressure Japan and frame its current actions as ethically suspect.
Chinese defense spokesperson slams "China threat" rhetoric in Japan's new defense white paper"China is committed to peaceful development and a national defense policy that is defensive in nature."
Invokes the shared value of 'peaceful development' to justify China's military posture, positioning China as morally aligned with global peace norms without providing evidence specific to the current dispute.
China slams Japan's new defense white paper"The Trump Administration will always put the safety of the American people first, and that starts with removing criminal illegal aliens from our communities"
Invokes the shared value of public safety to justify deportation policies, linking immigration enforcement directly to national well-being. This frames the policy not just as legal enforcement but as a moral imperative rooted in protecting 'the American people.'
Exclusive: ICE Deports Illegals Convicted of Murder, Rape, Animal Abuse"Unsurprisingly, the deportations are providing tangible benefits for ordinary Americans."
The phrase 'ordinary Americans' appeals to a shared cultural value of representing the common, hardworking citizen, framing the policy as beneficial to the moral and social core of the nation. This justifies the deportation actions by aligning them with the well-being of a valued group without presenting direct causal evidence.
Trump Judges Turbocharge Deportation Orders"Israel and the US launched Operations Roaring Lion and Epic Fury on February 28, with the stated aim of creating conditions for regime change"
Invokes shared democratic values implicitly by framing military action under operation names like 'Roaring Lion' and 'Epic Fury,' which carry heroic and righteous connotations, aligning with narratives of moral clarity and strength. This naming convention appeals to values such as courage and justice, potentially justifying the operations without engaging with their controversial geopolitical implications.
Live Updates: Latest from Israel, Iran, and Middle East | The Jerusalem Post"a place that is supposed to be one of love, safety and security"
Invokes shared cultural values around the sanctity and safety of the home to elicit emotional resonance and moral condemnation of the attack.
Israel is not 'testing' its ceasefires. It's violating them"The factions understand the broader regional conflict. Their goal is to maintain communication, supply data on Israeli violations, and prevent Washington from providing a green light for Israel to completely destroy what remains of Gaza."
Invokes the shared value of resistance and survival by framing Palestinian actions as necessary to prevent total destruction, appealing to moral solidarity with the Palestinian cause as a justification for their diplomatic strategy.
Israel defies Trump’s peace plan as it escalates deadly attacks on GazaCommon 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.
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