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So long as we treat propaganda as a ‘messaging problem’ as opposed to the systemic problem that it is, we are playing a game of whack-a-mole against an opposition that is playing a sophisticated game of reality manipulation. The masters of the game is the PR machine; the PR councilors and political consultants (same thing, different customer).
Humans are weak and vulnerable enough to be mentally manipulated into delusion; Humans are smart enough to figure out how to make this manipulation into a ‘science’. Humans are also smart enough to counter the manipulation -but we have to be realistic about what is happening to us and committed to action. ——— PR propaganda makes the facts disappear. I am thinking about what Ivy Lee did to the coal miners on behalf of JD Rockefeller: he created a public that looked down on unions and the rights of workers, and up to the ‘benevolent’ capitalist. ——— Every time we let propaganda be repeated unchallenged, we allow the propagandist control over the perception of reality. What initially looks outrageous, over time becomes normal.