Propaganda...The Most Important Issue Before Us?

Or shall we continue to allow the young to be seduced and deceived by the masters of propaganda?

The Great American Propaganda Quiz- Part Four

Happy New Year-

If the  hustle and bustle of the holidays caused you to miss one of more reports on the state of propaganda understanding in the US, please follow the links below and take time to catch up. Here is a brief summary on the knowledge gaps exposed in the previous reports.

And finally, in this concluding report we'll tackle the most important question of all- how do we combat this juggernaut?

Summary

Part One: Who and What We are fighting

• Failing to understanding that propaganda requires large outlays of money usually well beyond the means of individuals

• Failing to recognize the incredible advantage organizational propaganda has over normal Americans

• Failing to recognize the dominance achieved when multiple entities work together to promote propaganda

• Failing to recognize the impact of the digital era which essentially formed an entirely new theater for the battlefield of ideas into which truth could again emerge and that would require new methods of propaganda for a new age. [Gorilla Warfare]

Part Two: Crozier (1911) Versus Propaganopoly

• Failing to appreciate the sophisticated methods being employed as early as 1911

• Failing to recognize that an alliance of government, corporations and newsmedia creates a propaganda monopoly - an entity we termed "propaganopoly" - the greatest monopoly of all

Part Three: Have We Passed the Inflection Point?

• Failure to understand the historical record of propaganda usage in this country

• Failure to contend with the real contradiction of massive propaganda being disseminated in a supposed constitutional republic and what that effectively means

• Agreement with the danger that a monopoly of narratives imposes on the system

• Agreement that misuse of language is one of the first signs of tyranny

• Did you miss the death of your own country?

Importance

Having addressed more specifically what propaganda is and who is using it as well as its relationship to a free society, we turn now to the thorny issue of how the problem should be addressed.

Let's first consider a question about priority as there are many issues confronting society at the moment.

Importance of the topic

• Propaganda is the most pressing issue in the United States (32% Strongly Agree, 42% Agree, 16% neutral, 9% Disagree, 2% Strongly Disagree) 

74% of respondents agreed that propaganda is the most pressing issue in the United States. We must consider this sample somewhat or even highly biased because the sample was taken from those within the medical freedom movement who self-selected to take a quiz on propaganda. With that in mind,  11% still broke ranks  so to speak and disagreed with elevating it the to top of the problem list.

There is of course plenty of room for discussion, but to my thinking, if people can see the overreaching propaganda which at its essence is centered on mis-defining the crucial problems that society should be solving at any moment, we are much nearer to discussing the REAL problems plaguing the nation.

One of the main purposes of the MSM is to keep our attention away from what is truly ailing us. Instead they advance narratives corresponding to  pseudo-problems, flood the airways with attention grabbing headlines and divert our gaze from the actual torpedo heading for the boat. I call them treasonous tribal elders for a reason. Trying to attack and solve the true problems when we haven't punctured the "pseudo-problem" manufacturing juggernaut seems like putting the cart before the horse.

Confidence

Confidence to recognize propaganda and explain how it works was assessed in the next two questions.

Self-efficacy of detection and ability to explain how it works

• I can easily recognize propaganda when I see it (14% Strongly, 38% Agree, 25% Neutral, 19% Disagree, 3% Strongly Disagree

• I feel confident I know how propaganda works to influence opinion and could explain it to others (12% Strongly Agree 43%  Agree, 28% Neutral, 15% Disagree 1% Strongly Disagree)  

Unfortunately, 22% lacked confidence they could recognize propaganda and 25% answered neutral, which is over 50% who admit to having a need in this area. Unsurprisingly, similar numbers are found in the companion question with only about half the population feeling confident they know how it works and could explain it. And remember this is a group that is essentially red-pilled. It is clear that we have a lot of work to do to facilitate a clearer understanding of one of the most important problems of the century.

Combatting Propaganda

And finally, let's consider the two questions on whether logic and reason protect against propaganda.

Ways to Combat Propaganda Personally

• Many of our settled beliefs are not based on facts (39% Strongly Agree, 7% Agree, 3% neutral, 1% Disagree, 49% Strongly Disagree ) 

The answers to this question were split quite evenly between those who believe many settled beliefs are based on facts (50%) and those who disagree (46%). To expound on this more generally, I have to refer to a portion of my book where I explain something I call the Infrastructure of Belief, or IOB.

The IOB is a brilliant advantage in close knit societies of men where integrity predominates. It enables individuals to take shortcuts to knowledge that otherwise would require lengthy inquiry for each individual seeking out the truth of a matter on their own.  People lean on their "experience," "experts" and "what others are saying and doing" generally before they inquire deeply into a subject. This enables them to build on the work that trusted others have performed allowing society to rapidly rise to new heights without re-creating the wheel. Culture and language form implicit biases from which men make up their minds and are important almost subconscious determinants to the framing of topics and the distillation of inherited wisdom. Please refer to the fifth chapter of my book One Idea to Rule Them All: Reverse Engineering American Propaganda for more information.

Cultures of integrity that can readily lean on the "Trusts"  have a powerful cultural advantage but they become a dangerous liability when unbeknownst to the average joe they are manipulated through  technology and a perverse media cartel owned by the rich and powerful.  And therein lies the problem, those who do not understand that these "Trusts" are hackable go on relying on them as if the culture still has integrity.

Logic and reason do nothing to protect one from being manipulated through "Trusts." It's like saying that logic and reason can protect you from being blindsided by a cheating spouse.  The implicit trust given to the spouse is the very reason it is so hard to come to terms with a betrayal of this nature. And betrayal is the exact term to describe what is going on with propaganda in a "free society" and the very reason why some of the smartest people you known fail miserably when it comes to seeing through the deception.

Logic and reason were endorsed as providing strong protection against propaganda by a margin of 3 to 1, demonstrating yet another point of emphasis needed in a quality propaganda training program.

• Do logic and reason protect you from the influence of propaganda? (37% Best Protection, 21% Strongly Protects, 22% Modestly Protects,  12% slightly Protects, 8% Does not protect at all)

The historical failure of the Institute of Propaganda Analysis an entity that focused on logic and reason as an antidote to propaganda and the lamentable consequence of their material being codified and replicated in the public school systems for more than 50 years is a reminder that ill-defined constructs and poor theoretical models have consequences. It's high time we had a 21st century propaganda education that is equal to the sophistication currently being deployed.

The final two questions dealt with how to combat propaganda from a social rather than personal perspective. The advocacy of censorship and a K-12 Media Literacy program are solutions frequently floated in the media but in reality are nothing more than curveballs thrown by the propagandists themselves.

Ways to combat propaganda Socially

• Censorship is necessary to stop the spread of propaganda (68% Strongly Disagree, 23% Disagree, 3% Neutral, 1% Agree, 4% Strongly Agree)

• A recent legislative agenda to fund media literacy programs K-12 throughout the United States will be beneficial in stopping the spread of propaganda (4% Strongly Agree, 9% Agree, 24% neutral, 30% Disagree, 33% Strongly Disagree )

Fortunately,  91% of respondents understood that censorship can't ever be the answer to propaganda in a free society.  But the fact that almost 10% could not grasp that concept is cause for concern.

On the issue of Media literacy it was evident that better education is needed. 63% of respondents understood the danger that Media Literacy poses,  24% remained neutral, likely being uninformed on the topic and 13% erroneously thought it was a promising response to counter propaganda when in fact it is a comprehensive legislative agenda to ensconce the legacy media as the official source of truth via blatant indoctrination starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school.

It is the establishments attempt to forever marginalize counter narratives by prejudicing people against information arising outside what they deem... "authoritative sources." Far from being positive, such an effort will grant us the privilege of paying for the very indoctrination that will lead to instinctive and reflexive distrust of organic truth in future generations, moving us further away from the freedom we desire.

Discussion

In 1894 Tolstoy wrote,

"The most difficult subject can be explained to the most slow-witted man, if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of a doubt, what is laid before him." [1]

This insight seems to get to the heart of the matter of our battle against the propagandists. After more than 100 years of relying on the news for information about the world, people are sure that vast corruption of this institution couldn't possible have taken place right under their noses, without their knowledge. 

Convincing them otherwise is nearly impossible without an experience that jars.

Experience, the raw stuff of life, rises up at times spilling over dearly held models and theories of life, smashing them to bits; giving way to questions. The model's failure to account for what is witnessed with the eyes is the time when are friends and neighbors need help building a different model that accounts for the startling new data.

We can thank covid for snapping millions out of the induced coma of propaganda and making plenty more as wary as ever of the MSM.

The time is ripe for raising awareness of propaganda history and calling attention to accurate yet simple models of the techniques expertly deployed to deceive and dismantle western society.

Summary

Being able to identify propaganda, to untangle the lies and deception with which the world is packaged today is a critical skill, perhaps even the foremost foundational skill needed in today's society. Blind sheep do dumb things, tragic things and even murderous things. To this end, we the red-pilled must do better to educate ourselves and children. If not us, than who? Who is going to perform this neglected task? We have been waiting one hundred years?

There is much more can and needs to be done. If you are interested in helping to educate others. Please join us for the Smartsheepe Challenge. Explore the history of American propaganda with others and be part of the solution. We need everybody on deck. It's not like the propagandists are going to step up and expose their methods. ;)

[1] The Kingdom of God is Within You,  Tolstoy p. 32.