Propaganda in Our Time

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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When propaganda is mentioned in casual conversation, we inevitably think of Hitler’s Germany or the Russian Soviet regime.

However, we do not realize that we are constantly exposed to propaganda. What could be more ironic than that?

Nowadays, unscrupulous companies use misleading advertising in an effort to sell their products and services, all under the name of the “almighty” profit at any cost.

This happens all the time in our daily lives, day and night, from social media ads to television shows. The very people we interact with are sometimes unwitting propagators of propaganda.

As we elect our representatives and determine the course of our nations, we are victims of misinformation and bias in relevant data due to political campaigns.

As if that were not enough, social media manipulates our perception and fake news generates confusion and divides us.

Many influencers are even used as instruments of advertising campaigns disguised as personal recommendations.

This is not a conspiracy, but rather a gradual degeneration that has been occurring for years and that affects us all.

We have become consumerist and gullible. There is no denying it. We live in an age where gullibility is greater than ever.

We mistakenly believe that in the past, under the rule of the Church or totalitarian regimes, we were more gullible and submissive.

In fact, today we are bombarded by information designed to implant other people’s ideas. Great marketers, and not so great ones, understand how to do it.

We do not realize that we adopt ideas and concepts because of our busyness in following fleeting pleasures and attending to inconsequential problems.

It is essential that we detect propaganda to protect our freedom of thought, prevent manipulation and encourage criticism and analysis.

We cannot spend our lives like sheep and expect significant change.

We need to verify sources and facts, seek out diverse information and be critical of the media. Or better yet, not consume it hoping to find enlightenment in every statement.

It is time to become aware and question the veracity and intention of the information we receive. It is our time to break the chains of credulity.

We must become skeptical and seek the truth. As Gautama Buddha said : “Do not believe anything simply because you have heard it. Believe only after you have analyzed and verified it.”

We need to become a society that is not motivated by economic interests so that we can trust what we consume and listen to.

To achieve this, we can support independent media and educate others about propaganda.

It is advisable to read books on critical thinking, such as “The Art of Argument” by Arthur Schopenhauer.

Let’s question what we hear.

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Okay. I’ve read your whole post. Thanks for posting.
Right now : no comment.

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Thank you for reading.

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Things like TV and Radio make propaganda many times more powerful.
For that i am sure. Culture was different before mass communication.

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Science, ruining all things human and sacred.
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Now that is what needs a great reset, not the little man/the individual, but humanity itself.

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Icompletely agree with you that mass media has significantly amplified the impact of propaganda. The widespread dissemination of information through television, radio, and now social media has made it easier for messages to reach a large audience and shape public opinion.
However, I’d like to take it a step further and suggest that it’s not just the medium itself, but also the intention behind the message that’s being conveyed. In other words, the motivations and goals of those creating and disseminating the propaganda are just as important as the medium used to spread it.
When we consider the intention behind propaganda, we can better understand the underlying dynamics at play.

Take care!

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I couldn’t agree more! It’s as if we’ve lost sight of what truly matters in our pursuit of progress and innovation. Science and technology have undoubtedly brought many benefits, but they’ve also led to a sense of disconnection from our humanity and the natural world

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“This is not a conspiracy, but rather a gradual degeneration that has been occurring for years and that affects us all.”

Yep.

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Yuri Bezmenov moments be like

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Then you realize the average person is too brainwashed, lazy, drugged and low IQ to even care about any of this stuff, even if you directly showed it to them. And that includes most of the users at ILP.

At which point you realize… yep, they won. We lost.

Living in a strangely zombie-ish society that resembles more and more a disgusting fake image and cheap copy of its former self, a decaying wasteland of debt and degeneracy and the increasingly slavish obedience-worship to supposed authority figures; where rights and freedoms are vanishing as fast as any sense of fiscal responsibility toward the future, where up is down and madness is called normal, it becomes easy to try and identify the cause of all this. But the cause(s) really don’t matter. At this point, identifying causes is not going to lead to any solutions.

People gave up. Sure they were made to give up, they were heavily propagandized and their psychology was directly exploited like a computer with a virus inside. But so what. Some of us saw what was happening and refused to participate… moral or intellectual integrity, a higher IQ, who knows why those relatively few of us didn’t allow our minds to become zombified and our souls to turn into goo.

Like Thomas Sowell said about poverty that it is a mindset, so too is slavery a mindset. And now sadly we will learn too that slavery is also much more than just a mindset. Because having a mindset like that inevitably leads to… real world consequences.

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HumAnize be like

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A case in point. What’s your source for that quote? As with Socrates and Jesus, Buddha left us nothing in writing. In Buddha’s case, his earliest alleged sayings were written centuries after he lived. How do we know it’s not ‘propaganda’?

Attributing sayings to charismatic figures like Einstein or Buddha lends credibility to them that facilitates acceptance. It’s a familiar rhetorical technique: the appeal to authority.In a post on propaganda it’s kind of ironic that you didn’t provide a source , isn’t it? Critical thinking demands that alleged quotes are sourced.

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Felix, according to the Pali Canon, Buddha went to Kesaputta. The people there were confused by the various conflicting teachings of several spiritual leaders. Then Buddha advised them not to accept teachings blindly but to investigate and experience them personally before accepting what is or isn’t true.

As for critical thinking, I admit proper quotation is important for ensuring accuracy, but critical thinking goes beyond that. It’s about deeper analysis in a reasoned manner. Peace out!

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At the risk of solipsism, what truly defies question? Who is incontrovertibly correct? What statement can escape criticism?

If I jump in the air, I will come back down, no doubt. The sun is most probable to rise tomorrow in an eastward direction and travel it’s expected course to the opposite. What other such firmly entrenched patterns have we to go upon?

The rise and fall of civilization, perhaps? The spread of evil among what was once recalled as good? Life is now, not past or present. Existence is for it’s own sake. What purpose lies in seeking the same? We were, are, and will be, regardless of the trauma inflicted by those who presume to know better.

Indeed, our current dilemma is due in large part to the common understanding of knowledge. We all think we know. We know what was, is, and will likely be, grounding our very lives upon this knowledge so as to engage in mortal combat with any detractor. It stuns me that those with the agreement of the “state” genuinely perceive themselves as having the advantage, as though the “state” is static and would never turn on it’s own.

No one escapes the accusation of perpetration, nearly all see themselves as the victim. But so long as we pursue unattainable ideals, we may yet be placated. Hope is a drug of hallucination. Reality, more often than not, makes itself known too late.

Good luck.

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Propaganda = marketing.
Another way of saying…the use of semiotics to manipulate the masses and exploit them using their anxieties and their needs/desires.

A good place to start is in defining words in ways that will seduce the average man.

Doolittle says there are three ways of control:
Coercion
Bribery
Seduction

The last two seem to be less costly.
Feminine method of manipulation.
The US has established an entire meritocratic system on seduction and bribery…leaving coercion as a last resort.
This constitutes its…sophistication…its progressiveness.

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The US has established an entire meritocratic system on seduction and bribery…leaving coercion as a last resort.
[/quote]

That’s the secret ingredient of hegemony! It avoids overt violence, but at the same time, justifies it by accepting one worldview as correct.

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The costs are not determined by the worldview.
If the US promotes and practices the idea that all races are social constructs and that all people are itnerchangeable…then this does not mean it is so.
The costs are forthcoming.

When the elites have repeated a lie for so long, and have succeeded in this way, begin to believe in their own lies…that’s when it all comes down.
Imagine a con-man who has successfully exploited others, using the same lies, until he forgets that he’s lying and believes in his own lies…
What will happen then?

What happens to a drug dealer when he becomes addicted to the drugs he sells?
What happens to a stage actor who begins to believe he actually is the part he is pretending to be?

This is the internal conflict in the US.
Between two factions of the same elite.
One, the majority, has begun to believe in the lies they used to become the elite…the other, the minority, has not.

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A worldview is not immune to nature.
The more its ideals contradict natural order, the less able to survive, it becomes.

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@Carleas ok, I take it back. I apologize. This loonie psycho larp satyr does not add any value to ILP.

I am sorry for saying otherwise. My bad.