i've been having some convos with for lack of better words, normies more recently again and i've had a string of people just have NO IDEA how many countries the US has either overthrown, attempted to overthrow or have influenced in some way. Usually it all starts from explaining how the US is inherently a very right wing country and always has been. i've talked to a lot of different people about shit kinda like this for years and it's kinda wearing me down how little anyone knows anything about so much shit the evil empire has done. like i actually feel like the Charlie Day always sunny conspiracy board meme sometimes just carrying on a conversation, referencing some events or whatever. idk if anyone else feels this way sometimes, i just felt like venting a bit cause it made me feel actually bad in a way that i especially didn't like and felt like, i guess, alone??
Media criticism is the key to this. :parenti-hands:
You can't win on facts, because they get to choose what facts they accept. You can't win on repetition, because you'll never be able to out-repeat everything they see in mass media. You can't win on emotion, because most people want to believe their country is at least trying to be good.
The only way to get people to see through this stuff themselves is media criticism. It's far enough removed from specific hot-button issues that you can get someone on board in the abstract first. You can get them to agree with stuff like "people who start a media career trying to challenge the company line either change their tune or get drummed out" without triggering deep anti-communist brainstorms. Then if they take to media criticism, they see it everywhere and you get them working towards the truth on their own.
Of course, getting someone to read a book/listen to a podcast/have a conversation about media criticism is itself a challenge. But it's a far smaller challenge than trying to win 100 simultaneous debates about U.S. history where the other party can simply reject whatever they don't want to hear.
Gotta disagree because one of my friends (who barely talks to me anymore) is a chomsky lib. He admits that America is bad and capitalism is bad but thinks socialism = concentration camps for all. He also comes from a wealthy white family and has said positive things about Jordan Peterson.