most ppl are following their state programming and (quite violently sometimes) shooting down anything that gives them cognitive dissonance about it
This is why I think I get such strong reactions from people I know who don't care that much about politics and even less about foreign policy when topics like Xinjiang or the DPRK come up and I try and explain what's really going on there. The US government has pumped out enough propaganda about those topics that if you accept that you are not being told the truth, it just creates a cascade of cognitive dissonance. If the US government openly lies about this stuff (and it's the entirety of the bureaucracy + both political parties), then what that implies is scary for most Americans.
The propaganda is a necessary component, but honestly I think the main ingredient is just chauvinism. Every baby leftist who talks shit about the US loves to do the "but it's worse over there in China/North Korea/whatever" dance because deep down people don't want to believe that they live in the evil empire, especially with the implications about where their livelihoods and everything they enjoy come from.
This is why I think I get such strong reactions from people I know who don't care that much about politics and even less about foreign policy when topics like Xinjiang or the DPRK come up and I try and explain what's really going on there. The US government has pumped out enough propaganda about those topics that if you accept that you are not being told the truth, it just creates a cascade of cognitive dissonance. If the US government openly lies about this stuff (and it's the entirety of the bureaucracy + both political parties), then what that implies is scary for most Americans.
The propaganda is a necessary component, but honestly I think the main ingredient is just chauvinism. Every baby leftist who talks shit about the US loves to do the "but it's worse over there in China/North Korea/whatever" dance because deep down people don't want to believe that they live in the evil empire, especially with the implications about where their livelihoods and everything they enjoy come from.
yeah i mean read the book i quoted if u wanna see it talked abt morr articulately its a great read but yeah its a Real Thing for sure