It is so effective at whipping people into a frenzy. I saw a chart which showed how 5-6 years ago, most Americans had a positive/neutral opinion on China but now it’s 80%+ negative.
Look at the wars. Whenever the US is engaging in one, any dissenting opinion is so ruthlessly crushed. But after it, people act as if nothing happened at all. Just compare how Americans talk about the Iraq war today compared to when it occurred. Same with Afghanistan.
And I bet the same will happen with Ukraine. Right now, anything less than full support, with the goal of sending as much military supplies as needed is considered treasonous. But I know there will be a time when even libs will be act as if this war was just a tragedy etc.
It’s like the propaganda machine lives at a low level most of the time, and allows dissent, but when it needs to ramp up, it is able to do so extremely quickly and extremely well. And then it moves on to the next thing.
I fear that maybe “anti-capitalist ideologies” will follow the same path here. Right now, we’re just facing off the low level machine at the background because we aren’t a big threat. But the moment we become, or even threaten it, it’ll be a modern McCarthyism.
It’s scary to think about.
Roderic Day has some interesting thoughts about brainwashing. You might find it compelling. He thinks it's closer to just regular old bullying than anything else. It definitely seems like the propaganda machine is nearly supernatural at times, but (he argues) going along with it is often just the easiest and most advantageous (in the moment) thing for people in the imperial core to do.