Eh, I've grown a lot less sympathetic to people who "fall" for propaganda as of late. It's the digital age, there's sources barely outside of the mainstream that give you better info if you have the most minimal of curiosity and skepticism. A lot of propaganda these days is so fucking lazy and obviously bullshit that I don't really think people are so much "falling" for it as "buying in" to it. They want this shit to be true cuz it does/they think it does benefit them.
It's the water you swim in, unless you have either curiosity or material discomfort (which for americans is like 30-40 % of people). Why would some average lawyer or machinist look into alternative info, while they comfortably live on 60 k in some small town.
Yeah but a lot of that 30-40% still fall hook, line and sinker for this shit.
Honestly I think cheap treats, (barely) functional infrastructure and the internet do a lot to cool the anger of even the poorest of the poor. The czars would probably still be in power in feudal Russia had McDonald's, Instagram and like 50% more paved roads.
McDonald's is getting more expensive tho so maybe change is on the horizon.
As much as I dig Lenin I've never cared for that quote. There's been plenty of places where people went without way more than three meals and didn't have a revolution.
Look up stats on levels of adult literacy in the US or in the west more broadly. Critical reading of material, the kind of thing necessary to recognize and internally refute propaganda, is a skill that well under 10% of people have.
Okay, people bring this up a lot, but I'm curious, who are we comparing the US to here? Yes the US public education system sucks ass compared with other first world nations, but a lot of first world nations are going through their own far right anti-immigration brainworms rn, some worse than the US so idk if this can be blamed on public education being shit. Also as bad as it is I don't think it can be argued that US public education is worse can a lot of developing countries, many of which just straight up don't have it at all.
So what is US education in a weird place where it's just good enough to make you smart enough to embrace your brain worms but not good enough to lead you to challenge them? That's the only explanation I can muster.
I'm not comparing the US school system to anything, just saying that the vast majority of people do not have the level of literacy skills necessary to recognize propaganda and deprogram themselves. Literacy isn't the only method of recognizing propaganda and deprogramming oneself, but it is a pretty darned important one in an atomized society where there all institutional pressure is working in favour of propaganda. My point is that the 30-40% estimate earlier in the thread is uncharitable to people.
Okay, I just see people attributing it to poor education a lot when... like the two most successful communist revolutions ever happened in countries where most people were illiterate peasants who thought the Czar/Emperor was ordained by God? Idk, as dumb as burgerbrains are I kinda thing a person who can read and has an internet connection should be a bit more capable than a cabbage farmer who can't count past 10
Eh, I've grown a lot less sympathetic to people who "fall" for propaganda as of late. It's the digital age, there's sources barely outside of the mainstream that give you better info if you have the most minimal of curiosity and skepticism. A lot of propaganda these days is so fucking lazy and obviously bullshit that I don't really think people are so much "falling" for it as "buying in" to it. They want this shit to be true cuz it does/they think it does benefit them.
It's the water you swim in, unless you have either curiosity or material discomfort (which for americans is like 30-40 % of people). Why would some average lawyer or machinist look into alternative info, while they comfortably live on 60 k in some small town.
Yeah but a lot of that 30-40% still fall hook, line and sinker for this shit.
Honestly I think cheap treats, (barely) functional infrastructure and the internet do a lot to cool the anger of even the poorest of the poor. The czars would probably still be in power in feudal Russia had McDonald's, Instagram and like 50% more paved roads.
McDonald's is getting more expensive tho so maybe change is on the horizon.
As Lenin said, every country is only three unhappy meals away from a revolution.
Sadly, also one Pizza Hut away from counter-revolution.
As much as I dig Lenin I've never cared for that quote. There's been plenty of places where people went without way more than three meals and didn't have a revolution.
Look up stats on levels of adult literacy in the US or in the west more broadly. Critical reading of material, the kind of thing necessary to recognize and internally refute propaganda, is a skill that well under 10% of people have.
Okay, people bring this up a lot, but I'm curious, who are we comparing the US to here? Yes the US public education system sucks ass compared with other first world nations, but a lot of first world nations are going through their own far right anti-immigration brainworms rn, some worse than the US so idk if this can be blamed on public education being shit. Also as bad as it is I don't think it can be argued that US public education is worse can a lot of developing countries, many of which just straight up don't have it at all.
So what is US education in a weird place where it's just good enough to make you smart enough to embrace your brain worms but not good enough to lead you to challenge them? That's the only explanation I can muster.
I'm not comparing the US school system to anything, just saying that the vast majority of people do not have the level of literacy skills necessary to recognize propaganda and deprogram themselves. Literacy isn't the only method of recognizing propaganda and deprogramming oneself, but it is a pretty darned important one in an atomized society where there all institutional pressure is working in favour of propaganda. My point is that the 30-40% estimate earlier in the thread is uncharitable to people.
Okay, I just see people attributing it to poor education a lot when... like the two most successful communist revolutions ever happened in countries where most people were illiterate peasants who thought the Czar/Emperor was ordained by God? Idk, as dumb as burgerbrains are I kinda thing a person who can read and has an internet connection should be a bit more capable than a cabbage farmer who can't count past 10