When I was in school and learned about propaganda, I thought how do people believe in crazy lies. Like a Korean dictator having a divine birth, walking at 3 weeks of age, or not pooping. It is because propaganda works if that is all the info you have.
The degree to which those small early lessons will stick in their mind, much less something that’s ingrained in their heads every single day.
I think I get it now - if kids are hearing this stuff day in and out from the moment they can talk - that they absolutely could be convinced that Trump or Putin or Xi are some kind of divinity. Even when they later learn otherwise, there will be some kernel of that propaganda remaining in their head.
Some people reach a phase where they’re really ready to question these things, but I met plenty of people in college for whom that dissonance was just too unexpected and painful. They simply retreated into what they already identified with.
Propaganda works.
When I was in school and learned about propaganda, I thought how do people believe in crazy lies. Like a Korean dictator having a divine birth, walking at 3 weeks of age, or not pooping. It is because propaganda works if that is all the info you have.
This really hit me hard once I had a kid.
The degree to which those small early lessons will stick in their mind, much less something that’s ingrained in their heads every single day.
I think I get it now - if kids are hearing this stuff day in and out from the moment they can talk - that they absolutely could be convinced that Trump or Putin or Xi are some kind of divinity. Even when they later learn otherwise, there will be some kernel of that propaganda remaining in their head.
Some people reach a phase where they’re really ready to question these things, but I met plenty of people in college for whom that dissonance was just too unexpected and painful. They simply retreated into what they already identified with.