Authoritarian Propaganda in the USA?

I am more and more worried about the increased levels of authoritarian propaganda in the USA, and around the world.  It’s happening and it is destructive!

Yes indeed, it pains my heart to tell you that Authoritarian Propaganda is indeed happening in the USA right now.  In fact, it has been ramping up for a while.  And no, the USA is not the only place where this is happening, this is a lot more widespread than most people realize.  But there is a reason why I keep talking about it.

 

Let’s be blunt – because it is reality.

This is the kind of stuff that keeps me awake at night and has been keeping me awake for several years.  Unsurprisingly, both my books speak about this topic almost exclusively.  Today I want to talk a bit more about why I am so adamant about these topics.

Every day I hear it not only in the mainstream media, but also through independent commentators, and a bunch of other experts that are not affiliated with any media outlets.  This authoritarian propaganda is not only happening, but it is ramping up and accelerating.  Before I continue, I want to make sure that it does not matter if a person leans to the left, right, of balances in the center – we are all vulnerable to fall in this trap.  What do I mean by that?

Simple, the larger the level of polarization, and the expanding of this “us against them” rhetoric – the worst it will get.  And the hardest truth is that negotiating these differences in a vociferous manner might seem like the right thing to do.  In fact, it will feel counterintuitive to do otherwise – even this overt dissent is done with good intentions.  But that division is exactly what fuels authoritarian propaganda.  The cold-hard-truth is that we are actually a lot more similar than different.

Case in point, I hear a lot left-leaning pundits, hosts, podcasters, youtubers, etc., express some choice words against so called “MAGA” Republicans.  To a sizable segment of them it would be counterintuitive not to comment clamorously about their political leanings.  But that course of action does not help.  If you are from a left-leaning world view, have you ever tried to talk to a “MAGA Republican” about Trump in a derogatory manner?  (Or challenge Trump’s many controversies in their presence for that matter) How well did that go?

And the fact is that for better or for worse MAGA Republicans will not entertain any dissent against Trump.  But insulting a MAGA Republican intelligence and/or feelings about their patriotism is not going to help either.  If anything, it might make it worse.  And no, I am not a MAGA Republican myself, but I have met quite a few and they are not (as people) bad people.  You could argue that the information given to them is not fulfilling the entire context of an issue (if it dissents with Trump), or that they don’t care to see other points of view outside their preferred information outlet sources (by their own admission, they might not find those credible in their view) – but that is a different issue.

Likewise, not every Democrat is a “Liberal” as stipulated by red-meat-eating-Republicans when using the “Liberal” as an epithet in a derogatory way.  And progressive does not equal communist.  True that some left-leaning folks would go overboard on some of their rhetoric every now and then.  But guess what?  Going overboard on political views happens all over the political spectrum as well.  Why?  Because this visceral response is not a political issue at its core, it is a people issue.  In the United States of America “Left and Right” are not as straight forward as most people think.  There are a lot of intricacies that have a lot in common between those two otherwise polarized segments.  Why? Because people are complex.

 

Pop Quiz, are you left or right leaning?  Let’s see how you do perceive the political support and inclinations on these questions I pose to you below.  Please don’t over think these questions, because a lot of propaganda can be inserted under any of these topics.  It is best if you feel this is something you would support or are against it – as person.  And by putting yourself in those shoes.

·       Should people have a living wage for their work?

·       Should people be able to defend themselves?

·       Should people have to pay only a fair share of taxes?

·       Should people be able to be proud of their heritage?

·       Should people have freedom of religion?

·       Should people have freedom to become the person they are meant to be?

·       Should people have to risk going bankrupt for routine or emergency medical care?

·       Should the laws of the land apply equally to all citizens?

·       Should people have a safe place to lay their heads at night?

·       Should people have enough food to sustain their health?

·       Should people be able to make consensual decisions as cognizant adults?

·       Should people be able to pursue goals that make them feel whole?

·       Should people be able to live in a safe community?

·       Should people be able to live without being discriminated against by the color of their skin, but rather be judged by the content of their character?

·       Should people be able to attain a level of education that helps them, and the country become better and more educated?

·       Should people be able to keep entitlement programs at retirement age after they have paid into these for their entire working lives?

·       Should people live in a country that has safe and decent public infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.).

·       Should people be able to afford dwellings without running the risk of becoming homeless because of cost of living and price hikes?

·       Should people be able to elect their leaders without having special interest groups deciding on their behalf by manipulating district demographics?

·       Should people have access to clean water and edible food in the richest country in the world?

·       Should people have viable options for energy without having to pay exorbitant amounts.

·       Should people be able to live in a country where inflation is controlled and not having to pay more for less?

·       Should America have more opportunities for manufacturing “made in USA” – that are not prohibitable or extremely expensive for consumers?

·       Should people have the right to choose what they do with their own bodies as cognizant and consensual adults?

I can go on, but I hope this makes the point.  Yes, those questions are open-ended.  But there is a much larger point to be made – and – a common denominator to all this.  The question was in essence if the interrogates I posed are left or right leaning questions.  Surprise – they are both left and right simultaneously!  I’ve been saying it for years, we are more similar than dissimilar.  The great majority of us want a better country for all of us – where we can be free!

For example, on my second question: “Should people be able to defend themselves?”  I am sure many eagled-eye politically savvy readers assessed this to be a second amendment right question, and for the right-wing segment assess that this is mostly a right-wing stance.  Particularly if “defend themselves” is congruent with owning guns, sometimes lots and lots of guns.  Well, sorry to burst that bubble, there is no shortage of left-leaning, liberals, and any other flavor of democrats that do have a lot of guns – and they love those guns too.

In other words, it is not only Right-Wing Republicans who own and love their guns.  There are plenty of Left-Wing Democrats who own them and love their guns too.  I will go on a limb and assess that both Republicans and Democrats are against mass shootings.  As they should.  And that goes in line with the question: “Should people be able to live in a safe community?”  And the answer should be unequivocally YES!

And the truth is that according to many scientifically evaluated polls, the majority of Americans ~81% in fact, want common sense gun regulation.  And no, that does not mean that somebody in the federal government is going to confiscate the guns, that is a propaganda point.  And unsurprisingly it will get people really frantic.  Don’t feel bad if you’re one of them, propaganda is designed to be visceral in nature.  That is why it is so effective and can go unnoticed.

In fact, propaganda could very well fish for your concurrence – but of course it leaves a lot of important contexts out of your decision-making process.  That is why it would become counterintuitive when actual facts get challenged.  It is designed to be that way.

And I just chose the second amendment as an example because that one seems to have a lot more traction on the propaganda world than other less on-the-nose issues.  But the truth is that a lot of these issues we very much agree upon are politicized and are driven by special groups who have something to win when we dissent.  And we do help them in that effort, even when we have good intentions.  And again, it is designed to be that way.

That is why I wrote these books “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools” and “WOKE & Proud The Charlatans’ Inconvenience,” in order illustrate this propagandistic process.  It is a sinister art form, and a game most of us won’t realize is being played upon us.

 

You can get the Book “AUTHORITARIAN & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools” following this link.

You can get the Book “WOKE & PROUD The Charlatans’ Inconvenience” following this link.

But once you understand the game rules, their propaganda power diminishes because everything that is otherwise jumbled up sticks like a sore thumb.  This is important because history is repeating itself, and it takes people to thwart an authoritarian from galvanizing power.  And the way they galvanize power is by spewing propaganda.

 

Authoritarian Propaganda in America.

Who can be a victim of propaganda?  Everybody!  No matter how smart we think we are, we all have blind spots.  However, by understanding context, the chances of being bamboozled diminish significantly.  Let me give you an example.

An illusionist (magician) will give you a pre-determinate perspective for you to see something that is out of context.  If you see what happens from the magician’s point of view, you will understand how the trick works.  Propaganda is the same way, but often a lot more subtle and complex in nature and scope.  This also happens in politics all the time.

But the difference is that sometimes the politician might be the prop being used by the illusionist. In fact, the illusionist (magician) in this case might not be on stage at all, but you only get to see the puppet show.  And to be brutally honest we have people in Capitol Hill who repeat adversarial regimes talking points verbatim!  Yes, I’ve said that before – it remains true.

Some of these politicians parroting propaganda points might be doing so intentionally, some might be too stupid to realize it.  And that means their staff are also either just as blind or as incompetent.  If you don’t believe me, you can always look at the news from adversarial regimes and look at their talking points discrediting America and see how many of those actually match what some politicians are saying – quite overtly I might add.

As I said, it does not matter if a person is a MAGA republican or a so called “Liberal” or anything in between.  An authoritarian and propagandist do not give a crap about your political stance, that is irrelevant in the great scheme of things.  They just need to understand your biases and see if you will do what they want you to do.  And yes, attacking each other is exactly what they want you to do!  Especially if these attacks become escalatory in nature – that’s both for rhetoric or if it evolves into action.  To include violent action.

That is the game.  Discredit each other to the point where communication seems futile, and starts dehumanizing the other side.  The reason why I am so adamant about this, is because after this happens, this otherwise “civil” yet escalating friction and tension accelerates exponentially once it reaches a critical point.  What is this point?  Well, that depends on several factors.  These could be cultural, political, religious, environmental, etc.  Each country and group of people are unique, that is why complacency can set in sometimes for years before it reaches that critical point.  At that point, it will be too late.

Many nations around the world have experienced this critical point.  And from there it is extremely hard to regain control.  I don’t know how else I can keep asking people to please help me share my message.  I’ve lived through it; I’ve seen it in action and I know how it goes and evolves.  History is repeating itself.  I’ve studied this phenomenon for years.  Please help me share this message.  That is why I wrote my books, because the topics are emergent.  And it is getting worse each day.

Unfortunately, there is a large segment of the population who seem oblivious to these facts.  I am trying to change that.  But I am just one random guy that started this journey with a small platform competing for attention in an oversaturated world.  I am grateful that my little platform is growing thanks to outlets such as CloseUp Radio, BookBaby, ReadersMagnet, who were the first ones to reach out to me.  And of course, to all my readers, I cannot thank you enough for my words.  That is why I have not been searching for a way to put ads on my site www.halflifecrisis.com, as this message is making its way out to the world, I don’t want special interest groups to dictate or redact the message I am trying to convey.

There is propaganda in America, and the rhetoric several politicians are spewing is driving us towards an authoritarian reality none of us are ready for.  But we can stop this threat together.  You have probably been reading, viewing, or listening to a lot more of that in today’s media.  I was already speaking about that for a few years already, and that is why I published my books as soon as I could.  I saw this very snipping of time coming – it will get much worse unless we thwart this game that is being played onto us.

 

The first step is gaining introspection to understand the reality surrounding us.

The second step is to understand the actual context of the issues that affect us all.  Finding the common ground, and realizing that we are more similar than different – despite our political leanings.

This stops propagandists on their tracks because their falsehoods will fall on deaf ears once they get uncovered.  Right now, their falsehoods are gaining a lot of traction via influencers, media personalities, politicians, social media algorithms, etc.  Yet facts are losing track, and in the end, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.  That is why I am so adamant about sharing this important message.

If for some reason you forget everything I just typed, please remember this: authoritarian propaganda is on the rise in America, and America for better or for worse is a highly influential country on the world-stage.  Hence this situation will engulf the planet probably sooner than later.  Thank you for taking this time to help me spread this important message.  I continue hearing a lot of media personalities talking about how signs of authoritarianism are growing in America, but I have not yet seen them provide an actual solution.

I intend to do my best to provide a viable solution through my writing – and it starts by providing a thorough understanding of how this vicious propagandistic game is being played.  I don’t for a second pretend to be the end-all-be all in this effort, but I can only hope these words will be instrumental in slowing this authoritarian rhetoric trend because of the vantage point I have been afforded.  I never take for granted the fact you’re reading my words today, and I want to thank you for being part of this solution by starting this conversation.  HLC

 

You can get the Book “AUTHORITARIAN & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools” following this link.

You can get the Book “WOKE & PROUD The Charlatans’ Inconvenience” following this link.