Every commercial you consume with a political platform was not presented to you by chance. There is a skill behind it designed to modify your behavior.
Understanding Advertisement for Propaganda.
Even when it comes to the “not so mundane” world of marketing, there is a lot of behavioral science to entice your impulse to buy or acquire a product or service. Yes, that is why there is an entire industry whose entire premise is to present something to you in a way that it becomes irresistible, or to elicit a specific response – which can even be looking away from it. I know, paradoxically THAT can sometimes be the intent.
For example, if you are a person who does not have a vast amount of disposable income, a very ornate package that goes well above your budget might not be as enticing if you somehow find that your environment gravitates to that particular shiny object. You know the trope, too many people spend money they don’t have to buy things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t even like.
Based on group mentality, the actual need for frugality or justified sense of opportune austerity will be overwritten – even if for a moment, and placing a person into actual unavoidable austerity. Example? Sure, a person who is broke, but goes out to party all night and spends north of $500 in alcohol just to regurgitate it all to a porcelain idol in a public restroom a few hours ago. Did that activity sound like a good investment of time when you’re broke?
However, at that moment – even if there were some second guesses through the night if this broke person should be partying and spending their rent money, might have sounded very swell – because of the company they were [hopefully] enjoying. With political propaganda it’s a similar principle, but a lot more complex and not so much on the nose as this example. That is why it is so effective.
They are manipulating your demographics.
If you forget anything I say later, remember this “target audience” – this is how political messaging will be directed for propagandistic purposes to a particular segment of the population. The difference with propaganda is that it is directly targeted to exploit your biases. They don’t even care if you’re for or against their political leanings – they just want to know if you will play ball or not.
If you do play along, great! They will find a way to make you feel like you are the smartest kid on the block and everything you interact with will somehow be magically agreeing with your version of “good” and demonizing the same version of “evil.” The bigger your bias, the higher the proclivity for obediently following whatever is it that the pretty talking head is telling you to believe – because everyone else seems to agree with what you’ve led to see as an empirical truth.
If you do not play along, well – too bad, because they will either make you the enemy, or discredit you outright. If you get inconvenient enough the character assassination attempts to you and anybody who agrees with you will follow. The good news is that when you’re speaking the truth it does not matter if or how somebody tries to skew it, the truth will always come to surface, even if it takes a while to filter itself all the way up to the top.
However, the higher the level of propaganda in the environment, the longer the truth will take to surface, or to even be taken seriously by the collective – even if it is in plain sight. Want another example? Controversial influencers saying something that is demonstrably wrong. You choose the topic, being science denial, cult-like behavior, divisive rhetoric, or a token dissident against their own demographics. All those will gain following and copycats will follow suit quite rapidly, but why? Because negative trends are easily assimilated and transmitted. Which is actually pretty sad, but it happens.
For example, it is a lot easier to make a mess in your domicile than to clean a mess at home. But if you’re keeping up with a proper balance then making a mess will not be normalized, and you will be more likely to police yourself before it gets unmanageable.
The same is true for propaganda, the more attention you pay to actual facts, and learn to distinguish from the noise and misinformation, the easier it will be for you to navigate yourself away from being bamboozled. Much like some people can spot a scam miles away, while others – the more vulnerable ones, will fall for a scam with very little resistance. HLC