It is very easy to fall into the authoritarian’s propagandistic trap, it is designed to be easily assimilated. If you’ve fallen for it this will help you escape.
Propaganda is designed to make you an obedient fool.
In my book Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools, I go in detail about how this works, and how to defeat authoritarian propaganda. It takes people, and by people it means everybody, and by everybody it means it starts with ourselves. Yes, we can be the catalyst that will make it better or worse for everybody.
I wish I was being hyperbolic, but the fact is that some of the most dehumanizing authoritarian monsters in history were not very remarkable themselves until they got enough traction because others had certain exploitable biases, and from there these obedient fools became the muscle to impose whatever is it that these authoritarians were advocating for. What is it that they were advocating for? It did not quite matter, so long as it was against whomever or whatever they said they were against.
In every society people are going to be frustrated by something. And this anger is largely irrelevant in the great scheme of things, but it will be crucial to convince people that they are on the winning team. They are actually not in the winning team (all authoritarians ended powerless), but they are convinced that their “sacrifices” – of sacrificing others in dehumanizing ways is actually a justifiable move. This is also happening around the world as you’re reading my words.
You’re actually disposable to them, but your rage becomes their currency.
Authoritarians will be posing as unifiers towards whatever group of chosen ones are playing ball along with the authoritarian – and will be extremely divisive towards anybody who was deemed outside this “exclusive circle.” It is designed to be that way, they want you to see others as lesser human, or even rob them of all humanity, and also the propagandists will make you fear this dissenting group – while portraying them as weaker.
So, anybody with common sense would ask, which one is it? Are they weak, or are they a menace? Well, the enemy is actually the one advocating for divisiveness, because they want you to protect the leader, even if you sacrifice yourself – because now this dear leader becomes symbolic of whatever is it that you’re convinced it is the moral superior end-state – even if the dear leader advocates for crimes against humanity.
We’ve all fallen for a similar (hopefully not genocidal) trap at some point. Think for example while in school picking on the weaker kid, or any outsider. Fortunately, most people grow up from that immature phase and become decent to other people in their lives. But that is not the case for everybody. Propagandists don’t want you to mature, they want you to “feel like a grown up” – but they are keeping you subdued.
The trick is that the way they subdue you is by moving that hate and resentment towards other people. The victims become scape goats for any shortcomings. And shortcomings will abound, because authoritarians are not running a utopia, they are enslaving your obedience, and the moment you wake up they will push you away from the circle of trust before you realize what just hit you.
Authoritarian propaganda is designed to be that way. How do you escape from that? Don’t be divisive, understand the context so you can separate facts from fiction. If you forget anything I’ve said, remember this – understand the full context, and realize why a narrative is being directed towards your anger. HLC