this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
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Leopards Ate My Face
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I think that's a different question than the point I was trying to make. By all means, educating people as a way to "de-program" and shield them from propaganda is probably the most effective defense, followed by going after the propagandists themselves.
But however you go about trying to fix those systemic issues, it's important to remember that falling for propaganda isn't solely an individual failing. Intelligent and powerful people have been attacking education and unbiased news sources (among other things) for decades, precisely with the goal of making people more susceptible to their propaganda. Maybe they should know better, but a working class person, whose main focus is feeding and housing their family, is at a severe disadvantage in an information war.
All of this is very true. It's also worth noting that intelligent people are sometimes more susceptible to propaganda because they often have the ability to rationalize their decisions more cleanly and effectively than others, while remaining just as vulnerable to the hazard as anyone else.
Holding perpetrators of this system accountable is obviously a must if we want to truly better this situation, but deeming them beyond repair is walking a razorblade of a line that ultimately plays into the very same mentality that got us here to begin with. Imo, odds are real high that this kind of tribe mentality will be the choke point that ensures we never reach any desirable next step in our social evolution.
It is easy to see things through an absolutist lens, but rarely actually helpful. The real, living world takes place between the black and the white. Every single inch and ounce of it. Until we, as a species, figure that out and start acting accordingly, we will more likely than not continue on our death spiral.