By utilizing the various elements of good propaganda, transmitting these messages through varied and useful outlets, and manipulating memory, when possible, one can take complete control over the ideas the target audience has in their minds ̶ ̶ the ideas upon which they make all their decisions, take all actions, and maintain all beliefs. By controlling ideas, one controls the individual. (Psychology and Modern Warfare)
Is it possible, as I have suggested so many times, that the beliefs the public holds concerning the political state of our nation are nothing more than perceptions? Manipulated beliefs formed by cleverly framed messages that not only come from state-controlled media, but through almost every medium of entertainment we expose ourselves to? Such a belief would be very hard to prove beyond any reasonable doubt; however, this is a conclusion that seems to be a genuine possibility when examining the written material concerning topics like behavioral manipulation, brainwashing, and political persuasion. Looking at the nation’s state, and how both Republicans and Democrats are so wrapped up in the narratives which drive their beliefs, it seems that Americans should at least consider the possibility. After all, Edward Bernays did say that “the purpose of propaganda is to mold the minds of the masses so that they will direct all of their efforts towards the desired ends of the shadow government, who use the powers of propaganda to gain approval from the people on issues, they may have at one time, disapproved of.” That one line alone should be enough to cause a people fiercely jealous of their God-given liberties to question everything. Yet, propaganda seems to be doing exactly that, getting people to accept what they otherwise wouldn’t.
How does all this work? Are all people susceptible to this type of mental manipulation? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is yes, most people are. It doesn’t matter what side of the political aisle you may be on, or how well you believe you are staying informed. Propaganda and behavioral manipulation are based on long-understood research concerning how the brain functions in response to messages that elicit certain reactions. They have been studying this for a very long time, to understand how to overcome barriers to compliance. The book, The Dynamics of Persuasion, defines compliance gaining as “any interaction in which a message source attempts to induce a target individual to perform some desired behavior that the target otherwise might not perform.” That is like Bernays’ description of propaganda. The book Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research also says something similar. “The purpose of the news media is to overcome the psychological barriers to change.” It is safe to assume that most readers would acknowledge that the media is at least biased towards either perspective and is working to frame the message to align your beliefs and attitudes with their narrative.
Much of this is verifiable just by observing the vitriolic nature of politics in America. Both sides of the political aisle are convinced beyond any doubt, that electing their candidate is necessary to save the country from the other candidate. This cycle repeats itself every four years, and every four years the American public plays along, despite the lessons they should have learned from the last election cycle. Both candidates represent the idea of getting the public to accept something they would not have otherwise. Kamal Harris was once the laughingstock of the Democrat party. The Democrats made her the nominee without a single vote being cast for her, something that should have enraged Democrat voters, yet they are one hundred percent behind her. At least, that is the perception the media wishes to portray. Republicans see and understand this but cannot see how they are being conned in the same way. Donald Trump was once a New York Democrat, but because he was running against Hillary Clinton and won, he became known as this great conservative. During his presidency, he expressed support for Red Flag Laws, lambasted Republicans for being too afraid of the NRA to pass meaningful gun reforms, took credit for fast-tracking a Covid vaccine that Republicans still oppose, and lost his re-election campaign to Joe Biden. Whether it was a legitimate loss, or the Democrats stole the election from him, doesn’t matter. Either situation makes him less than the ideal candidate. He failed to drain the swamp, yet this time Republicans expect him to succeed. Despite these facts, Republicans remain convinced, just like the Democrats, that they must vote for Trump to save us from Harris. They accomplish this with a constant stream of never-ending media meant to portray a certain perception. The left, for example, is convinced beyond any doubt that Donald Trump is a fascist. Not because of any objectionable research they have done, but because the media said so. The right will accept anything Trump says because Republicans perceive him as having saved the country from a potential Hillary Clinton presidency.
The first thing Americans need to do is understand what these researchers believe about the public. They do not look at us as intelligent independent thinkers, but as people who respond to the environment around them. They hold this belief because they see our reactions to their messages, and they understand very well how the processes of our brains work. The book, Psychology and Modern Warfare: Idea Management in Conflict and Competition describes the public as being very feminine in character, and devoid of sound reasoning logic able to differentiate between conflicting ideas. Rather, they view the public as children who are led from one idea to another. The authors use presidential campaigns as an example to describe how gullible people are, and how easily they can convince us to believe anything by saying about campaigns that “the blatant falsehoods successfully pass as facts on a mass scale simply because the receivers of the message have no existing understanding of what is being said, and are not exposed to any competing information given their tendency to refrain from performing any research.” The careful study of our behavior forms these beliefs. This is what they see, which means in large part, they are deliberately sending us misleading messages so that they can study our responses, and how it affects our perceptions.
Cass Sunstein said something similar in his book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health Wealth and Happiness. If you remember, Cass Sunstein was President Obama’s regulatory Czar. In 2015, President Obama released an executive order that used the behavioral sciences to direct the behavior and decision-making processes of the American people. Much of this executive order is based on the information provided in the book Nudge concerning people’s decision-making processes. Sunstein says that people are mindless and passive in their decision-making, and because they have no other frame of reference, will accept a question as it is framed and work to answer that question within the frame’s boundaries. He also says that people accept the boundaries set by how the issue is framed because they don’t know how to deal with the contradictions that come up when they think outside of the given box. This is very easy to see with President Trump and his position on guns. His supporters will not look at the facts and instead choose to believe he is a Second Amendment champion.
Taillard cites a study in Psychology and Modern Warfare showing that people believe the ideas they already have are more credible than they are. What that means is that people, over time, tend to forget where their ideas even come from and will believe things that were never true to begin with. The left believing Trump is a fascist, for example. The man was always a New York Democrat, but with the aid of the media, and the steady drumbeat of messages geared towards hating Trump, the average Democrat voter cannot break away from that idea. As funny as it is, it works the same on the right. The more the looney left hates him, the more unquestionable and superhero-like he becomes. Again, this is a point that Americans must understand. This type of propaganda is successful because people have shown an inability to be thorough researchers. Taillard states on page 23, (and he is speaking in terms of propaganda in textbooks, but the concept is the same) that proving a message to be propaganda is impossible except through original research, which he states, the average person is incapable of. In other words, they have no reason to believe the public is searching for the truth because they accept the narrative as it is presented to them. Trump is the conservative hero that must be elected to save us from the communist left, and vice versa on the other side.
A friend of mine once told me that the articles I write, and the academic way I write them, will do nothing to help the country. Sadly, he is right. People expose themselves to media outlets that reinforce, rather than challenge, their beliefs. That is the nature of propaganda, as messages that are built off preexisting knowledge, reinforcing the belief of the targeted audience, are the most effective in producing compliant behaviors. Americans need to shut off the media and take some time to study the topics of propaganda and persuasion, if for no other reason than to show the propagandists themselves, that we are not as gullible as they think we are. I agree with one premise for the election: our liberty is at stake, but it is at stake no matter who wins. We lose little bits of our liberty all the time, and they do it in a manner that is unnoticeable, and sometimes in a way that makes it seem like we agreed to it. The purpose of propaganda is to get us to accept what we would otherwise reject. I don’t think we, as freedom-loving Americans, should accept anything any politician does. We should, in the name of preserving our liberty, question everything.
