Propaganda, Teach Your Children Well…

---

Obey... Image from Pixabay

---

In yesterday’s article I discussed how propaganda affects American citizens, and that the Propagandist has been busy at work since the early 20th Century. And, I also stated that unless, a person born in this Country never read newspapers, magazines, or books and never listened to the radio or TV, or never searched the Internet… and never attended schools, or went to church… never shopped for goods and services… then and only then, could they maybe escape those devices of propaganda delivery… The only problem is, that person would also have to be a near complete hermit living off the land and with no needs from Civilization, to stay unaffected by propaganda. But, if the hermit needed supplies, it would be hard to not be affected by all those he came in contact with, and their propagandists programming… Upon entering Civilization how long would it be, before our intrepid hermit came into the hearing range of some kind of commentary pushing someone’s agenda?

As a child we are exposed to our parent’s teachings. They hopefully teach us the basics of human life and social interaction. But, the child is also absorbing the loves and hates, the likes and dislikes, and which things and people that the parents are ambivalent to, or have strong opinions for, or against. The child takes in the family’s origin stories, and may try to follow the parents religious faith. They learn and listen to the parents and take in many of their attitudes and beliefs... good and bad… Sometimes without directly meaning to, the parents also teach the things that they hate, and while those hatreds may be small, or large... and mixed with some nearly benign attitudes, there can be other beliefs that are cancerous. From the mild dislikes, to the grossest of bigotries of the parent, all have great potential to become seamlessly passed on to a child willing to please. But, we can’t really blame the parents too much, they're just passing down the family programming...

If a parent teaches the child, overtly or subtly, their attitudes and their views about the world, religious practices, family views on politics and nationalism, parental views about different races and cultures… then for many people their family’s belief systems become as their own.

Of course, there are those children that rebel against a great deal, or every one, of their parents beliefs, but what do they fill those voids with? With their education, both formal and self-taught? Maybe they take on a friend’s, or lover’s life view? Or, maybe they retreat to suckling on the teats of the electronic-verse and become self-taught through the language of memes?

No matter where a person turns, propaganda of some form, or other is there to greet them. Propaganda rarely comes in the form of Marching Bands and banners… it doesn’t have to come from the lips of a politician, a pundit, a celebrity or a college professor to be effective... by its very nature it is all around us, and that is why it is so effective... any time we’re out and about, or just turn to a screen in our homes… we are faced by a world that is designed and constructed to elicit some kind of reaction from us… ultimately, propaganda is about control... and it never stops trying... it never tires... it repeats over, and over... constantly exhorting us to obey the meme... be afraid, be distracted, be isolated... go to work and consume... go to sleep...

Some of the best Propaganda is subtle and quiet. Think of it like the difference between a virus and a baseball bat. Both will lay you low, but the virus does its work slowly and starts small and then you're really sick… whereas… well… baseball bats will flat mess you up in a hurry…

Before I end this idea today, I need to explain that I don’t think there’s all that much difference between Propaganda – Marketing and Advertising – and Public Relations. Each practitioner of those different disciplines will strenuously object to that analysis, but most laymen don’t see the difference, and even though I know specifically what those differences are – in essence the Marketing and PR disciplines branch from the same root… Propaganda… all of those disciplines are intensely interested controlling their audiences, and will stop at little to get the consumer to obey... sometimes going beyond the limits set by law...

when we were children our parents, or extended family, or guardians attempted to raise us as good citizens. They tried to teach us the attitudes, beliefs and the mores of the society we lived in. If their teachings came from their ancestors, and that previous society was also controlled by the Propagandist… is it any surprise that we wouldn’t be children of Propaganda as well?