markjacobI can't get over this New York Times headline saying Ron DeSantis is "building his brand" by wrecking public education in Florida. It reminds me of NYT’s first mention of Hitler in 1922, which claimed his anti-Semitism wasn’t “genuine” or “violent” but was just “bait” to attract followers. From 1922 to 2023, NYT is still covering fascists from a marketing perspective rather than a moral perspective.
Candace Cunningham, Ph.D.@markjacob I feel like even when these people say, “this is what I believe in” many media outlets refuse to believe them. I mean, what is that?!
Peat Bog@candace_n_c @markjacob
I don't know about 1930s fascists but modern ones have written about PR tricks designed to induce public disbelief, confusion, and paralysis. I'm thinking of Aleksandr Dugin and Vladislav Surkov. Both recommend that political leaders promote contradictory positions simultaneously. This forces a naive audience to resolve the contradiction by explaining away or denying a portion of the message.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladislav_Surkov
acm@candace_n_c The hubris of "it seems inconceivable to me that anyone could take it seriously, so..."