Apparently my new special interest is propaganda.
I am fascinated but also not enjoying the things I have *already* realized.
I think maybe I can do something useful here. I'm going to read some fucking propaganda & talk about how to recognize it & guard yourself from it (and I WILL get to those Lego videos. So much to unpack. I just need to do actual work like transcribing & making notes on the videos before in-depth analysis is possible).
My bio describes me as an "aspiring propagandist" because I do consider some of what I do "propaganda". I try to provide compelling & persuasive narratives that convince people to think & act in certain ways. I am trying to reach people emotionally & use every tool I have to persuade them
I just happen to also be committed to not persuading anyone of anything I don't sincerely believe myself, & I try to continually educate myself & think carefully to be sure I'm not leading anyone astray.
I call what I do "propaganda" because I don't actually want to deceive anyone about what I am doing.
I *am* trying to appeal to you emotionally. I *am* trying to shape how you see the world. I *am* trying to encourage you to take action.
I don't fucking lie. I don't obfuscate the truth. But I will use every persuasive tool I can use *honestly* to convince people to see what I see. No shame in it.
But I'm dipping my toe into the real shit. The shit where they DON'T want you to know what they are doing.
And this is scary nasty stuff.
So hopefully I will be able to share some insights & knowledge while I work through it.
First tip for recognizing propaganda: before reading something that is supposedly factually informative about a topic you know little about—like a geopolitical situation you're not informed on—start by searching the person's name & see what else they've written & where they have worked.
If you're going to read a book on Iran by Daniel Kovalik & when you search him, you see he writes for RT & has defended Russia's invasion of Ukraine, you know you're in for some bullshit.
I don't think THIS specific book is probably too dangerous for lefties, but there is another book I'm going to be looking at by Medea Benjamin, & I think I may be able to get into what the dangers are for those of us in leftist spaces who are targeted by foreign propaganda from countries like China & Iran.
Hating the US Empire is totally reasonable. That doesn't mean that you can trust everyone pushing anti-America narratives. I'd hope it would be obvious, but I think there is real danger here.
I've always been a little dismissive of this topic, not that I didn't think it was important: I just wasn't sure it was important *for me*. None of us can know everything, so I pick my areas of focus just like we all do.
I got kind of hooked by those Iranian Lego propaganda videos though, & it disturbed me. Not that I wasn't watching critically, but I experienced the emotions in a way that seemed to bypass thinking almost entirely. So I kept watching to try to observe what is going on there.
Artemis
Brick Duck