Thursday, January 28, 2021

How American Propaganda helps Russian Propaganda

Which kind of propaganda do you prefer, the Russian kind or the American kind? Since neither can be said to be the actual unbiased truth (the term "propaganda" is a dead giveaway) and since it seems important for you to know the actual unbiased truth (please tell me why) you may like neither. But it's one of those situations where you have to choose because telling the actual unvarnished truth in a sufficiently detailed and factual way would surely put you to sleep. By now I have learned how to keep an audience awake, and it's by telling a story—a narrative, if you will. And a story, to be interesting, has to have a main protagonist and one or more antagonists. That's just how our monkey brains are wired, so don't blame me!

Speaking of brains, American propaganda seems a bit brain-dead: it is sedative, somniferous, somnolent and stupefying (that's a poetic device called alliteration, by the way). Just look at these silly headlines (slightly edited for effect):

• "Evil Russian dictator poisons leading Russian opposition candidate with chemical weapon"

• "Evil Russian dictator arrests leading Russian opposition candidate"

• "Millions of Russians protest against arrest of leading Russian opposition candidate"

• "Americans ready to impose more sanctions on Russia for the poisoning and arrest of leading Russian opposition candidate to stop a German-Russian consortium from completing an economically necessary natural gas pipeline to Germany" (Oops! One of these things is not like the others!)

Please allow me to explain to you why this American propaganda onslaught is having the opposite of its intended effect.

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