You are the Problem

You manufacture media lies

Contrary to what Chomsky thinks propaganda does not “manufacture” consent – it merely affirms (your) existing bias.

 In the very beginning, when I started this blog, I pointed out that “propaganda” -- aka , “advertising”, “public relations” or “public diplomacy”—rarely “persuades” in the sense that most people assume.   

All Persuasion is Hypnotic

Think:   hypnosis.  Nobody can hypnotize anyone else without their consent or force them to do anything that contradicts your basic values – there is always a part of you that knows what is going on. 

Misinformation?   What if the government lies to you?  What if the media lie?  Doesn’t control of information mean control of public perception ?  

No.  Because such control is difficult, if not impossible -- especially in the age of the Internet.  Back in Pre-Internet days?...

Media Control?

People talked then.  And they still do.

Real control can be seen only in family and friends -- and usually not just there either.  You grow up with certain assumptions and preconceptions that condition everything else.  And some of these "mental frames" (as George Lakoff would have it) are centuries old.

Our brains are set up for deception.  We all lie. The biggest lie being the concept of Self --whose contradictions we are always aware of.

Lies make social interaction possible

Makeup is a lie.  A pushup bra' is a lie.  A shirt and tie are a lie.  

That said, social life also  demands that we read between the lines -- that we detect the lies of others and the effects our lies have on them -- so reality doesn't come and hit us over the head.   

Media lies are a lot easier to handle the lies of Mommy and Daddy, where we have an emotional investment.

The truth always comes out -- but do you care?

In any case, media lies are inevitably exposed.  A   Remember the Gulf of Tonkin?   Those elusive WMDs in the Iraq War?  Syria’s supposed use of sarin gas, more recently?   Russian “aggression” in the Ukraine?  Sometimes it takes a long time -- but, in the end, we find out.  

In the 19th Century, white people all knew that the "redskins" were "savages".  "The only good Indian is a dead one". And so on.  Nowadays, we have a different understanding of events -- not that that changes the way we treat Native Americans.  Old habits, like genocide,  die hard.   

Facts and truth and right and wrong have little to do with what we want to believe.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary,  for example, Trump’s core supporters believe Climate Change is a hoax.   It is easy to understand why they think so -- the Government takes about Climate Change as an impending cataclysm while supporting Big Oil, fracking and oil pipelines.  The science is not a hoax -- but liberal "initiatives" certainly are.

Coming soon:  Trump will fix the weather

Trump probably disagrees since a lot of his properties are built on the ocean – but he is not going to say anything that alienates his “base”.   Not now, anyway. Later he may address "climate change" but call it something else. "Climate disruption". After all, he stands to lose money if he doesn't.

If he becomes president,  Trump will have destroyed the Democratic Establishment-- and will command a different "base".  

The media?  Ummm... me?

We are whores.  We deliver  what people want.  We tells you what you want to hear.  That’s how we make money.

The government does what people want—that’s how it stays in power.  Oh, for an honest whore!

No, people are not sheeple!

Me and My Friends

We are more like monkeys.  Lazy, resistant to any change, which might mean work.

We get the world that we want.