Have We Passed the Point at Which the Volume of Propaganda has Destroyed a Constitutional Republic That Can Only Thrive on Truth?
The Great American Propaganda Quiz Results-Part Three: The Relationship of Propaganda to a Free Society
Sounds boring, right? Ho… hum, you think, of course I KNOW those things don’t go together. BUT, can you explain their relationship to your son or daughter? The next door neighbor? Your co-worker? And most importantly can you answer the lead question in the title? Have we passed the inflection point?
Right, well stick with the article and let’s explore the idea in more detail. Additionally, you’ll have a great way to get into an easy discussion with virtually anyone and have fun doing it while transmitting knowledge.
Here we go..
Let’s start with the results of the Quiz by briefly analyzing five questions that pertain to our topic.
Relationship to a free society
Can Propaganda co-exist with Democracy? (55% Disagree; 34% Strongly)
The use of propaganda in a constitutional republic will inevitably lead to its demise. (90% Agree; 61% Strongly) for James' quiz.
A monopoly of narratives that could control the free marketplace of ideas would be one of the most powerful monopolies on earth. (97% Agree; 78% Strongly)
Misuse of language to manipulate people is one of the first signs of tyranny. (97% Agree; 67% Strongly)
How long has propaganda been a threat in America?
Americans have been the target of propaganda consistently since the early 1900's? (98% Agree; 73% Strongly)
Overwhelmingly, participants of the medical freedom movement endorsed the idea that American's have been subject to propaganda since the early 1900's.
This belief helps to explain the ambivalence noted in the following questions. "Can Propaganda co-exist with Democracy?" which participants found vague and difficult to answer was eventually changed to "The use of propaganda in a constitutional republic will inevitably lead to its demise." While 90% of respondents agreed, only 61% strongly agreed and a surprising 10% disagreed.
The benefit in looking at these three questions grouped together is that you can clearly see the struggle between two somewhat contradictory ideas.
One, that propaganda has been actively used in American for well over one hundred years according to participants themselves and two, we still appear to have a working democracy/constitutional republic. People who hold both of these opinions are forced to admit that propaganda and a constitutional republic can co-exist, hence the conundrum.
My guess is that the majority of Americans would reflexively say that propaganda does not go hand-in-hand with a free society, after all we have been taught since grade school that communist countries use propaganda on their citizens but that does NOT occur in America. We have a free press and our ideas about the world are our very own.
But a good portion of the respondents are forced into admitting that ...Oh my gosh! They can co-exist or at least they have... seemingly. And this is where the real deception lies. The phenomenon we are looking at is DINO or Democracy in Name Only (All you purists please relax CRINO doesn't sound half as good)
WHAT THE HECK?
It would be silly to suggest that the moment propaganda is used on American soil you lose the republic. However, they are inversely proportional, which means that as propaganda increases, the chances that you are experiencing a working constitutional republic are going down by some proportion. Here is a schematic representation of that idea.
Inverse Relationship Between a Constitutional Republic and Presence of Propaganda
While this may seem somewhat obvious, what isn't obvious is what the actual slope of the lines would be, the exact inflection point, and whether or not we have passed the inflection point.
Indeed, I argue in my book that we passed the inflection point by a long shot. Below is a chart from my book, One Idea To Rule Them All: Reverse Engineering American Propaganda. Understanding the progression and increasing sophistication of propaganda through the time-period will help you make better assessments regarding whether the constitutional republic you are witnessing is more illusion than reality.
From One Idea to Rule Them All: Reverse Engineering American Propaganda
To the average person, my claim that control of the United States by nefarious forces was more or less established around the time of the Kennedy assassination is surprising, simply because they do not know the real history of propaganda in American starting at the turn of the 19th century. They are much more likely to claim that we are approaching the inflection point now, which is a critical error of judgment. If you are blinded by the illusion of democracy being played out in our virtual universe, you have an aging map of the world that will not serve you well in the coming crises.
My previous post, Crozier vs propaganopoly is a great place to start as I lay out the extensive apparatus of propaganda being used in 1911 and of course for even more detail, One Idea To Rule Them All: Reverse Engineering American Propaganda. If beliefs are being manipulated on a daily basis, the facts to make valid decisions about the world are unavailable to you and I and everything we hold dear about a constitutional republic becomes suspect.
Just try this experiment at the next party you attend. Pull out the chart above and ask people, "Does propaganda exists in this country?" They are very likely to answer yes. Then ask, "Is propaganda compatible with a constitutional republic? If they say no, then ask them if we are past the point of a functioning republic?
Oh, what fun you'll have. Go team! Have Crozier's story handy and away you go.
Monopoly of Narratives
The final two questions follow along the same lines. Both have 97% overall agreement with 78% of people strongly agreeing that a monopoly of narratives would be one of the most powerful monopolies on earth.
A monopoly of narratives that could control the free marketplace of ideas would be one of the most powerful monopolies on earth. (97% Agree; 78% Strongly)
Misuse of language to manipulate people is one of the first signs of tyranny (97% Agree; 67% Strongly)
A narrative is a story that defines and frames problems to the citizens of a nation, and to a larger international audience. To have a monopoly of narratives, or the ability to frame what people believe is true about the world is to have a vast power. These stories start wars, destroy countries, deface cultures, define enemies and much, much more.
But most importantly they define the problems. With only so much space available to call attention to important problems, the Newsmedia, esentially function as tribal elders stewarding and safeguarding the future by highlighting critical issues for the people and providing focus on the solutions.
If the Newsmedia are highlighting issues that only a small minority want solved, they are functioning as treasonous tribal elders selling their countrymen down the river. Solutions to the pseudo-problems always result in the consolidation of power; political, resource, industrial and financial into the hands of the few and fewer people.
This is a staggering power. The one monopoly from which all the others monopolies derive even greater power. Do I exaggerate?
The monopoly of narratives makes it possible to galvanize all power into tighter and tighter circles of control.
We got the first great taste of this in World War I where the bankers and merchants made piles of cash and were flush with funds to facilitate export opportunities after the war enabling them to open new markets in Europe while the rest of Americans lost lives and/or treasures they could ill afford to lose.
Misuse of Language
Only 67 % of respondents strongly agreed that "Misuse of language to manipulate people is one of the first signs of tyranny." Yet, communication via language is really a sacred act. Who has not felt the pang of a lie uncovered between friends, children or spouses?
Many might feel that tyranny is too strong a word, thinking only of the overt form of tyranny which relies on force to obtain its objectives. But there is another form of tyranny covert in operation that manipulates others with language to get their way regardless of the harm it does to others.
This is the "gentler and kinder" way to domination. It is tyranny all the same, as anyone in a relationship of manipulation will tell you once they escape.
Summary
The relationship of propaganda to a free society is one that should concern us all. What does it say about our current society when relationships of trust have become one of the most valuable commodities because they’re so rare. The long-term chronic misuse of language to manipulate leads to a broken and fragmented society as we are witnessing today.
Civic conversation has been minimized to sound bites, manipulative narratives, marketing messages, platitudes and flat out gaslighting. Tyranny is the force behind it all and has been for a long time.
WHERE DO YOU fix the inflection point of propaganda and a constitutional republic? This is no esoteric exercise.
In a battle, it is best to know exactly what installations the enemy is holding.
Did we miss the death of our own country? Indeed, I believe we have.
But all is not lost.
Look out for The Great Propaganda Quiz-Part Four coming soon