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Parent Post: Propaganda is confirmation bias.
sonatime
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8/14/2026, 3:07:47 AM
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"Propaganda” used to be a respectable term until 20th-century wartime psychological manipulation turned it almost entirely negative. It is essentially public relations science. Its methods and intensity depend on what it is trying to achieve and how much institutional control the source already has over a society or group. There’s an interesting observation about the difference between propaganda in communist countries versus more open ones. One could also argue that turning “Islamophobia” into a standard PR talking point is a form of dishonest propaganda. 
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babyvaso
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8/14/2026, 3:20:12 AM
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Propaganda simply does not work unless there is threat of consequence. This paper mentions a "Obvious lie" but a obvious lie achieves nothing unless punishment is accompanied with to achieve the lie's desired outcome. Get a jab or lose your job, support the war on terror or we'll accuse you of being a spy for enemy nations. "Propaganda is confirmation bias" anyone who willingly believe government narratives are the same people who believe top down control is the path forward prior to the propaganda's arrival.
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sonatime
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8/14/2026, 8:21:03 AM
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I think the reality of the public relations in practice can be less logically obvious and more nuanced. I agree that pure messaging alone rarely converts people. But propaganda gets a lot more effective when it comes with social costs: smearing, public shaming, being called unpatriotic, etc. The process becomes the cost and that chilling effect keeps a lot of people quiet even without formal punishment. Wartime examples with conscientious objectors show it pretty clearly. Big obvious lies can also work as bait, the more outrageous they are, the more attention they get. People react, share, and argue, which spreads them further. The old “big lie” idea (often linked to Hitler, though he was actually accusing others of using it) is that a claim so huge feels less likely to be invented, so some people give it more weight than a smaller, more ordinary lie. When that gets mixed with social pressure or consequences, it becomes harder to push back against.
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