[jl2718]

I found this to be quite useless for understanding modern propaganda efforts. Mostly this is just telling subjects of propaganda that they are dumb, and they should be less dumb. As usual, this view on other people is incorrect. A proper treatment of actual propaganda efforts, as it is widely practiced, would not be allowed on this site.

Many books have been written about ‘influence’ and other soft power methods. They are a waste of time. In the real world, consent is manufactured by prescribing rewards and punishments. It’s entirely behavioral.

Examples abound. Think of everything you ‘know’, which you have examined zero primary source evidence of, but would have failed a primary school class if you didn’t ‘know’ it. This continues well into adult life and work. The actual truth, or even the actual attitudes and beliefs, are irrelevant. Behavioral consent methods work flawlessly without any requirement to convince the subject.

This is the real secret of propaganda. It’s all you need to know. It works because you don’t have a choice.