[Garvi]

Most people by now watched a thousand online lynchings of people who pointed out the propaganda. They're either afraid or they themselves enjoy a good lynching. There is also very little risk of it backfiring as censorship takes care of any successful counter arguments.

It's easier to understand through the lens of history, specifically pre-ww2 Germany. The first Germans to turn NAZI were the stereotypical ones : fat, lazy, single, unemployed. Giving these people "ein Feindsbild" and a reason to be proud, without having to move a finger, resonated with these groups.

How did they get the rest of the population in line you ask? There's an old German joke from that time: "Four Germans and a nazi walk into a bar. Five nazis are now drinking beer together happily."

So to answer your question: No, they're not aware, even though it's this obvious. Reaching these people would mean them having to first admit they were wrong. And that's been pretty much out of style lately.

[senttoschool]

When I first started using HN, I expected posters here to view China through the lens of history and understanding. For example, I expected people here to see through the propaganda that politicians and the mass media spout. I expected people to see issues as grey, and not black and white, good vs evil. I was wrong.

The reason why I had originally thought so is because most engineers like history and are reasonably educated.

[Garvi]

What's new is social media.

It is an extremely potent tool for propaganda as it shows a monolithical opinion on every critical topic. They achieve this through basic censorship, shadowbans and the enabling of dogpiling. This gives people the illusion that everyone agrees that "china is bad", for example.

A couple of years of this treatment and most will adjust to this opinion, one way or another.

Remember how for the past 15 years everyone was saying how China is going to overtake the US economically? Well now that it's happening, everyone is in panic mode and talking war. If you're in the US and have balls of steel, ask people what they think the average Chinese salary is, then tell them the actual number and see the reaction (that's one youtube video no one dares to make). Also notice how extremely out of whack their perception of China is. Any American can try it on themselves by writing down the number, then looking it up. But with the main problem being denial, this probably won't achieve anything.

Am I paranoid for feeling unsafe for writing these words?