The Necessary Conditions for Propaganda to Be Effective
Not every society is ready to be propagandized and not all societies are equally receptive to it. So what conditions make a society fertile ground for the propagandist?
Perhaps more so than any other nation, propaganda is permanent feature of American society, an essential element that makes America uniquely “American.” An argument could be made that out of all the modern nations, America is the place where all of the necessary conditions for being a fully propagandized society are there. A common propaganda trope is this divide between individualism and collectivism. On the one hand you have the image of the self-made, rugged individualist, the lover of freedom and democracy and on the other is the dreaded collectivist, the communist and his proletariat, the cultural Marxist and his identity groups. Ellul argues that we should properly understand that the perfect ground for the propagandist is a society that is both individualist and a mass society. America, with its strong emphasis on individualism, is a fertile ground for the propagandists.
Most of the messaging we receive, especially from many who think of themselves as on the right, is ind…
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