Americans must start asking themselves some serious questions. As it stands now, we are once again poised to do nothing more than hand the reins of power from one corrupt party to the other. We will keep fighting amongst ourselves while the victors continue to push and support the same policies people believe they are voting against. The spending will continue, the infringements against personal liberty will get worse, as will the advancement of the AI super-surveillance state. We are a society so beaten down and immersed in propaganda that very few of us can distinguish a lie from the truth, or even recognize that we are being propagandized at all. This is because people fail to understand the nature of propaganda in its entirety, or they assume only the other side is being propagandized. The techniques of propaganda and manipulation are so advanced and refined in their understanding of psychology and sociology that people have no idea what they are dealing with. According to Ellul (p.89), it is the massive studies into the psychological makeup of human society, and the unconscious processes of the brain that make propaganda possible at all. These studies have been taking place for nearly a century or more. While politically active Americans pride themselves on staying informed through the mass media, their reactions and opinions are thoroughly examined so they can be better influenced or persuaded. The understanding of human behavior, and its relation to techniques of propaganda, is so advanced, there is little to no chance the reasoning capacity of the average man will be able to see through them (Ellul, p. 109).
Jacques Ellul was a French philosopher, sociologist, legal historian, and Christian theologian best known for his analysis of propaganda, political power, technological society, and the loss of individual freedom. He taught at the University of Bordeaux and wrote extensively about how modern institutions shape the way people think, behave, and understand the world. Ellul is especially relevant to understanding political propaganda because he argued that propaganda is much more than government officials telling lies. It can become an entire social environment that shapes public opinion, group identity, and people’s perception of reality.
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