You're Not Immune To Propaganda
Summary
TLDRThis video script explores the subtle yet pervasive nature of propaganda in modern society, particularly under neoliberalism. It challenges the conventional view of propaganda as overt and war-related, arguing that it often operates in mundane ways through influential rhetoric and advertising. The script delves into the historical context, from the Iraq War to Edward Bernays' manipulation of public opinion, and critiques how neoliberal policies shape societal values and individual behaviors. It also discusses the impact of neoliberal propaganda on everyday life, suggesting that it promotes a market-driven society where success is equated with financial gain, and individuals are held solely responsible for their economic fate.
Takeaways
- 📜 Propaganda is often obvious in retrospect, with WWII and Cold War materials being clear examples of emotional and symbolic manipulation.
- 🗽 The Iraq War is highlighted as a modern example of propaganda, where false claims of WMDs and ties to terrorism were used to justify military action.
- 📚 Encyclopedia Britannica defines propaganda broadly as the dissemination of information, including facts, rumors, and lies, to influence public opinion.
- 🧠 Propaganda is not just about war; it can be mundane and subtle, aiming to shape public opinion and behavior in less overt ways.
- 👥 Edward Bernays, a pioneer in public relations, saw propaganda as a tool for managing society through 'invisible governors', reflecting a top-down approach to influence.
- 🇬🇹 Bernays' work with United Fruit Company in Guatemala illustrates how propaganda was used to stir fear of communism and justify a coup, leading to long-term societal impacts.
- 💡 Neoliberalism's approach to propaganda is more subtle, focusing on shaping individual beliefs and habits to align with market logic and capitalist values.
- 🌐 Neoliberal policies use state power to create and sustain free markets, often at the expense of social welfare and by increasing inequality and exploitation.
- 🏛️ The marketization of society under neoliberalism extends to all aspects of life, from education and self-care to politics and personal relationships.
- 💼 The figure of the entrepreneur is celebrated in neoliberal propaganda as the ideal individual who embodies freedom and success through market participation.
- 📊 Neoliberal rhetoric often blames individuals for their economic circumstances, promoting the idea that anyone can succeed if they work hard enough, despite systemic barriers.
Q & A
What is the general view of propaganda presented in the script?
-The script presents propaganda as a tool that is often obvious in retrospect, particularly in historical contexts like World War II and the Cold War, but also as something that can be subtle and mundane in contemporary times.
How does the script describe the role of propaganda in the Iraq War?
-The script describes propaganda as a means to justify the Iraq War by presenting it as a battle between good and evil, using unfounded claims about weapons of mass destruction and support for terrorism to convince the public of the necessity for military intervention.
What is the definition of propaganda given by Encyclopedia Britannica as mentioned in the script?
-Encyclopedia Britannica defines propaganda as the dissemination of information, facts, arguments, rumors, half-truths, or lies to influence public opinion.
How does the script differentiate between propaganda and influential rhetoric?
-The script suggests that propaganda can be seen as a form of influential rhetoric or advertising, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a lie, come from the government, or be about war.
What is Edward Bernays' view on propaganda as described in the script?
-Edward Bernays, credited with developing modern public relations, viewed propaganda as the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses, which he believed was an important element in a democratic society.
How does the script connect Bernays' work to political outcomes like the Guatemalan coup?
-The script connects Bernays' work to the Guatemalan coup by explaining how he used public relations strategies to influence the press and create fear of a communist takeover, which contributed to the coup that overthrew the democratically elected president.
What is the script's perspective on neoliberalism and propaganda?
-The script views neoliberalism as a form of propaganda that shapes people's habits and beliefs to align with market logic and capitalist objectives, creating a society where everything operates like a business and individuals are responsible for their own success or failure in the market.
How does the script describe the impact of neoliberal policies on individuals?
-The script describes neoliberal policies as having a negative impact on individuals by encouraging wage stagnation, cutting social safety nets, increasing debt, and expanding state and corporate surveillance, all while promoting the idea of individual freedom and success in the market.
What is the script's stance on the effectiveness of neoliberal propaganda?
-The script criticizes the effectiveness of neoliberal propaganda for creating a false narrative of freedom and success, while actually leading to increased exploitation, inequality, and a lack of real opportunities for most people.
How does the script suggest one can combat the effects of propaganda?
-The script suggests using tools like Ground News, which aggregates news from various sources and provides comparison tools, to help build media literacy and understand media bias, as a way to combat the effects of propaganda.
Outlines
📜 The Power of Retrospective Propaganda
This paragraph delves into the concept of propaganda, highlighting its obviousness in retrospect, especially in historical contexts like World War II and the Cold War. It discusses how propaganda uses emotions and symbolism to influence public opinion. The narrative then shifts to the Iraq War, critiquing the false pretenses under which it was sold to the public, such as the non-existent weapons of mass destruction and the unfounded connections to terrorism. It emphasizes the role of propaganda in shaping public perception and the consequences of such manipulation, leading to significant loss of life and geopolitical instability.
🌐 Neoliberal Propaganda and Its Impact
The second paragraph explores the subtler forms of propaganda associated with neoliberalism. It contrasts the flashy, war-related propaganda with the more pervasive, everyday propaganda that shapes societal norms and values. The paragraph discusses how neoliberalism has seeped into various aspects of life, influencing how people think and behave. It critiques the neoliberal approach to governance, which emphasizes market logic over social welfare, and the ways in which policies are designed to change people's habits and beliefs to align with market-oriented objectives. The paragraph also touches on the historical use of propaganda in political and economic contexts, such as Bernays' work with United Fruit Company, which exemplifies the manipulation of public opinion for corporate gain.
🛠️ The Neoliberal Agenda and Its Discontents
This paragraph delves deeper into the practical implications of neoliberal policies, which are portrayed as a form of propaganda that creates 'neoliberal subjects.' It critiques the idea that neoliberalism involves a shrinking government and the growth of corporate power, arguing instead that it involves a different, more intrusive form of governance. The paragraph outlines how neoliberal policies aim to make all aspects of life subject to market practices, from healthcare and welfare to surveillance and property rights. It also discusses the paradoxical nature of neoliberal rhetoric, which promotes individual freedom and entrepreneurship while simultaneously making it harder for individuals to succeed in the market, leading to increased inequality and exploitation.
🏛️ The Marketization of Life and Its Consequences
The fourth paragraph continues the critique of neoliberalism, focusing on how it extends its logic into every aspect of life, from education and self-care to politics and personal relationships. It discusses the reframing of non-market activities in market terms and the demonization of anything that resists marketization. The paragraph also addresses the way neoliberalism co-opts terms like 'freedom' and 'democracy' to justify policies that benefit the wealthy and powerful. It provides examples of how politicians and business leaders promote an entrepreneurial mindset as the path to success, while the system they support makes it increasingly difficult for individuals to achieve financial stability and independence.
📰 Media Manipulation and the Quest for Media Literacy
The final paragraph shifts focus to the role of media in propagating neoliberal ideologies and shaping public opinion. It discusses the importance of media literacy in understanding how different news outlets can present the same event in different ways to influence reader perceptions. The paragraph uses the example of the UK Junior doctor strike to illustrate how headlines can be manipulated to evoke certain reactions. It concludes by promoting a tool, Ground News, which helps users compare news coverage from various sources and understand media bias, encouraging critical engagement with media content.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Propaganda
💡Neoliberalism
💡Edward Bernays
💡Public relations
💡Axis of Evil
💡Anthrax
💡United Fruit Company
💡Free market
💡Entrepreneurship
💡Welfare
Highlights
Propaganda is often obvious in retrospect, with WWII and Cold War materials being clear examples.
The Iraq War's justifications, which were presented as a battle between good and evil, were later found to be unfounded.
Propaganda is not just about war and lies; it can be mundane and thrives in everyday life.
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines propaganda as the dissemination of information to influence public opinion.
Edward Bernays, the father of modern PR, saw propaganda as a tool for managing society.
Bernays' ideas on propaganda were used to manipulate public opinion for corporate and political gains.
Neoliberalism has perfected propaganda through influential rhetoric and economic policy.
Neoliberal policies aim to change people's habits and beliefs to align with market logic.
Neoliberalism is not about small government but about a different approach to managing capitalism.
The market is prioritized in neoliberalism, with everything else following its logic.
Neoliberal policies include increasing incarceration, tying welfare to work, and criminalizing poverty.
Neoliberalism uses state power to create and sustain a vision of the free market.
Neoliberal propaganda is about creating a market society filled with people who think like capitalists.
Neoliberalism encourages viewing everything through a market lens, even aspects of life not traditionally associated with it.
Neoliberal rhetoric promotes the idea that individuals are solely responsible for their success or failure in the market.
Neoliberal policies often make it harder for individuals to succeed while promoting the idea of market freedom.
Neoliberalism's paradox is that it promotes freedom and entrepreneurship while also increasing market control and reducing individual bargaining power.
Ground News is recommended as a tool for media literacy, allowing users to compare how different news outlets cover the same story.
Transcripts
ready here we go
propaganda is always obvious in
retrospect
today you look at the posters the films
the cartoons from World War II and the
Cold War and it's really clear what's
going on it's obvious you see the
emotions that are being played on you
see the symbolism of everything it's
propaganda and it looks like it
that's right and I'm an American twenty
years after the start of the Iraq War
this is what the bush years look like
Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility
toward America and to support Terror
an outlaw regime that threatens the
peace with weapons of mass murder
the Iraqi regime has plotted to develop
Anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear
weapons
States like these and their terrorist
allies constitute an axis of Evil arming
to threaten the Peace of the world
[Music]
today we know that Saddam Hussein never
had wmds he wasn't responsible for the
anthrax attacks and he wasn't funding Al
Qaeda all the justifications for the
Iraq war that made it out to be a battle
between good and evil that convinced
millions of Americans their army should
invade another country and that resulted
in hundreds of thousands of deaths were
unfounded and spread at times knowingly
by senior government officials and major
news outlets
when we think of propaganda this is what
usually comes to mind war and lies very
attractively packaged discourse to get
people to fight but there is much more
to propaganda than the flashy stuff
propaganda can be and actually thrives
when it's mundane we should talk
definitions
Encyclopedia Britannica defines
propaganda as the dissemination of
information facts arguments rumors half
truths or lies to influence public
opinion
If we're honest the less sensationalist
way to describe most propaganda is
influential rhetoric or maybe
advertising something doesn't need to be
a lie to be propaganda it doesn't need
to come from the government and it
doesn't need to be about war or another
country being the root of all evil if
you don't like this video for example
you can call it propaganda if you want
it technically fits that description
there's no such thing as unbiased media
and I openly admit this Channel's
socialist bent so this is influential
rhetoric but most of us don't use the
word propaganda correctly like the very
uptight people at Britannica
we tend to think of propaganda more like
Edward Bernays the guy credited with
developing modern public relations back
in the 1920s Bernays described
propaganda as quote the conscious and
intelligent manipulation of the
organized habits and opinions of the
masses unlike Bernays though most of us
think this is a bad thing he said it was
an important element in Democratic
Society
that's because Bernays had a terrible
understanding of what democracy is
Bernay saw democracy not as a society
where people govern themselves striving
to defuse power equally between all and
organize fairly their interdependence
but as a society that could be managed
by what he called quote invisible
governors
he believed most people were just too
dumb or prone to violence to think for
themselves except in the narrow confines
of an election between two Max three or
four pre-selected candidates the rest of
the time people needed to be policed and
nudged from the top down for life to
remain decent and as Society started
turning away for more overt and violent
forms of control he helped devise
strategies that would help manage
Society through the more subtle means of
public relations instead Bernays wrote
mostly for advertisers he cared about
molding habits to increase company
profits but soon enough the importance
of his work carried his techniques into
State politics
starting in the 1940s for example
Bernays was hired by United Fruit
Company now Chiquita the banana people
to run a massive PR strategy in the U.S
working primarily but not exclusively
through influencing the Press Bernays
and United Fruit drummed up fear of a
communist Takeover in Guatemala which
had recently democratically elected a
president with somewhat left-wing
politics if you've ever heard of United
Fruit you know how this story goes it's
the same almost everywhere in Latin
America in 1954 thanks in part to
bernay's and United fruits efforts to
demonize jacobo Adams and paint him as a
Soviet puppet a cia-backed coup
overthrew the Guatemalan president and
replaced him with a military
dictatorship that plunged the country
into Civil War for decades
but back to the present Bernays is long
dead and neoliberalism has perfected
propaganda influential rhetoric if you
want to be less dramatic about it the
new wave of political rhetoric that's
flourished under neoliberalism isn't as
often about that bad country over there
or the bad ideology you need to hate
that's still around obviously but rather
the more subtle more diffuse propaganda
of modern neoliberalism is a lot more
about who we should be as people
right
neoliberalism more so than previous
capitalist societies has pushed its
propaganda its jargon and its way of
thinking into almost every aspect of Our
Lives it has found the most effective
way to become bulletproof without openly
relying on violence
neoliberalism is plenty violent but
nearly invisible control works to
protect itself neoliberalism actually
molds people in its image through a mix
of both rhetoric and economic policy
designed to change people's habits and
beliefs in line with its own objectives
in other words neoliberal propaganda
creates neoliberal subjects
neoliberal capitalism is often
misunderstood because of people like
Reagan Thatcher Friedman and Hayek who
made small government their whole thing
that's often how we think about
neoliberalism our current period of
capitalism where governments supposedly
shrank and corporate power grew but
that's not what neoliberalism is neither
in theory nor in practice
neoliberalism actually means more just
slightly different government
where the welfare state capitalism that
existed before acted as a safety valve
for capitalists by preventing markets
from doing what they do increasing
inequality exploitation and poverty
neoliberalism is a different approach to
the same problem of how do you stop
capitalism from imploding when left to
its own devices instead of having
capitalists compromise neoliberal
policies start from the assumption that
it's the general mass of people that are
the problem neoliberal policies demand a
tremendous government efforts to build
and make sure that the supposedly free
markets actually work and plenty of
these policies are there to change
people partly by making every possible
area of Life amenable to Market
practices and Market Logic the market
comes first and everything else follows
or as Margaret Thatcher is reported to
have said quote economics is the method
but the object is to change the soul but
that's really abstract in practice this
logic at the heart of neoliberalism
translates to real policies like
increasing incarceration tying welfare
and health care to work criminalizing
poverty and homelessness increasing
State and corporate surveillance to
better exploit and increase consumption
creating new property rights like
intellectual property to marketize areas
of human life that worked without them
using international sanctions threats of
war and full-on invasions to blast open
countries who don't invite in foreign
capital or resist free markets bailing
out private Capital when Banks crash
year after year redefining corporations
as people so they can enjoy more rights
and so on the free market isn't
something that just exists and
neoliberals understood that their
project is using state power to create
and sustain their vision of what it
should be creating the free market and
making it interact with more parts of
our day and I know it feels like we've
strayed from propaganda right now but
all this is a very important part of
understanding what propaganda actually
does under neoliberalism it's there to
accompany all these policies make them
more palatable and ultimately create a
market Society filled with people who
think like capitalists and therefore
accept more easily the fact that more
things suddenly start operating like
businesses
here's what I mean
[Music]
things that exist outside the market are
either reframed in Market terms or
demonized Trump ran in 2016 on the
promise of running America like a
business in France macron run on
promising to transform the country into
a startup Nation where every kid should
dream of becoming a billionaire that's
an actual quote the Iraq War supposedly
fought to spread democracy was briefly
considered a success when the country
was announced as open for business
welfare money set aside by the
government to patch the gaps when the
market doesn't allocate work efficiently
becomes handouts and its recipients are
admonished as lazy or welfare Queens
every government policy with the unique
exception of the military budget is
treated to a rigorous cost benefit
analysis as if the benefits of every
policy could be measured in monetary
terms and despite the ability of
governments to fund whatever it wants at
a keystroke government success is
measured not by the impacts of its
policies their popularity or the
efficiency with which they're carried
out but by its ability to remain within
budget and keeping the economy healthy
all the economy ever means by the way is
capitalist profits just as a side note
outside of the state all political
movements like strikes are reduced to
the same cost benefit analysis with
events like the railroad workers Strike
last fall being almost exclusively
discussed on CNN as a two billion a day
expense inviting viewers to make their
own judgment of whether better working
conditions are really worth all the
strain on the economy and this logic
extends further and further out from the
neoliberal core
education isn't about learning it's jobs
training the means to acquire human
capital so that you can better Market
yourself to Future employers self-care
is buying the right face mask or
treating yourself to a new tech product
rest is really important and valuable
and necessary so long as you're doing it
to recharge for work the next day every
problem is promised to be solved by an
app that's democratizing access to
something when all democratizing means
for these companies is making stuff
cheaper and this isn't just something
that tech companies do in neo-liberal
societies whether it's Bush or some Tech
Guy saying it an association is
constantly made between markets and
democracy or if some other positive
value like freedom
nationalized companies are always framed
as state-controlled the implication
being that that's necessarily
authoritarian and juxtaposed with free
markets freedom is what happens when BP
comes into a country and takes over all
the oil refineries this stems from the
fact that neoliberals have a terrible
understanding of and generally a pretty
strong distaste for democracy and try to
make it up by pretending that the market
with its huge disparities of power is
actually where democracy thrives because
people vote with their dollar no matter
that some people and corporations have
billions of votes and some people have
none Friedrich Hayek for example one of
the small government neoliberal guys by
the way was a terribly undemocratic
thinker his ideal government's upper
legislative house would only allow men
of substantial property over the age of
45 to vote or be elected no political
parties would be allowed and each member
would stand for a 15-year term these
guys have no clue what democracy and
freedom are but they're not shy about
co-opting these terms and the positive
values they carry to them Freedom means
giving corporations permission to do
anything they want so long as they can
generate profit and giving consumers the
freedom to buy any one of 50 different
brands of toothpastes even as their boss
Cuts their pay on a whim and their
government festers with Rich old white
dudes who stay there for decades but the
march of the market and its logic
extends even further past government
policy past political organizing past
the values of freedom and democracy even
and into our everyday life
your hobby is now your side hustle my
little grind setter
you're not dating you're in the dating
Market two words that were actually put
side by side by The neoliberal Thinker
Gary Becker who argued that more
powerful wealthier men Were Somehow more
entitled to polygamy because they won at
business the most classic example of
this though has to be the one you hear
endlessly parroted by neoliberal
politicians most notably guys like
macron and all those motivational
Instagram accounts just become an
entrepreneur
the entrepreneur is the epitome of the
neoliberal subject the person who is a
business entrepreneurs are constantly
applauded by neoliberals and the
entrepreneurial life is repeatedly sold
to People by politicians and intelligent
businessmen slash grifters with an 80
course as the way to achieve freedom
[Music]
that's because another element of
neoliberal propaganda is that you and
only you are responsible for your
freedom which is made to be synonymous
with financial success it's propaganda
in the sense that it's a lie because
this rhetoric is repeated over and over
again even though tremendous political
efforts are expanded by neoliberal
governments to make your ability to find
success harder neoliberal policies
encourage wages to stagnate or decrease
in real terms to cut off the safety net
to defund the public resources that
allow the development of people and
their skills to force people into taking
on and being submerged with debt and to
imprison and police ever greater parts
of the population that live outside the
specific understanding of freedom
under neoliberalism if you cannot
survive in the market the place that is
made more Cutthroat every year you don't
deserve to complain until you've spent
every shred of your energy trying to
start your own business or selling your
labor to someone else once again macron
is the best example of this logic in
2018 a citizen looking for work in
agriculture came up to the French
President explaining that he couldn't
find a job despite his best efforts all
macron found to say to him was that
there were plenty of jobs around that he
himself would only have to quote cross
the street and he'd find a job for him
the idea behind the statement being that
unemployment isn't the fault of
capitalist society which just happens to
benefit from unemployment on the one
hand and overwork on the other no
unemployment is the fault of the
individual who must be ready to take any
job regardless of how degrading or low
paying it is rather than be unemployed
because if the market has produced that
job opening so neoliberal thinking goes
then that job must be worth doing even
if the only way to convince people to do
it is to threaten them with poverty if
they don't
but statements like macron's just
crossed the street and you'll find work
are the rhetorical part of the
neoliberal strategy the propaganda that
makes it seem like unemployment is the
fault of individuals not working hard
enough it's there to accompany macron's
reforms to French unemployment that
actively make it harder to get
unemployment benefits and overall just
make life worse for people without work
it's in these moments that the paradoxes
and contradictions at the core of
neoliberalism are on full display on the
one hand you can do anything you want be
an entrepreneur dream of becoming a
billionaire from the earliest age and
yet on the other hand
you're a lazy bum who must be willing to
accept any job at any rate and will do
so in an environment where every means
of collective support is gutted and the
thing that will actually decide if you
can do what you want is the market the
place where big companies and
governments set the rules for what
ultimately generates profit do what you
want
so long as it generates profit for those
at the top everything else is worthless
if you're not convinced think of every
Centrist or conservative politician's
speech about jobs for the past 50 or so
years in those speeches whenever they
talk about unemployment it's never the
responsibility of employers and the
market to cater to the desires and
skills of workers it's always your
responsibility to retrain yourself and
lower your standards for the jobs that
they offer you flexibility Independence
and resilience are elevated as virtues
because a market that can exploit and
dispose of people at will is more
profitable than one that guarantees
everyone a decent job with good pay and
security it's a form of control that
doesn't rely on the negative you can't
do that but convinces people that they
can do anything and when they inevitably
come up short it's because they have the
wrong mindset work harder think positive
and anything is possible
look every political movement has its
propaganda it's rhetoric that it's
getting out there to try to bring people
to its cause but what good is
neoliberalism we work harder for Worse
pay and we're burning out like never
before the value we produce is captured
by a few billionaires who blow it on
Joyrides in space and buying social
media platforms so people stop bullying
them neoliberal propaganda communicates
the most shallow and meaningless
definitions of freedom and democracy I'm
tired of it and I know you are too
we talked a lot about how rhetoric can
be weaponized in this episode so I
wanted to take a second and give a
concrete example of what that looks like
using today's sponsor ground news let's
take a single event the UK Junior doctor
strike and see what headlines look like
from Outlets with different interests
remember the goal of effective
propaganda is to persuade so let's see
how these different news outlets try to
get us to feel a certain way
here are three headlines from three
different groups same story but take a
look at how subtle wording differences
can completely change our gut reaction
to the event here we have examples of
right wing coverage nominally Centrist
coverage from an outlet with a single
wealthy owner and coverage from an
explicitly socialist perspective notice
how the story is framed patient safety
patient convenience and the actual
reason for the strike by omitting
certain details or by giving precedence
to one quote or fact over another news
outlets can frame a story in a way that
nudges the reader towards a conclusion
that benefits their operation often
beholden to obscenely Rich individual
owners or a particular flavor of
Economics this is something I get asked
about a lot how do I help parents or
friends break out of their little
propaganda bubble it's great to analyze
an event like this comparing coverage
from different interest groups but it's
a lot of work and none of us have time
for that that's why I always recommend
people check out ground news because it
has a ton of really useful tools to make
building media literacy skills a lot
easier
ground news is a web and mobile app that
Aggregates over 50 000 news sources and
offers intuitive easy to understand
comparison tools so you can do things
like what we did here see how a
particular story is being spun by
various corporate Outlets you can also
see the political leaning factuality
rating and ownership of every single
news source right in the app no tedious
research required now full disclaimer as
a socialist I obviously disagree with
the placement of some of these outlets
for example I don't think CNN should be
placed as far left as it is but honestly
this might be a good thing when trying
to educate your friends and family if
you come at them with well actually CNN
is a right-wing Network they're not
going to take you seriously ground news
is the perfect first baby step towards
media literacy if you're looking for a
way to give your friends and family a
great set of tools to understand media
bias who it serves and how to spot it I
highly recommend you check out ground
news at the link below so head to
ground.news second thought and give it a
shot today I promise it'll make your
life a whole lot easier
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