Biden Freezes, and Old Propaganda Is Dead
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Propaganda has always been a part of politics, working as an alliterative pair of damaging societal weapons wielded for power and control.
Propaganda is a form of communication used to drive a certain narrative or further a particular agenda, and over time, the label of propaganda developed from a supposedly neutral sharing of information to an underhand tool of manipulation, leveraging rhetorical tricks, emotion over reason, and (when in doubt) overt lies.
Examples range from subtle ideological biases in reporting to the darkly iconic messaging found in Nazi-era posters, with Adolf Hitler writing in 1924 that propaganda's task is "not to make an objective study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and then set it before the masses with academic fairness," but "to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly."
The entire spectrum of propaganda was explored in George Orwell's deeply prophetic "1984," with "The Party" employing telescreens, slogans, images and the rewriting of history in order to protect and expand their authoritarian control over the subjugated citizens of the novel's dystopian society.
However, for the vast majority of human history, propagandists have enjoyed one particular advantage: They acted as the gatekeepers of what is true and what is false, maintaining total control over access to and the dissemination of information.
How do you fight propaganda in a world where it's impossible to convince others of the truth? How do you even discover the truth when information itself is held behind locked doors?
The internet broke this system of control.
Thanks to the internet — and as a consequence, social media — it's becoming increasingly difficult (if not impossible) for the truth to be buried like it was in years past. Now, anyone with an internet connection and a smartphone can shatter the narratives being spewed by those who want to keep us downtrodden.
And their refusal to adjust to this new technological rebalancing of power stands as evidence of their shameless willingness to shove abject lies down our throats.
The reaction to Joe Biden's latest mental collapse is a perfect example.
This weekend, the president was wheeled to a fundraiser in Los Angeles, where he appeared alongside former President Barack Obama and a collection of loyal party members, including George Clooney, Jimmy Kimmel and Julia Roberts. After Biden and Obama wrapped up their interview with Kimmel, Biden froze in a manner instantly recognizable to anyone with relatives suffering from dementia. After what felt like an age, Obama had to escort Biden gently from the stage, presumably with promises of late-night ice cream as a reward for Biden being such a good boy.
Imagine this story prior to the explosion of the internet and social media.
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