Propaganda works very well on smart people too. Here's how it often works: smart people like to be well informed. They drink a steady drip of "news" covering a wide range of topics. They therefore have a wide but shallow understanding of current events.

The topics are usually chosen for them (editor or algorithm). The news is packaged up for them to form an opinion at a glance (headline/social media post). They lack a deep understanding and so most things pass as largely believable, if at times a bit of a stretch. Topics they know deeply are almost always "covered poorly," but not the topics they don't know deeply.

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AndrewKemendo 8 hours ago | parent [-]

All you did was describe the fact that people who present as intelligent aren’t actually intelligent

I’m very well aware of a lot of people who are not subject to propaganda - you wouldn’t consider them particularly “fun “to be around because usually they are dedicated and focused on something that they actually believe in like being a monk

I know literally zero monks especially in the tibetan tradition that cannot clock propaganda immediately - you could make a strong argument that Buddhism itself is propaganda and I would actually largely concur with you there in the broad sense however in the sense that we’re describing it is a context that you find yourself overwhelmed by

Oh and then if you actually are that smart then you would have read the following quote:

“ If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do, you’re misinformed.”

Your bar for “smart people” is probably way lower than it should be if you include people who can’t discriminate between measurable repeatible data and propaganda

https://marktwainstudies.com/the-apocryphal-twain/if-you-don...

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bigbadfeline 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> it should be if you include people who can’t discriminate between measurable repeatible data and propaganda

You severely underestimate the cost and effort involved in finding and processing "measurable repeatable data". In fact, for most politically important issues such don't exist, be it for reasons of impossible or insufficient repeatability or lack of access to the few places that may have it.

The vast majority of smart people cannot have access to, or process such data, in amount of time that doesn't risk their existence.

Besides, historical repeatability is kind of a moot point, history doesn't really repeat although farces are common.

> I know literally zero monks especially in the tibetan tradition that cannot clock propaganda immediately

That only shows that you don't quite have an idea how ubiquitous propaganda is, and you accept a lot of it as truth.

> you could make a strong argument that Buddhism itself is propaganda

OK, so they don't "clock propaganda immediately". Moreover, the whole of Buddhism isn't propaganda, the world is quite complicated compared to the abilities of the individual human mind, the long and arduous history of science should tell you that much.

'stevenwoo' below wrote something you might benefit from:

"the post hoc analysis in Jacques Ellul’s book Propaganda makes several compelling arguments that propaganda is omnipresent and difficult for the great part of public to counter and misplaced confidence in one’s own judgment is often the Achilles heel that allows propaganda to insinuate itself in one’s brain."

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47663236

	▲	AndrewKemendo 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		There’s an equilibrium point that is available One that is more skeptical as a general concept. However this comes at a significant cost most people choose not to bear

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franklinter 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>All you did was describe the fact that people who present as intelligent aren’t actually intelligent

This is false.

> I’m very well aware of a lot of people who are not subject to propaganda ... [for example] a monk

This supports my point. Monks are not known for trying to "stay informed" the way many people (yes, including intelligent people) do.

	▲	AndrewKemendo 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		No all you need to do is view the world through the eyes of a 7 year old and ask why This is just being a scientist at all possible levels of your life and it’s achievable It doesn’t take any special capabilities to do Monks are regular people too