Freedom from Propaganda

Propaganda is everywhere, the thing is we don’t recognise it because it’s not what we expect it to look like. Most peoples’ idea of propaganda dates back to WWII or the Cold War: blatant political messages put out by governments.

The propaganda today doesn’t just come from governments and isn’t exclusively about politics. There is some, and the recent ‘Brexit’ campaign, especially the name itself, was a prime example, but the main thrust of propaganda today is twofold, societal and commercial.

The channels for propaganda are also different. In the past it was posters, movies and TV ‘newsreels’; now delivery of propaganda messages is much more subtle and widespread. Some of the channels are ‘reality TV’, ‘popular drama’ (also known as ‘soap operas’ which were originally sponsored shows by commercial organisations) and mainline journalism which purports to ‘reveal the truth’ but is always skewed towards the views of the organisations from which it emanates.

We are bombarded daily with messages about how we should behave, what we should wear (or not) – much of which is blatant ‘ageism’ – how to think, what we can say or not say, who and what we should support, and instruction on how we should ‘be’ in our daily lives. The list is endless.

It’s quite easy to be ‘free’ from propaganda, the trick being to recognise it when you see or hear it. Think twice about what programmes you watch and what media you read. Make your own choices and your own decisions and if you’re not sure or confident to do this – or want to know the ‘secret’ of freedom from being manipulated and misled I can help.