Top Ten Strategies Propagandists Use To Manipulate People
Unveiling The Core Tactics of Mass Manipulation by the power elite
Well, let us start by asking a simple question.
What is Propaganda?
Propaganda is a tool as old as human history itself, employed by various entities to sway opinions, shape narratives, and maintain control over others. In today's world, propaganda permeates through every aspect of society, from politics, to media, to social networks. Understanding its strategies is crucial in navigating the sea of information inundating our lives. Here, I want to unveil ten basic strategies I've noticed employed by state propagandists, deceitful independent media personalities, and establishment influencers.
Label Your Enemies: Propagandists consistently resort to labeling individuals with false claims to strengthen their arguments and tarnish the reputation of others. By employing artificial harmful terms, names, and labels, they categorize people into distinctive groups, fostering division and entrenched animosity. When executed effectively, this strategy redirects focus away from substantive issues or disagreements, as the propagandized become preoccupied and fixated with the assigned labels. Consequently, this perpetuates unwavering conflict between those opposing sides.
The Great Divide and Conquer Strategy The Great Divide and Conquer Strategy: Propagandists consistently maintain a binary narrative, dividing people into oversimplified labels such as 'good or evil,' 'blue vs red,' 'left or right,' and so on. Another tactic they employ is ensuring that individuals within these opposing factions perceive their own group as morally righteous, while painting the other group as morally corrupt. By framing issues in moral terms, people are less likely to question their own positions, clinging to a sense of moral superiority and remaining steadfast in their beliefs.
Spin and Twist to the Opposite Narrative Spin and Twist to the Opposite Narrative: Propagandists often manipulate and defame the names of opposition groups and organizations by distorting their words and intentions. They invert the meaning of the group's identity to cast them in a negative light. For instance, if a group identifies as antifascist, propagandists will falsely label them as fascists, perverting their name to portray them as the very ideology they oppose. Conversely, propagandists may claim to champion freedom of speech and expression, while falsely characterizing genuine antifascist movements as proponents of censorship and authoritarianism.
Rinse and Repeat the Narrative Rinse and Repeat the Narrative: This is a significant tactic frequently employed by propagandists. They consistently utilize specific lies, phrases, or smears, repeating them relentlessly. Through coordinated efforts, these talking points are echoed verbatim across their entire network, forming a massive, unyielding campaign. With such rapid and widespread repetition, these falsehoods seep into the collective consciousness, often leading people to unconsciously accept them as truth. Even individuals who recognize the falsehoods may conform out of fear of societal rejection or ostracization.
The Big Set Up The Big Set Up: Another deceptive tactic that many on not aware of frequently employed by propagandists is the deliberate dissemination of false information to their adversaries, intending to later exploit it to discredit and vilify them as dishonest. For instance, propagandists, masquerading as members of their opposition, may post fabricated videos or images on social media, falsely representing them as related to the opposition's cause. Subsequently, as the misinformation spreads virally across social platforms, the propagandists and their network of influencers and agents will expose the falsity, thereby framing their opponents as purveyors of mistruths.
Using Infiltrators Using Infiltrators: Agent provocateurs are a well-established and frequently employed tactic utilized by propagandists to dismantle movements, organizations, and individuals they seek to discredit and undermine. From protests to political parties, labor unions to revolutionary groups, the use of agent provocateurs remains an old common strategy for propagandists. Their primary objective is to infiltrate, sow discord, and dismantle movements and organizations from within. In many instances, these agents will conceal their true identities and engage in acts of violence, thereby tarnishing the reputation of their adversaries. This allows them to provide their networks of supporters with false justification to portray the infiltrated groups as violent criminals, thus legitimizing arrests or tarnishing their reputation.
Make It A Big Lie Make It A Big Lie: Another enduring tactic utilized by propagandists is the 'big lie' strategy. Originating from the Nazi propaganda division during WWII, this approach has been deployed repeatedly in propaganda campaigns. Propagandists fabricate an outrageously false claim, initially met with skepticism by most people. However, through relentless repetition, employing the 'rinse and repeat' strategy (as described in point 4), the big lie gradually infiltrates the collective subconscious, leading many to eventually accept it as truth.
The Projection Method The Projection Method: The Projection Method is a common tactic employed by propagandists, reminiscent of strategies found in the Nazi psyop playbook. In this technique, propagandists will deflect attention from their own misdeeds by attributing them to their opponents. They accuse their adversaries of the very actions they themselves are guilty of, all while denying any wrongdoing on their part. This strategy forces their opponents into a perpetual defensive stance, diverting attention away from the propagandists' own actions. Consequently, they manage to obscure their own crimes through a cycle of deceitful deniability and continuous diversion.
Drawing First Blood Drawing First Blood: In the past, one of the tactics in which propagandists excelled, prior to the rise of social media, was controlling the narrative and being the first to disseminate stories. Leveraging their dominance over legacy media, officially appointed propagandists would craft and circulate fabricated narratives ahead of their opposition's awareness. Whether these stories aimed to distract or deceive, propagandists ensured that the initial focus remained on their falsehoods, effectively stifling the emergence of truth and minimizing its visibility to the public.
The Independent Grifter The Independent Grifter: One of the newest and most insidious propaganda tactics involves cable news hosts who are abruptly removed from their mainstream media positions due to scandals or contract disputes. Beware of these individuals, as they often represent a transition of legacy media propagandists to the growing independent social media community.
Aware that the era of traditional media is waning, Media execs are gradually shifting their focus to social media platforms, forming alliances with tech companies to dominate the independent media space.
However, this transition is far from straightforward. One common practice entails crafting a narrative around the cable news host's supposed awakening after experiencing scandal or disagreement, leading them to migrate to a seemingly more independent social media platform. Additionally, propagandists and their organizations orchestrate the emergence of manufactured content creators.
Conclusion: Propaganda stands as the quintessential tool of manipulation wielded by those in power, spanning governments, financial entities, media outlets, social networks, and various other institutions. It's undeniable that propaganda has been employed for nefarious purposes.
Its pervasive prevalence, especially among those vying for influence and control, has permeated society, obfuscating the boundaries between reality and fiction. To counteract this manipulation, raising awareness is imperative.
By revealing and studying the strategies utilized by propagandists, we can empower ourselves to regain command over our perceptions, fostering a society grounded in truth, moral judgment, and solidarity.
Good conversation. See what you see and believe it. They are who they are. Know the behavior, know them. They are them. That's who they are.