this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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[–] FaceDeer@kbin.social 65 points 1 year ago (25 children)

And so we pat ourselves on the back for not falling for the "capitalist propaganda," not recognizing all the propaganda that we have fallen for. I'd mention some examples but of course that would garner downvotes and disapproval, and thus the cycle continues.

[–] De_Narm@lemmy.world 106 points 1 year ago (19 children)

Who cares about downvotes? Give us your best examples - if they are indeed good, you may encourage people to think more about them, which is worth more than any amount of upvotes in the grand sheme of things.

[–] FaceDeer@kbin.social 42 points 1 year ago (12 children)

Okay, here's a whole bunch I can think of off the top of my head.

  • Opposition to DEI initiatives, feminism, affirmative action, immigration, etc., are rooted in racism/sexism. Even dislike for certain movies is rooted in racism/sexism.
  • People are being stolen from and/or their privacy is being violated when companies use public data about them to train AI, target ads, etc. People get really mad about this.
  • On a similar note, AI art "has no soul" and AI artists aren't "real artists."
  • Hamas and/or Israel are evil. Pick whatever position you want on this conflict, there's a flood of propaganda pushing it and reasoned discussion that goes against it is hard.
  • Everything Elon Musk does is somehow evil or idiotic.
  • Cryptocurrency is a scam. AI is a scam. <insert some other new technology> is a scam.
  • Religion is bad.
  • All cops are bastards.
  • Unions are good and corporations are bad. Heck, the "capitalism is bad" message in this comic is itself propaganda.
  • Cancelling major NASA initiatives like Artemis or Mars Sample Return (or James Webb, Space Shuttle, etc. historically) would be a disaster for space exploration and science, despite their wildly spiralling costs.

Okay, that last one is perhaps getting down into the weeds of one of the more particular communities I find myself in. :)

Of course, there are other communities out there that I'm not commonly in that I expect have the opposite "everyone agrees" views on a lot of these things - DEI is part of some "gay agenda" conspiracy to groom children, Elon Musk is an infallible messiah, cops are the thin blue line protecting us from criminals, unions are destructive to the economy and cause unemployment, and so on and so forth. Propaganda is highly specific to its target audience, as this comic suggests.

The fundamental problem is just that in any significant group or community there are always hot-button issues that "everyone agrees" about, and attempting to question or discuss them with any nuance gets shouted down.

[–] SolarMech@slrpnk.net -4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How are those conspiracy theories? They are consensus you disagree with that people are sensitive about? Where is the conspiracy? Just that most people disagree with you?

A lot of these "theories" that you disagree with have no conspiracy in them. Mate you're just angry that most people disagree with you.

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

They didn't say they were conspiracy theories, they said they were propaganda. It's true but gives them an unfairly negative connotation.

[–] FaceDeer@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I never said they were conspiracy theories. This is about groupthink and propaganda, with "propaganda" in this context being on the looser end of its definition since it's not literally government-organized. It's just a list of things that people in the communities I frequent have a common belief in that can't be easily debated due to the strength of that shared belief.

This isn't about whether I personally agree or disagree with these points. I actually do agree with some of them, I just recognize that it's difficult to discuss them with any nuance. I don't like it when people agree with me for mindless reasons either.

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