Why the Same Propaganda Works Every Time

The French drop is a classic sleight of hand move by magicians. The basic technique is easy to learn. I learned it from a video by Penn and Teller so I could entertain my young niece and nephew. It worked great. I could make coins or small toys disappear, and then reappear somewhere else. Magic. I did it over and over and they laughed and applauded. It was fun. I only know the one trick, but it works over and over and over.

Government propaganda for adults works the same way. Invading countries because of weapons of mass destruction that don't exist is going to work for the US government every time for the same reason that the French drop tricks kids every time, they don't know how it works. And, they can't know how it works. Young kids aren't developed enough to understand the French drop. They have to get older and be shown the trick to understand it. By definition the government isn't going to tell the public that it's lying to the public, so the trick can't be shown. This is why the trick will work forever.

There are many versions of this. Another war version is a false flag attack. This trick works every time, that's why it's used.

Another great trick is for politicians to say they'll cut taxes and spend more. This is a direct contradiction and a logical impossibility, but humans don't care about those things. I remember when Whitmer was running for Governor of Michigan and her campaign was that she wasn't going to raise taxes at all, but she was going to spend the most money ever in the history of the state on schools and roads. I knew that she would win because people love to believe that lie.

The ancient Roman poet Juvenal has several great phrases that hit on this subject. One is bread and circuses. It means that when the government isn't popular with the public all it has to do is give them some free food and entertainment and the people will follow orders. Propaganda works.

Juvenal also asked, who will guard the guards? This hits on the idea of safety. It's like the war propaganda strategies, but can be used domestically. X is dangerous and hurting you? We'll establish Y agency to protect you from them. Y is dangerous and hurting you? We'll establish Z agency to protect you from them. This is why the US government has more security agencies than anyone can name. Propaganda works.

Government schools fail, which has been known since ancient Rome, and they actually fail on purpose, so they can then say they need more money. The more money they are given the worse they get, so that they can say that they need more money. Propaganda works every time.

The US is bringing people around the world peace and democracy through bombs, revolutions, and wars. This propaganda works every time. It has a success rate of none. People have to free themselves, if they are freed from without then they have to be governed as a colony from without, so they can't be free. This seems rather obvious, but no one knows it, because no government tells people this, and people can only know what the government propaganda tells them to know. In this scenario the corruption from the colonial power grows, the corruption in the colony grows, the corruption in the conquering power grows. Power is a function of dependency. No general populace will ever know that, because it's true and the government doesn't want people to know that truth, so the people won't.

You can see this playing out in Iran right now. In a bad country usually the good and capable people leave. That means you're left with the bad and incapable people. Maybe a few capable people that are true believers in freeing their country by establishing property rights, rule of law, separation of powers, and checks and balances, but not enough to actually do it. You would need a massive amount of the good and capable people that left the country to move back to do this. Many of them would die, they certainly wouldn't live a better life than they are in some other country. This is why the US can overthrow Venezuela with the odds that it someone becomes good extremely low.

Plus, the powers that be don't want peace. No one cares about the warnings against war of George Washington, James Madison, Dwight Eisenhower, Smedley Butler, David Hackworth, or Adam Smith. The government doesn't want the people to know, so the people don't know, and the people won't know. The powers that be want continual war with weak enemies. That's the goal. It's often achieved. The propaganda is freedom and safety for whoever, because that sells and garners the support of citizens and soldiers for the endless wars.

People say to themselves that this time, it could be true.

Last year I was standing on the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. I started talking to a guy near me. He had an accent so I asked where he was from. He said Burma. I said I thought it had a different name now. He said that's government propaganda. He wishes the US would get involved in the war there to help free the people. I told him that most likely if the US got involved it would fund both sides. The US even funds the wars in the Middle East against itself. That's possible because the public will believe whatever the government tells them to believe.

These are non-correctable problems. They've worked for thousands of years because they are part of human nature and can't be changed for most people. A few people can know and understand. It's like other magic tricks. It's like the French drop. Once you start to see it and pay attention you can understand it. But realize, most people won't and the same propaganda that worked for the last war will work for the next war, the same propaganda that worked for the last election will work for the next election. It works every time.

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