By: Stacy Mergenthal

Stacy Mergenthal — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 21:05:00 +0000

Trump’s entire campaign and his supporters’ enthusiasm for fascism feels like an act, like a sideshow. Perhaps it is the boldness that makes it feel so. Political correctness seems like an incredibly shortsighted and absurd line to draw in the sand, doesn’t it? Of all the issues affecting us (global warming, poverty, militarized police, systemic racism, erosion of human and civil rights, etc.), they choose something that cannot be [constitutionally] legislated away. The choosing of ‘Lion Guard’ is telling but surprisingly forthright. Why advertise the fascism? Bizarre.

I see this propaganda problem thus: People seek out information that reinforces thoughts and opinions already held. > The media happily complies because $$$; TV networks and print become more polarized. > The People stick with their favorite reinforcers, getting limited outside perspective and further entrenching them. > Media uses this power to aid and abet the people and ideas that benefit them financially. > The People vote for pre-approved candidates who work with media to continue the money parade. And so on.

The question is: how to get us out of this vicious cycle? Break up these mega media corporations? Equal air time rules?

Comments on: Memes: A new form of old-school propaganda

By: Stacy Mergenthal