Comment by rbanffy

1 day ago

True, but they have abandoned the subtlety of the factbook.

The suggestion that obvious propaganda is somehow better than "subtle" propaganda is itself propaganda.

  • Obvious propaganda plays a role in the destruction of a shared objective reality, which is part of the authoritarian playbook. Subtle propaganda distorts reality but preserves the notion of a shared objective one and does not intend to undermine trust.

    When a government uses blatant, easily disproven lies, but doubles down on the lies and continues with increasingly absurd ones, there is no space for subtlety or trustworthy sources in that government.