At the root of propaganda is CONFUSION - a Philip Roth quote

Questions, speculations & updates on the techniques and nature of media fakery
nonhocapito
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At the root of propaganda is CONFUSION - a Philip Roth quote

Unread post by nonhocapito »

I finished recently to read Philip Roth's Operation Shylock. I'll leave out for now my negative feelings about this (more than 20 years old) book, suffice to say that this is a very foggy text about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which depicts Palestinians as worn out lunatics, Israeli as ruthless master deceivers and the holocaust as a monstrous event from which all these negative energies pour into the present.

But I wanted to pass on to you the following quote, because, in its description of the strategy of Mossad in Palestine, it actually describes the strategy of fakery and propaganda we deal with on this forum, on a global scale. The matrix is clearly, literally, the same.
I say the permutations are infinite in a situation like ours, where the object is to create an atmosphere in which no Arab can feel secure as to who is his enemy and who is his friend. Nothing is secure. This is the message to the Arab population in the territories. Of what is going on all around them, they should know very little and get everything wrong. And they do know very little and they do get everything wrong.
The character speaking is a Mossad agent named Smilesburger, who, after declaring that he's now retired, adds: "...freed of it all, of everything vile and sinister. Deceptions. Disinformation. Fakery."

I am sure the members of this forum will see how the above applies to the propaganda we face everyday in regard to fake terrorism and fake news events. How all these contradictory explanations and interpretations fed by the media, hinted at by the "conspiracy theorists", kept alive by "casual remarks" of politicians are not a sign of sloppiness but are planted by design... and by design without ever amounting to anything definite or useful.

We do pierce through the fabric of fakery by declaring that things are faked: yet this is often not enough to create a reaction, because the strategy in which terror and propaganda are communicated globally is so inclusive of every possible permutation and interpretation that, as long as the final picture is an utterly confusing one, the terror event still works as such...

We have seen this with every shill on this forum, with every counter-action against our research: the purpose is always one of poisoning the discussion by adding contradicting, confusing elements; by making the written language very bookish, very metaphorical, argumentative to the point of becoming unreadable, or illiterate to the same point: all of these are strategies to add confusion and uncertainty so that researching the truth will be very frustrating, and, more importantly, so that your partners in the search will disappoint you because they will get confused in a different way from you.

I want to be optimistic and say that the research into fakery inch by inch eats away from this strategy, making it in the long run ineffective. But it is also useful to see how an intent to spread confusing messages is at the root of it all; in other words Confusion is not an accessory of counter-intelligence, in reaction to people glimpsing at the truth: rather the events are designed from their inception with Confusion as the final result. So that people will "know very little" and "get everything wrong".
aa5
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Re: At the root of propaganda is CONFUSION - a Philip Roth q

Unread post by aa5 »

The less a person knows that is true, the worse their decision making is going to be.

For example young adults who go $150,000 in debt to get a degree in art history, and then are sad at 30 years old when they work part-time at a coffee shop. The poor college choices & reckless spending, were because they simply had no idea how the 'real world' works.
panertos
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Re: At the root of propaganda is CONFUSION - a Philip Roth quote

Unread post by panertos »

I completely agree with the premise that confusion is a vital tool used in propaganda. A fearful, insecure person is much more moldable to propaganda. Modern society actively cultivates an environment of confusion that makes people vulnerable to manipulation.

This can be seen even in simple marketing campaigns. Take washing powder as an example. Marketers sow small fears - your clothes might turn grey, shrink, or get holes. Then they provide the "solution" - our detergent, specially formulated with patented enzyme XP23 to keep your clothes like new.

The same principles work on a societal level. In the past, faith and religion provided a stable moral framework that defined Good and bas - what makes a good father, a good employee, a good partner. But today, with the dethroning of God since the French Revolution, we lack consistent value judgments. There is widespread confusion about what constitutes ethical behavior.

I speak about the French Revolution as it marked a break with the idea that there is 1 Truth only. Then thinking became pluralistic - there is no single Truth, just different ideas and ongoing debate. Everyone can hold their own opinion. This was positive in some ways, as could only the Catholic Church dictate what Truth is? But it played out so the financial elites that owned the media could now manipulate the souls of the masses.

This confusion leaves people constantly longing to know if they are Good people, if their bodies are attractive, who the real heroes are, what responsible eating entails. The answers keep shifting as propagandists and marketers continually reframe the narrative. One decade, big breasts are the beauty ideal, the next, big butts. First the strong, authoritarian father is revered, then the nurturing, hands-on mother. Hard work and self-reliance are touted as critical values, then suddenly social engagement and collectivism.

The modernists call this progression, but it is really just relentless change. This state of confusion leaves people perpetually disoriented, never on solid ground. Like a freshly plowed field, they are ready to be planted with whatever the elites desire, then they will be harvested and then the field will be plowed again.

Rather than discovering Truth, unchanging Truth, today's world is based on confusion. Man desperately yearns to know if he is Good, but he has no fixed benchmarks, therefore he is in a constant state of fear. Without anchors, he is highly susceptible to the tools of propaganda and marketing. Confusion is the freshly tilled soil waiting for propagandists to implant ideas and reap results.

The dethroning of God and lack of shared moral code since the French Revolution is the perfect environment for social engineering. When people are confused about even basic values like goodness, they are putty in the hands of those with an agenda. Propagandists plow the field and plant the seeds that will grow into the society they envision.

Confusion is the fertile soil for a ruthless manipulating elite.

P.s. mass media has made this kind society with this kind of elite possible, this would have been impossible in 1500, with this kind of size and uniformity.
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