Essentially, propaganda, whether circulated through state-controlled or private media, refers to techniques of public opinion manipulation based on incomplete or misleading information, lies and deception. During World War II, both the Nazis and the Allies invested heavily in propaganda operations as part of each side’s overall effort to win the war.
The war in Ukraine is no different. Both Russian and Ukrainian leaders have undertaken a campaign of systematic dissemination of warfare information that can easily be designated as propaganda. Other parties with a stake in the conflict, such as the United States and China, are also engaged in propaganda operations, which work in tandem with their apparent lack of interest in diplomatic undertakings to end the war.
C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout
To study politics seriously would require a degree in Political Science. Clearly the political world is sophisticated and complex and many well paid journalists have the language to suggest to ordinary folk like me - be careful before writing about a subject I am not fully educated in.
This is one of the first warnings in questioning issues about truth and power. The second would be the issue of danger to write about those institutions who are "holding" power. Expressing opinions about anything more than the trivial comes with uncertainty.
As a woman who has lived a seemingly apolitical life and whose opinions don't concern those who have "power", questions that arise as I witness my life from a chatty teen to a subdued senior citizen, leave me feeling disgusted with how so much violence has influenced human society to the point of total and everlasting threat.
Margaret Atwood pierces this with dystopian novels, as did George Orwell and many others. Yet the horrors revealed in human nature when power is the only goal still operate universally. It's as though the highest instruments of power cannot see what we simple folk dread.
Or, worse, they can but our extinction is part of the plan. But to guess the reason, the mindset and thinking of evil men will only take us to the next battleground, not the solution of which there are none according to the highly educated.
Humanity with all its cunning and broken heart, has invaded this planet and is determined to control whatever it can. All the worst atrocities, wars and schemes, seem to be the jewels of toxic patriarchy.
We are failing at feeding the poor, housing the family, we lost ourselves in games of winning, spending our lives trying to prove our superiority, but at what? Being a billionaire while so many die of war, poverty, social practices that prefer to punish rather than understand. Calling those who show compassion, bleeding hearts, soft, or better yet those who think too much.
While those who have attained authoritarian power feel okay killing men, women and children who are unarmed. Blowing up buildings, governments, torturing those who think differently or who have found information about malpractice.
Hello little five year old boys and girls. You are asked to sit at desks for several hours learning about the ways of the world, but in a way as to make it boring, as if our forefathers were big dull bullies walking among you with canes.
Schools are still with us and there is a lot of information about civil society, mental health and preserving freedom along with social responsibility but instead of learning how to be a happy human we are going to test your ability to learn facts that we think are safe for us, give you marks, humiliate you by giving you a position in comparison to others in your class and label you bright or dumb.
This will invite unhappy kids to beat you up if you are at the top of the class or at the bottom but it won't teach you how to live and love.
George Monbiot has studied our social/political world and writes "What exams measure is aptitude in exams. While they might rank certain skills, such as the retention of facts and the performance of linear tasks under pressure, these represent just a small part of the equipment a person needs to navigate the world. Many of the challenges we face are complex, long-lasting and multi-layered. They might demand social and emotional intelligence rather than the ability to marshal facts, and might best be overcome by collaboration instead of competition." Tested to Destruction. George Monbiot.
