The primary reason people are so vulnerable to propaganda is that hardly anyone clearly sees just how much human consciousness is dominated by mental narrative. There's a night and day difference between reality and the stories minds tell about reality. Manipulators exploit this.
Most people assume that the mental stories in their heads are an accurate reflection of what's happening outside their skull, and it just isn't. Manipulators know they can just feed people stories, narratives, about what's happening and they'll accept those narratives as reality.
Manipulators know they can trade a bunch of convincing words in exchange for all sorts of real valuables: sex, deals, loyalty, votes, political power. Humanity's deluded relationship with narrative means you can get real, concrete treasures in exchange for pure illusion.
Most of the things which consume your attention are pure narrative constructs: religion, philosophy, culture, politics, the economy, even what you take to be your very self. But few ever take the time to sift these narratives apart from reality, so we're hackable by manipulators.
The difference between what's happening and what the babbling mind says is happening could not possibly be more different. Until our species evolves a new relationship with mental narrative which allows a real relationship with the real world, we'll keep moving toward extinction.
Exactly. It's not about being smart or informed, it's about being able to distinguish between fact and narrative. Mute the RussiaRussiaRussia narratives and you just see a bunch of military equipment amassing in Eurasia. That's the actual, real thing.
Yes. Ignore the stories about what's happening and watch what's ACTUALLY happening. Watch where all the resources are going, where all the weapons are coming from and going to, etc. Then understand that the narratives are simply justifications for this.
Yup. Whoever controls the narratives people tell themselves about reality has control over those people. You can understand all of human history and civilization if you can understand this one fundamental concept.
