Thread by @jenmercieca

Anti-democratic communication is "treason to the democratic way of life" (John Dewey, 1939). Propaganda is communication for warfare, using communication as a weapon. It is anti-democratic communication. #amwriting

There are two important propaganda models: 1) manufacture consent: keep public docile via messages that support status quo/elite leadership; 2) manufacture dissent: keep public engaged and outraged via messages that spread distrust, polarization, and frustration.

Most of us are "tune-outs" who don't pay attention to political news & aren't highly engaged in politics, but for those of us who are highly engaged in politics the manufacture dissent model enlists us as propagandists too, turning us into what Orwell called "screaming lunatics."

Both the manufacture of consent & dissent forms of propaganda are "treason to the democratic way of life." Both manipulate us & deny us free will. Both take advantage of our our cognitive, emotional, and social vulnerabilities to use us as tools.

“Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody's power, that is not easy.” (Aristotle, Rhetoric)

The goal is to be an active citizen--not tuned out via the manufacture of consent, but also not a screaming lunatic via the manufacture of dissent. We want a sort of Aristotelian "golden mean" of citizenship. For that we need democratic communication, not propaganda.

So that's the set-up for what I'm writing and then I'll explain what democratic communication looks like, using persuasion rather than propaganda.

Sometimes it helps me to think to write it in tweet threads. Thanks for coming to my outline. 😂

(also, I thought that this was what I was going to write my next book about, but somehow editors thought that there were already too many books that said this--even though there really aren't. still a little sad about that)