How your attitudes are shaped, without your realising it.
PROPAGANDA: HOW MODERN SOCIETIES ARE SHAPED WITHOUT REALISING IT
Taken together, the ten articles summarised here explore propaganda not as crude lies imposed from above, but as a subtle, pervasive system that shapes attitudes, narrows "permissible" thought, and conditions populations to accept their elite by taking down their resistance. Drawing on thinkers such as Jacques Ellul and observing contemporary media, war reporting, and political discourse, the series shows how propaganda works through repetition, emotional framing, moral binaries, and the implicit - systemic really - the implicit, system-driven alignment of governments, journalists, analysts, think tanks and cultural institutions. This doesn't require "managing" or intervention or coordination, only shared assumptions.
It is most effective precisely because it feels normal, humanitarian, and rational - because it presents itself as common sense rather than persuasion. Propaganda in modern societies is self-organising. Whether examining war narratives, journalism’s loss of scepticism, the theatricalisation of politics, or the psychological exhaustion of Western societies, the core argument remains the same: modern propaganda does not demand belief, it demands acquiescence. It replaces debate with reflex, doubt with certainty, and citizenship with spectatorship.
The danger is not merely that we are misinformed, but that we gradually lose the capacity - and even the desire - to think independently.
1. JACQUES ELLUL – THE FORMATION OF ATTITUDES
This post draws on Jacques Ellul’s insight that modern propaganda does not primarily aim to persuade us with arguments, but to shape our attitudes over time. Ellul explains how constant exposure to simplified narratives, repetition, and emotional framing gradually conditions individuals to accept certain positions as “normal” or “obvious", long before any explicit opinion is formed. The article argues that modern citizens mistake information overload for freedom of thought, when in reality it produces conformity and passivity.
2. PROPAGANDA, THE WAY IT WORKS, THE HARM IT DOES
This article explains propaganda as a psychological system rather than a set of lies. It shows how slogans, moral binaries, and emotional triggers short-circuit rational thought, encouraging people to react rather than reflect - this is very important to understand, and a proper understanding of propaganda requires knowing the methods and tools employed and just how calculating the campaign is and how coordination is achieved at the system level. The harm lies not only in false beliefs, but in the erosion of independent judgement, social trust, and nuance. Over time, propaganda damages democratic culture by replacing reasoning with reflex and a kind of conditioned instinct.
3. PROPAGANDA FIT FOR THE EDINBURGH FRINGE
Using satire and irony, this post compares modern war propaganda to a theatrical performance - exaggerated, repetitive, Punch and Judy almost, and designed for applause rather than truth. It argues that many media narratives are so absurdly scripted that they resemble fringe comedy, except with deadly consequences. The piece highlights how certainty, moral grandstanding, and simplification replace serious analysis, turning war into entertainment for distant audiences. "Politics is the entertainment division of the MIC."
4. JOURNALISM AS PROPAGANDA
This article argues that journalism has increasingly abandoned its role as a sceptical check on power and become a transmission belt for elite narratives. Rather than investigating, challenging, contextualising, much of the media now amplifies official positions while marginalising dissent. The post shows how framing, omission, and selective outrage can be as powerful as outright censorship in shaping public perception.
5. THE EFFECT OF TROLLS ON THE OUTCOME OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE
This post examines the real and exaggerated role of online trolls in the Ukraine conflict. It argues that while information warfare exists, blaming “trolls” often serves as a convenient excuse to dismiss legitimate scepticism and policy failure. The deeper problem, the article suggests, is not manipulation by outsiders but the fragility of public trust and the unwillingness of elites to tolerate dissent.
6. WESTERN GOVTS, ANALYSTS AND MEDIA – HOW PROPAGANDA WORKS
Here, the focus is on the alignment between governments, think tanks, analysts, and media organisations. The article explains how a narrow consensus forms, how soft power works - career incentives, access journalism, reputational risk. Once established, this consensus polices itself, marginalising alternative views without needing explicit coordination. Propaganda emerges as a systemic outcome, not a conspiracy. Question outside the box and a journalist loses influence and access and gets relegated to podcasts, substack, the bloggosphere.
7. PROPAGANDA PODCAST
This post introduces and frames this podcast series, which is dedicated to unpacking and "de-fanging" propaganda in modern politics and war. It emphasises slow thinking, historical context, and scepticism as antidotes to emotional manipulation and the tools of the propagandaist's trade. The aim is not to replace one narrative with another, but to help listeners recognise techniques of persuasion and reclaim a minimum of intellectual autonomy.
8. THIS IS NOT OUR WAR
This article challenges the claim that the Ukraine war is a moral crusade binding all Europeans. It argues that public consent has been manufactured through fear, moral pressure, and selective information. The post questions whose interests are truly served and warns that democratic legitimacy erodes when populations are told a war is inevitable, righteous, and beyond debate.
9. IS AMERICA’S MADNESS REVERSIBLE?
This piece reflects on the United States’ political and psychological trajectory, describing a society locked in permanent crisis mode. It argues that constant outrage, polarisation, and moral absolutism are symptoms of deeper institutional and cultural breakdown. The article asks whether restraint, pluralism, and self-doubt — once American strengths — can be recovered, or whether the system now feeds on permanent instability.
10. THE WEST HAS BEEN DEFEATED IN UKRAINE, BUT IS IN DENIAL OF THE…
This post argues that the West has already lost strategically in Ukraine, but cannot admit it without confronting deeper failures of leadership, planning, and honesty. Rather than reassessing, elites double down on narrative control to delay political consequences. The article frames denial as a final stage of propaganda - not to mobilise victory, but to postpone accountability.
1. JACQUES ELLUL – THE FORMATION OF ATTITUDES
