- How does this dovetail into the 'we are the good guys' factor? Archived Message
Posted by marknadim
on July 24, 2019, 6:52 am, in reply to "Very important article on how propaganda works: "The 'Just World' fallacy""
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Living in a rich militarily strong warring state, that Just World Fallacy supports the 'so, we must be the good guys then' conclusion. The constantly pumped out nonsense self-affirming our / government's goodness (eg royal pomp and ceremony; govt 'really trying to deal with homelessness'; the military 'acting on a purely moral basis' in the Middle East ...) both tells us how great we are - and therefore always right - and returns a mutual boost to the Just World mullarkey. Plus, the power of distraction and entertainment is often ignored imo. Turned up and coming at us from every angle to fill our every waking second - it makes up by far the vast majority of media output and engagement - this has a supportive impact on both Just World and We're Thee Good Guys. The daily experience tells us: "since everyone is watching this show - X-factor / golf ... - or chatting on Instagram, or going along to huge sports events ... that means it's normal and fine to prioritise this distraction / entertainment behaviour to such a high degree, over eg tearing apart mass propaganda". If it's 'normal and fine' to do that, then by default we must live in a 'good, fair world', and we must be 'such good people' to be 'rewarded with time to spend on fashion / celeb goss / football ...' in a wealthy society. When you tie it all together, you have the BBC, "the most refined propaganda service in the world", says Pilger. News readers and current affairs presenters, who ram home our society's moral hugeness in their day jobs, also double up presenting quiz and antiques shows. The pinnacle crossover point perhaps is when you have Live Aid, or the yearly 'Children in Need' with Andrew Marr doing slapstick etc. Or someone like Chris Evans radio 2 national 'whadda great guy' icon, also touting for a naational car fest and doing a tv car show, and also getting tearful raising money for the needy. 'Justice is done, we're fab, so let's party'. (why would you begin to question the validity of our system and news in that scenario). distraction |