Member-only story
Groupthink is Killing Democracy
Anyone who thinks, questions, or criticizes our government is a Putin apologist and Russian propagandist — the corporate media said so.
The speed at which a peaceful crowd transforms into a frenzied, impulsive mob is horrifyingly quick, and manipulation is easy because we are incredibly predictable. Businesses have capitalized on our insecurities and desires for decades because they understand the power of psychological advertisements, and politicians aren’t any different. Their crafty slogans and campaigns know how to win our emotional vote.
We tend to believe we develop our beliefs independently, but the average person encounters 10,000 advertisements daily. It’s been drilled into us that owning a luxury car results in a hot blond babe in the passenger seat, and name-brand clothing is fashionable. We know what we like, yet we’re repeatedly told what we want. It’s absurd to disregard the effect on our psyche when we consume meaningless materials to fill emotional voids, and we eat it up.
Well, our beliefs about the world aren’t any different. The US educational system embeds nationalism into the curriculum, and our culture reinforces American Exceptionalism throughout our lives. The corporate media conditions the population to believe US morals are…
