Everything In Our Civilization Is Stacked To Keep Us Believing The Propaganda

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses how people's tendency to favor cognitive ease and preserve their existing worldviews leads them to buy into mainstream propaganda, despite having the ability to overcome this tendency and gain a more lucid understanding of the world.

🙋 Q&A

[01] People's Tendency to Buy into Mainstream Propaganda

1. Why do people buy into the mainstream propaganda worldview?

• People buy into the mainstream propaganda worldview primarily because they are lazy thinkers, not because they are dumb or selfish.
• The human brain is wired to select for cognitive ease, favoring pathways of thought that require less mental strain to conserve energy.
• People's minds are also wired to preserve their existing worldviews, causing them to reject evidence that contradicts their beliefs.

2. How does this tendency to favor cognitive ease and defend worldviews lead to confirmation bias?

• Believing things that confirm our preexisting ideas about the world is easier than believing things that would challenge our worldview.
• This lazy tendency gives rise to confirmation bias, where people are more likely to accept information that aligns with their existing beliefs.

3. How do propagandists exploit this tendency in people?

• Propagandists serve up power-serving information in palatable and easy-to-digest ways, taking advantage of people's cognitive biases.
• This is seen in the way media outlets like Fox News and MSNBC promote confirmation bias through their programming.
• Social media algorithms also reinforce this dynamic by dividing people into self-reinforcing echo chambers where propaganda can be easily consumed.

[02] Overcoming the Obstacles to Forming a Lucid Worldview

1. What are the obstacles to overcoming our mental inertia and learning the truth about the world?

• Our evolutionary conditioning and the entirety of our modern civilization are stacked against us, with news media, entertainment, and mainstream culture all engineered to prevent us from understanding the truth.

2. How can we overcome these obstacles and form a lucid worldview?

• Just as we can overcome our evolutionary conditioning to improve our physical health, we can also move our minds past the obstacles to escaping the propaganda matrix.
• It requires a conscious effort to transcend our ancient animal conditioning and become a more aware and conscious species.

3. What is at stake in the coming years?

• The coming years will decide whether humanity remains trapped in its ancient animal conditioning or transcends its dysfunctionality and becomes a more conscious species.
• Our very survival as a species may depend on our ability to overcome our mental inertia and learn the truth about our world.