The shape of propaganda

Recall psycho-economics 101: Our ability to care about stuff is limited. Therefore, caring about truth competes with everything else we might care about.

Psycho-economics 101 is why most modern propaganda takes this shape:

• Increase the benefit of falsehood (get high status), and decrease the cost (avoid social rejection)

• Decrease the benefit of truth (get low status ), and increase the cost of truth (get social rejection)

Propaganda is more than lies. Lies only affect what we believe.

Propaganda affects what we want to believe.

Propaganda inclines populations toward convenient falsehoods by tilting the scales — by manipulating the calculations we’re constantly making about whether caring about truth is worth the cost.