Democracy is losing the propaganda war [View all]
I started to post a thread on this topic a few days ago but never got enough coherent thoughts to compose a coherent discussion. And I was thinking in terms of the propaganda machine in this country, X specifically. Ever since Musk took over, he's allowing a deluge of lies and misinformation by the MAGA crowd in the name of free speech.
Whatever...
The article describes the global effort by authoritarian/dictatorial countries who want to eliminate democracy based governments. And MAGA is siding with them.
https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2024/05/june-2024-cover-anne-applebaum-new-propaganda-war/678302/?utm_source=feed
For The Atlantics June cover story, Democracy Is Losing the Propaganda War, staff writer Anne Applebaum reports on how autocrats in China, Russia, and other places around the world are now making common cause with MAGA Republicans to discredit liberalism and freedom everywhere.
If people are naturally drawn to the image of human rights, to the language of democracy, to the dream of freedom, then those concepts have to be poisoned.
To accomplish this, Applebaum reports, autocracies are now making systematic efforts to influence both popular and elite audiences, including via the use of state-controlled mediamost notably Chinas Xinhua news agency and Russias RT, but also Venezuelas Telesur network and Irans Press TV, along with numerous othersto create stories, slogans, memes, and narratives promoting the worldview of the autocracies. These, in turn, are repeated and amplified in other countries, translated into multiple languages, and reshaped for local markets around the world.
When these stories make their way to the U.S., Applebaum reports, a part of the American political spectrum is not merely a passive recipient of the combined authoritarian narratives that come from Russia, China, and their ilk, but an active participant in creating and spreading them. Like the leaders of those countries, the American MAGA right also wants Americans to believe that their democracy is degenerate, their elections illegitimate, their civilization dying.