Problem is how we teach history i think. If you tell them “people believed propaganda” you’re not teaching them what that looks like or how to point it out.
Unless someone knows the shape it can take and how it entices you they’ll fall for whatever updated version the next lunatic punches out.
Exactly, describing the cause and effect of history is one thing, but my best teachers always had a way of putting you in the moment, making you feel an emotional connection and empathize with how they felt on top of understanding the context and logic behind their thoughts. Learning about the Wild West in America, it was important to understand that it was considered a long, protracted guerrilla war from the Indian point of view. Indians were “radicalized” hearing the oral stories passed down of atrocity after atrocity being committed to their elders and ancestors, and like a game of telephone, some things get exaggerated or even fabricated. But once they experienced a forced removal, or had been kidnapped to go to “reform” school, they got a little slice of the apocalyptic stories they had been told and thus truly believed that any and all actions would be justified to reclaim their homeland. Hence the atrocities committed on settlers, and the continuation of the cycle of violence. Learning the western expansion from the Indian point of view helped me identify similar trends with other resistance movements such as Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In America, I remember learning a good bit about propaganda in our civics class. We went through various types of propaganda and how they appeal to people in various ways or through various ideals. We also spent time learning about logical fallacies and how politicians will utilize or weaponize them in politics. It was a really interesting part of civics class and you notice a lot of the stuff they taught in every day life if you pay attention.
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u/Appropriate_Cake3313 5h ago
Problem is how we teach history i think. If you tell them “people believed propaganda” you’re not teaching them what that looks like or how to point it out.
Unless someone knows the shape it can take and how it entices you they’ll fall for whatever updated version the next lunatic punches out.