Swarthout’s Reviews > How Propaganda Works > Status Update
Swarthout
is on page 121 of 376
It may be, for example, that the real explanation of the effectiveness of fear for the decision to invade Iraq was the lack of the average American’s ability to imagine himself as a member of a population being invaded and heavily aerially bombed by a vastly more powerful military force, and that in turn was the consequence of stereotypes about Arab Muslims that robbed us of the capacity for empathy toward them.
— Dec 19, 2025 04:29PM
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Swarthout’s Previous Updates
Swarthout
is on page 139 of 376
One characteristic effect of propaganda in a liberal democracy will be to erode empathy for the perspectives of a group in a population, while presenting itself as not so doing.
— 3 hours, 12 min ago
Swarthout
is on page 117 of 376
Prisoners have become dehumanized as a consequence. They now serve as a strategic instrument in politics. A politician summons up crime to elicit fear, and then offers himself as the instrument to satisfy the desire for retribution (though the desire is for retribution of the fear caused by that very politician).
— Dec 19, 2025 04:05PM
Swarthout
is on page 108 of 376
It is not reasonable to propose a policy that, from the perspective of another, is unreasonable. The normative ideal of reasonableness is the demand “to live politically with others in the light of reasons all might reasonably be expected to endorse.”
— Dec 19, 2025 02:14PM
Swarthout
is on page 56 of 376
Advertising: A contribution to public discourse that is presented as an embodiment of certain ideals, but in the service of a goal that is irrelevant to those very ideals.
— Dec 17, 2025 04:00PM
Swarthout
is on page 49 of 376
Lying too is a betrayal of the rational will. But it is a different kind of betrayal of the rational will than propaganda. At least with lying, one purports to provide evidence. Propaganda is worse than that. It attempts to unify opinion without attempting to appeal to our rational will at all.
— Dec 17, 2025 11:03AM
Swarthout
is on page 48 of 376
According to these classical characterizations of propaganda...propaganda closes off debate by bypassing the rational will. It makes the state move as one, stirred by emotions that far surpass the evidence for their intensity.
— Dec 17, 2025 10:54AM
