There are 3 rules to understand propaganda:
- Propaganda is the key for ideas propagation.
- It’s important to understand that truth doesn’t matter here.
- Aesthetics >> Thruth/Ideals/Info/Knowledge/Coherence
Someone that is easy to convince (such as a teenager) can be driven to embrace right and left political axis in a short period of time. And that is because they will be captured by the promisse of glory (transmitted by propaganda), not the ideals.
See how two completely different extreme political movements promote propaganda with similar aesthetics.
The aesthetics of information affects our relationships to it
The visual components of both information and how we interact with information reinforce the sensual aspect of working with information, knowledge, and metadata. In particular, this person’s statement that they make their “thoughts hold hands” brings a physical and almost erotic element to how they visualize the network of their thinking.
Propaganda should create a network of thinking inside the target mind, connecting ideas of self augmentation and glory, to the desire movement. The self-contradictons, lack of information, missunderstanding and logic falacies are common, mainly because the network don’t need to transmit coherence or logical/deducting knowledge, it just need to provoke the right disturbances and trigger the right feelings.
Statistical analysis of terrorist groups’ longevity, aims, methods and successes reveal that groups are self-contradictory and self-sabotaging, generally ineffective; common stereotypes like terrorists being poor or ultra-skilled are false. Superficially appealing counter-examples are discussed and rejected. Data on motivations and the dissolution of terrorist groups are brought into play and the surprising conclusion reached: terrorism is a form of socialization or status-seeking.
https://www.gwern.net/Terrorism-is-not-about-Terror
*“When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse.” - *Osama bin Laden, 2001
https://brandon-wilburn.github.io/iffall2018/microsite/finished/index.html
https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Fashwave