frankv:

 

I'm with you up to here. But I suggest that propaganda is not the ultimate dumbing-down of information. It is willfully mixing falsehoods with facts to persuade mislead.

 

Dumbing-down is normal and acceptable as part of education. ("All education is lies".) Sometimes you have to simplify, to provide a foundation and context for the detail. Dumbed-down understanding is understanding the big picture, without the nuances and fine detail.

 

 

The violent mob that attacked the American capitol and murdered five people did so because they believed the very dumb claim that the election was being stolen. They were able to believe this because (thanks in part to Fox) they were so ignorant of every piece of information that might have called it into question.

 

 

Yes to your first sentence. But I think they were able to believe because they *wanted* to believe. They deliberately turned away from every factual source to sustain a narrative that they wanted... Trump as President because, they, the heroes of the 21st century American Revolution, had made it happen. Not unlike the Nazis in the 1930s, who saw themselves as heroes saving the German Volk from themselves (and the Jews), and thus needed to overthrow the democratic institutions.

 

[quoted]

 

Dumbing down is not the answer. Educating up is.

 

[/quoted]

 

Yes to that. But you've got to have the foundation on which to build.

 

 

 

I don't completely disagree with the points you make. Yes, simplification has a legitimate place, but I think there is a fine line between that and dumbing down. The problem where propaganda is concerned is that dumbed-down information removes the ability to place propaganda in context, and see what is false and distorted.