Several recent on-line conversations have reminded me, although I never actually forgot, about the basic tools that make propaganda effective. Abusive leaders (and there are LOTS of them) speak propaganda not truth.
Propaganda is the repetitious spreading of misinformation and lies in order to manipulate the public into believing falsehoods and behaving in ways that are unjust. Common methods include:
- Relying on one and only one source of information
- Listening only to voices that agree with you and confirm your preexisting bias
- Repetition; either listening to or repeating the same information over and
Joseph Goebbels was Minister of Propaganda for Adolf Hitler. He was an expert at his job over again
- Offering only one side of an argument, ignoring any contrary evidence or argumentation
Among conservatives of all stripes today, the principle propaganda outlet is Fox News. This network, and others like it, are a blight on American society. It’s product is not journalism but propaganda. Fox’s blatant role as an outlet for
Republican talking points has been public knowledge for many years (here and here). Loyal viewers repeat what they hear on Fox News because it’s often the only source they trust.
This repetitious feedback loop is now firmly established.
In one of my recent online debates, a gentleman emphatically repeated the same claims over and over again, regardless of my replies. I answered him by pointing out the misinformation in his statements and giving reasons for why his argument was incorrect. Yet, as is typical of folks who only “know” what they hear via propaganda, he simply repeated his false claims and errors more firmly, never adjusting his argument or responding to my points. In other words, he restated what he had been told to believe.
THIS IS NOT APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR FOR GOD’S PEOPLE.
Here’s today’s excerpt, from pages 105-106 of my book, I Pledge Allegiance: A Believer’s Guide to Kingdom Citizenship in 21st Century America (Eerdmans 2018):
“Persuasive messaging is vital to authority. Whether that message comes in the guise of politics, philosophy, theology, ideology, theory, or propaganda, an
authority figure creates legitimacy through the power of a convincing explanation. Effective messaging allows listeners to believe that their obedience is serving a desirable end, no matter how distasteful their obedience to those demands may be. The ends justify the means, at least when the authority’s words are convincing. ‘Control the manner in which a man (sic) interprets his world, and you have gone a long way toward controlling his behavior.’
“If the message is repeated often enough, and the listener becomes convinced enough, the authority’s explanation is eventually assimilated into the person’s understanding of the world. It is no longer questioned; it is assumed and becomes the believer’s default position, so that any new evidence challenging or contradicting the accepted message is automatically dismissed or ignored. Do you remember your last political debate with someone who only watches the news from one particular television network? How open was that person to new evidence or counter-arguments offered from a different perspective? Once the content of repetitious messaging has been excused from answering questions posed by critical thinking, then it has become indoctrination: that is, a strongly held belief having its own internal logic, self-evident only to believers, hovering above the messy world of counter-evidence and public demonstration.
“But politicians, demagogues, and advertising agencies are not the only ones who use the power of messaging. The Christian church also has a message that requires communication. We first hear this message through the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is then elaborated through regular Bible study into a comprehensive way of living, where obeying the Lord Jesus is life’s guiding directive. Christians discover what God asks of them by becoming familiar with the sound of his voice. Recognizing God’s voice is a gift to faithful, long-time students of his word who put the Lord’s directions into practice. This is how a depraved human mind is slowly transformed into the redeemed mind of Christ (Rom. 12:2). It is a process called sanctification, and it is neither easy nor automatic. Our human tendency is to cling to as much of the old, unredeemed mindset as possible, minimizing the amount of Christ-like upside-down transformation occurring and protectively maximizing the old-time, business-as-usual worldview preserved from our pre-Christian attitudes on life. It is a lifelong contest for supremacy.
“In this respect, every disciple resembles the character Gollum in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Gollum is a slobbering, pathetic subterranean creature, clawing and clutching feverishly at his ‘precious’ ring, unwilling to let it go. For Christians, our own ‘precious’ thing is the carnal mindset and consequent immorality that we spent a lifetime inhaling from the materialistic atmosphere swirling around us before we first met Jesus. Allowing these precious, unredeemed preconceptions to be challenged, torn down, and replaced by the new, regenerate mind of Jesus is so difficult that it sometimes never happens. Occasionally, a dramatic historical event will pull back the ecclesiastical curtain to reveal the truth about God’s people and about whose mind is truly precious to them.”
I am convinced that American Christianity is facing one such “dramatic historical event” right now. It is the rise of Donald Trump and the ethos surrounding him called Trumpism.
Whether Trump’s presidency is a flash in the pan or the permanent entrenchment of all the worst qualities displayed throughout America’s history as an international bully is beside the point. Conservative
Christianity’s gleeful embrace and puppy-dog loyalty to this pathological liar and malignant narcissist is more than enough to reach a verdict.
The conservative church in this country has not only failed the test, it has demonstrated that it never studied for the exam. It has slept through every class. Never taken a single note. Ignored the teacher and burned down the school.
For all its Christian bookstores, Bible study videos, booklets and supposedly expository teaching, the truth of God’s word is a stranger to many, far too many, who say they are God’s people.
The “ecclesiastical curtain” has been torn asunder from top to bottom; the church’s priorities have been exposed. Many things are precious to American Christianity, but the mind of Christ is not one of them.
