What does American Propaganda Look Like

Summary

Writer Jessica Wildfire draws on French sociologist Jacques Ellul to argue that Americans miss most of the propaganda aimed at them. Beyond the war posters, ‘sociological’ propaganda “focuses on more general worldviews and orientations”, comes from many sources and is often half-unconscious. Her remedy is humility, because “Propaganda works best on people who are scared to admit they were wrong.”

Rationale

Ellul’s ‘sociological’ propaganda reads like an account of how deep dispositions form: from countless sources, often unintended. Which raises an awkward question for us: when does cultivating dispositions become propaganda?