Everyone must have a MAGA uncle. I myself have two, my kids have one, perhaps two. They are the ones we always had questions about, and would often introduce strange ideas at the table, like a return to the gold standard, or joining Amway, or something. It's scary how easily they bought into it, and how easily manipulated they are. I would imagine they would be easily hypnotized or something. They seem to be the ones that want someone else to tell them what to think, or what to do. My sons call them 'NPCs', and I think perhaps they are somewhat correct. What do we do about the NPCs?
But it's easy to see when someone is falling for propaganda, because they believe what they are told, and do not check sources. They do not critically think. So I do not 'other' my uncles, but no presented facts seem to change their minds. It is disturbing to me how they are manipulated by false information that supports their gut instincts. Clearly there is a mind hack at work here. I would love to see them wake up but as long as the propaganda outlets they watch are left unchecked I don't believe it will happen.
Our fathers understood the danger of propaganda. They must have understood the mind hack. It used to be that the only TV news that was allowed was at specific times every night, and it was required to always be factually correct. It was carefully controlled by the FCC for a good reason.
We've really messed up as a society, and we are going to pay dearly now.
Society goes through these 50 year cycles where the collective memory is erased with generational churn.
We've forgotten about the impact of the big life changing technology of 100 years ago -- the radio. Radio demonstrated that mass media with extended reach can only be tamed by the leash of state authority. I'm in my 40s and remember boring radio of the 1980s and earlier. You might ask yourself... why was radio so boring? Why did it turn into a wild west in the 90s, then into weird right wing blah?
The reason is simple -- and it happened before. If you look back to the 1920s and 1930s, you had figures like Huey Long and Father Coughlin developing massive reach and exterting problematic influence. Cults of personality like Ron Paul and ultimately President Trump are really the same model. Getting out of it and saving the naive uncles depends and further media consolidation and regulation.
My guess is that's one of the reasons why the web plutocrats are moving so blatantly to establish dominance -- the free money era will get shut down by the kickback of MAGA's eventual demise.
