this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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Public opinion manipulation becomes very evident when it's visualized. You can see the opinions quickly invert as the media narrative changed from positive to negative here
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/07/27/views-of-china/
The real tragedy is that most people don't realize just how much their views are being manipulated and how easy it is to do that. People think themselves as being rational and informed, and that they couldn't possibly fall for cheap propaganda tactics. Yet, as the chart above clearly shows their views can be shifted from their current position to a completely opposite one in a very short time span.
Same thing is happening to India before our eyes.
Thing is, the Western view that media is free inherently makes people more susceptible to propaganda. To be more precise, Western media has achieved a few things: (1) The illusion of media freedom makes people less likely to question the media they consume. (2) The profit-driven motive of media companies makes it more likely for facts to be "reinterpreted" to better fit the target reader's worldview. (3) The extent that government agencies are involved in media has been completely hidden from the public.
Completely agree, the advantage of western approach is that it creates an illusion of freedom and since people want to believe that their society is free, they tend to choose to believe it.