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Same. The sad reality is that what the article calls "silly, unpersuasive propaganda" still works on a ton of people.

But it does work on the timid segment of the population. Some will repeat lies willfully, some will be convinced by lies, and some will be so afraid of lies as to not dare say the truth

It's really not useful to put people in categories of doing these things by their fundamental nature, or not.

I think nearly everyone has lied at some point, most consequentially. Who hasn't been taken by a lie, or repeated something they knew they couldn't verify? I'm pretty confident in my positions and outspoken about them but I don't always speak up when I ought, and I often speak up when I shouldn't.

There is no "timid segment of the population" there is only us. It's much more constructive to study the pressures, constraints, incentives, and conditions that lead individuals and groups into these actions.

That some individuals may occasionally be fooled does not change the fact that large subsets of the population just guzzle down whatever drivel their chosen political pundit makes up that day. It’s plenty useful to acknowledge the presence of collective brain rot.

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