Honestly I did the same thing with guns. All that propaganda about obama coming to take our guns had me hook, line, and sinker.
I mean, if they tell you what they're planning to do (and they usually do), and you don't believe them...
>Does recognizing it as propaganda not take away some of the power it has over you?
I would say now it does. I didn't recognize it as propaganda at the time. The way it was presented "seemed" logical at the time. There are large organized groups that are sort of trying to enact common sense gun laws and sometimes they suggest things that go a little to far but really don't seem to address the issue of criminals using guns. At the time I was seeing that and recognizing that as a threat.
I suppose I recognize it for what it is now 10 years later after my initial gun fever wore off. I'm a little smarter to advertising tactics now and much more conscious about my money. and then I saw how easily it was to dupe me, I sort of understand why so many people who aren't extreme right-wing can watch something like Fox and be "converted".
But I also can watch my local fox news and see how they're are running stories that are trying to convince the viewers that the city is crumbling, schools are shit, and crime is out of control.
What is "common sense?"
Why is it a foregone conclusion that whatever proposal is automatically "common sense?"
For instance, in my state, they changed the laws of where you can and can't carry. It's now more illegal to carry a gun on, say, for instance, school property. But it was already illegal. If our goal is to prevent gun deaths. This law does not prevent that from happening.
[1]https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/ghost...