Candy-coated land of liberty
The United States has a long and embarrassing history of polarizing complex issues into
asinine, media-fed dualities of good versus evil when neither side is as good or evil as
they are represented.
In totalitarian societies where there's a Executive branch of Truth, propaganda doesn't try
to control your thoughts. It just gives you the maxim. It says, "Here's the official doctrine;
don't disobey and you won't get in trouble. What you think is not of great importance to
anyone. If you get out of line we'll do something to you because we have force."
Democratic societies can't work like that, because the state is much more limited in its
capacity to dominate behavior by force. Since the voice of the people is allowed to speak
out, those in power better control what that voice says--in other words, control what
people think. One of the ways to do this is to create a political debate that appears to
embrace many opinions, but actually stays within very confined margins. You have to
make sure that both sides in the debate accept certain assumptions--and that those
assumptions are the basis of the propaganda system. As long as everyone accepts the
propaganda system, the debate is permissible.
