{"id":916,"date":"2025-04-08T22:34:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T20:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/?p=916"},"modified":"2025-04-09T08:44:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T06:44:25","slug":"how-do-we-cope-with-propaganda-is-it-clear-for-most-of-us-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/?p=916","title":{"rendered":"How do we cope with propaganda? Is it clear for most of us or not?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo: Radio waves, Credit: Clker-Free-Vector-Images<\/strong>, Pixabay<\/p>\n

Does repeating a lie a hundred times make it true? Unfortunately, more often than we would like, the answer is yes. This phenomenon is a key aspect of how propaganda operates.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Propaganda has existed since the emergence of different organized human societies and countries. Innovations in communication tools and methods that favor the dissemination of messages favorable for those in power have expanded the reach of propaganda. In the past, it was clearer who the propagandists were and who made up the audience. Today, that distinction has become blurred. Why? Because now everyone can comment on, like, or share content on social media, according to <\/span><\/span><\/span>scientists Tetsuro Kobayashi<\/strong> and Takashi Sakaki<\/strong> from Waseda University and Tokyo University, who shed light on this issue. Their study was originally published in the Chinese Journal of Communication<\/strong> and later featured in Taylor & Francis.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Social media serves as a tool for broadcasting propaganda and enables its audience to engage through \u2018likes\u2019 and comments and further share content,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

claim Tetsuro Kobayashi<\/strong> and Takshi Sakaki<\/strong> of the Waseda and Tokyo University.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In this context, <\/span><\/span>the scientists write, <\/span><\/span>the line between propagandists and their audience becomes unclear. Ordinary citizens and astroturfing agents in the target countries work together to interpret and spread narratives. <\/span><\/span>At times, facts can assist; at other times, they can hinder, depending on the audience and the intention.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Terryfying conclusions?<\/h2>\n

However,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> this is not the major conclusion of the study. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>The main conclusion is that the acceptance of propaganda might be autonomous from <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>ideology or values shared within the society. Moreover, this does not mean a free-standing judgment of a specified narrative\/message. Acco<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>r<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>ding to scientists, the agents of propaganda on social media are <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>currently <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>not limited to conventional propagandists such as state-sponsored media or diplomats. Propagandists include ordinary citizens from the targeted countries who disseminate the message further to their friends and followers, frequently not realizing what they are <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>supporting or the potential implications as such<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. This shift makes participatory propaganda increasingly relevant \u2013 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>write scientists<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>, t<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>he study focused on <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>how narratives propagated by China, generally perceived<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0as an illiberal or authoritarian country, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>are received and disseminated on social media in an East Asian democracy: Japan<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>An<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> example was the 2019 anti-government protests in Hong Kong. As scientists write, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>China was trying to demonstrate <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>that <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>the riots<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> were <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>instigated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>The narrative was accepted <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>and disseminated by the left and right wings within Japan\u2019s social media space, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>say scientists<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. A <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>survey experiment revealed that aversion to political protests in Japan led typically China-critical rightists to accept this narrative. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>To make it clear, as scientists claim, rightists generally maintain a strong alliance with the US while often adopting a tough stance towards China.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: Radio waves, Credit: Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Pixabay Does repeating a lie a hundred times make it true? Unfortunately, more often than we would like, the answer is yes. This phenomenon is a key aspect of how propaganda operates.\u00a0 Propaganda has existed since the emergence of different organized human societies and countries. Innovations in communication tools and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defence-technologies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":928,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolutionandsecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}