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Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast.
John Berger
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights how propaganda operates through constant communication to suppress critical thinking.

John Berger emphasizes the mechanisms of propaganda, which relies on a continuous flow of information to manipulate and control thoughts through emotionally charged or idealistic messages. It criticizes the rapidity at which such communication occurs, suggesting that it prevents individuals from reflecting critically on the information being presented to them.

Themes

PropagandaCommunicationCritical ThinkingManipulationEmotionSlogans

In practice

Example use cases

A speech about the influence of media in shaping public opinion.

More from John Berger

The strange power of art is sometimes it can show that what people have in common is more urgent than what differentiates them. It seems to me it's something that theatre can do, but it's rare; it's very rare.
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Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.
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We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.
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The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.
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Being a unique superpower undermines the military intelligence of strategy. To think strategically, one has to imagine oneself in the enemy's place. If one cannot do this, it is impossible to foresee, to take by surprise, to outflank. Misinterpreting an enemy can lead to defeat. This is how empires fall.
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Nothing in the nature around us is evil. This needs to be repeated since one of the human ways of talking oneself into inhuman acts is to cite the supposed cruelty of nature.
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