Advertising’s suspicion-inducing logic extends to political propaganda

Evidence

But this kind of discourse is not terroristic. It seems unwarranted to assume that the recipients believe, or are made to believe, what they are being told. The new touch of the magic-ritual language rather is that people don’t believe it, or don’t care, and yet act accordingly. One does not “believe” the statement of an operational concept but it justifies itself in action—in getting the job done, in selling and buying, in refusal to listen to others, etc. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 417 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Perhaps the most telling evidence can be obtained by simply looking at television or listening to the AM radio for one consecutive hour for a couple of days, not shutting off the commercials, and now and then switching the station. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 101 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Advertising costs entrench incumbents by replacing competition with exclusion; Repeated slogans sever language from lived experience, linking advertising with totalitarian control. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 121; Modern propaganda works despite disbelief because it justifies itself in action — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 417 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Modern propaganda works despite disbelief because it justifies itself in action #corroborates (0.85) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 417
• Explicit denunciation of propaganda fails to neutralize its effect #corroborates (0.80)
• Advertising-saturated media itself demonstrates the flattening of critical thought. #corroborates (0.72) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 101