Dr. Johnathan Storlie’s Blog

Ellul on Propaganda

“Cast out of the disintegrating microgroups of the past, such as family, church, or village, the individual is plunged into mass society and thrown back upon his own inadequate resources, his isolation, his loneliness, his ineffectuality. Propaganda then hands him in veritable abundance what he needs; a raison d’etre, personal involvement and participation in important events, an outlet and excuse for some of his more doubtful impulses, righteousness–all fictitious to be sure, all more or less spurious; but he drinks it all in and asks for more. Without this intense collaboration by the propagandee the propagandist would be helpless.” –Konrad Kellen, Intro to Jacques Ellul’s Propaganda.

Propaganda frequently employs children to evoke an amygdala hijack. North Korean Anti-American propaganda.
The most effective propaganda disables the more rational faculties through Amygdala Hijack. Amygdala Highjack is particularly dangerous, because it has resulted not only in the past in the creation of lynch mobs, but also is now widely used by various political and economic interests to control people and divest them of their rights and their resources.

 

Scroll to Top