We Have Replaced Communication With Propaganda (Our Leaders Have Stopped Listening)

I sort of accidentally ended up minoring in communications as a way of doing an internship. It turned out really changing the way I view things, forcing me to look at human interactions in a much more sophisticated way than I previously had. One of the first things I was taught was that communication is a cyclical process. The communicator, having related his message, then looks at his audience and expects feedback. The feedback must be processed and responded to. In other words, communication is not about writing a clear memo, it is an ongoing process between two or more groups. This is healthy — nay, vital — to communities and to relationships.

Propaganda, however, is a one way means of funneling information from top to bottom. Even if the propaganda is not being transmitted by one who is in power, it is transmitted by one who hopes to hold power. Those engaging in propaganda to help build a movement are creating the future structures of a top-down information flow.

Now it is obvious that in an advanced society, experts often need to transmit information in a rather top-down fashion. The amount of information that needs to be imparted to someone receiving a doctorate degree is immense. And obviously someone who is a specialist in a given subject must be given extra…