Repetition is a way to hack the human mind.
Repetition as a tactic is used by cults to create a separation between thinking and feeling. In mid-adolescence, I remember a group of us started chanting “It just doesn’t matter” over and over again, and in the process became gleeful, laughing and silly. It was disassociation leading to euphoria, and constant repetition induces it. I still remember my mind seeming to sink into a deep awareness that, in fact, it just doesn’t matter. That this was a truth that was always there, and now I finally knew it and would change my life in new directions and glory. Of course, the feeling didn’t last. Life did matter, my concerns mattered, my studies mattered.
If I could gather a group of my middle-aged friends to chant “I’m a flabby tabby!” over and over again, no doubt we would also feel euphoria eventually, at least for a time. It’s human. The actual message is irrelevant to this feeling. It’s mechanics.
Propagandists use repetition because the more humans hear something, the more inclined they are to believe it. I can’t help but think that it also creates a certain disassociation in the listener as well.
So, my little Tellions, it is time to take the bitter pill of “both sides.” Because fond as the liberals - as opposed to the left - are of calling Fox News propaganda, MSNBC does the same thing.
Let’s take a little walk down memory lane. The following clip is from ONE Rachel Maddow Show.
There is so much criticism of FoxNews, and with good reason, about its use of repetition and half-truths. The same lens needs to be focused on the MSNBC fantasy of Russiagate.
Lest the liberals among you feel abandoned, below is a clip of Fox News using repetition across several shows to mock the severity of January 6th, 2021.
Both were using repetition as a persuasion technique. Both were engaging in propaganda. We can’t say that it is OK when one media outlet does it because they are better than the other guy. It isn’t news and it isn’t truth.