Below is one example of the suppression of propaganda awareness. At about 56:00 you'll hear Professor Mark Crispin Miller describe how he was harassed and threatened for teaching his popular course on propaganda at New York University. His objective approach--that we should always question assumptions--led to a student's complaint followed up by a memo from colleagues stating that Miller's "conduct" should be examined. Miller, who is usually associated with the Left politically, was accused of "right wing conspiracy theories" because of his commitment to objectivity.
We should keep in mind that effective propaganda also requires the censorship of any competing viewpoint. Debate is deadly to propaganda because it leads to awareness of its tactics and the emptiness of its claims. Propagandists are a bit like magicians who jealously guard their tricks. They know that once their illusions are shattered, the game is over.
Below are a couple more examples of information that could help ordinary people think independently and understand the dangers of propaganda. We should ask ourselves why anyone would want to suppress such information.
Take a look at this 1986 report on “Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control,” known also as the DIMPAC Report. It's a partial and unofficial copy of a report that is nearly impossible to find online. In 1982 -- in the wake of the Jonestown massacre-- the American Psychological Association asked Margaret Thaler Singer (author of Cults in Our Midst) to head up a task force to produce this report to help Americans detect and resist cult influences. The APA then aggressively suppressed the report after outside "experts" pressured the APA to do so.
The Hidden Persuaders was a 1957 bestseller by Vance Packard who investigated the use of “depth psychology” by advertisers and how they used it to manipulate the emotions of consumers. Packard’s book was the flashpoint for the first big pushback against public awareness of such tactics. The American Association of Advertising Agencies went on a campaign to ridicule him. This continued well into the 1980’s when the president of the AAAA claimed that advertising had no such effect on people and that Packard and others who said so were “paranoids.” We continuously see people smeared for speaking against narratives, but it happens on a greater scale now in cyberspace.
There are many more examples of shutting down any investigation into the deceptive tactics of propaganda and advertising. It happens everywhere, most famously on college campuses and the media. The organized censorship is meant to keep the public in the dark about those tactics. This website is an attempt to get around that by sparking a lot of conversations about it.