In 1970, Marshall McLuhan stated that “World War III is a guerrilla war of information with no division distinction between military and civilian participation” (Culture is Our Business, 66). Two things here deserve our notice. The first is that this war has already begun; the second is that many people have been unwittingly conscripted into it.
The first casualty of this war was pursuit of the truth. Truth disarms information, prevents its weaponization. Conversely, propaganda diverts people from that pursuit: drives them toward action, premised upon an unquestioning posture of absolute persuasion. When people have been swayed by propaganda, it can become very difficult to have conversations with them.
Today, we see many perhaps confronting that fact of their conscription. Some rebel against it; some may, perhaps, begin to question why they awoke bloodied and battered. It is not easy to respond. No one wants to be told that they have been pawns. No one wants to feel that he or she has willingly if unwittingly surrendered an essential aspect of human dignity.
So how do we speak to those suffering the lost pursuit of truth? How, indeed, do we have any conversations with anyone seized by ideologies antithetical to our own beliefs? What impedes our efforts at communication? Join us this evening for our Philosophical Happy Hour to discuss! Links below.