In propaganda you need a scapegoat, somebody who is going to be blamed for all troubles and tribulations. These will be designated as second-class citizens.
This could be YOU, if you’re not careful
Propagandists will use a dash of truth in a sea of falsehoods. It is part of their strategy. Propaganda is meant to unify a certain segment of the population, prompting their loyalty while disenfranchising whomever they feel is immediately disposable, or threatening the mass brainwashing directed at their obedient fools.
The sad truth is that there are plenty of second-class citizens right now – but they have not realized that they have been arbitrarily placed in this category – in other words, they might be prisoners in a golden cage or experiencing a seemingly carefree life as “free range cattle” – living blissfully unaware of the overlords’ intentions – until the day they become somebody’s dinner.
I know this example might seem hyperbolic, but the analogy stands. There is no shortage of people who have galvanized a certain level of power, and they are very much aware that if they lose their power this will spell a lot of overdue paybacks.
You see, a lot of people who accumulate power in dubious ways accrue a lot of enemies and resentment along the way. So, they know that if they lose power, they are in a world of hurt. For example, that is why authoritarians surround themselves exclusively by “yes men and women” who will kiss their but no matter how deceitful their “dear leaders” antics get.
Anybody, even those loyal to the “dear leader” will become second-class citizens the very second this aforementioned “dear leader” finds them inconvenient. And we’ve established that the propagandist is likely linked to the dear leader’s intentions. Though we have seen propagandists also find themselves on the precarious side of this sick dynamic and become very aware of their own mortality and vulnerability against the authoritarian monster they helped to groom and create.
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How do we prevent this from happening?
Being labeled a second-class citizen is not limited to your skin color, or even your socio-economic strata. Wealthy people have become second-class citizens if the less-affluent population got enraged at them and stripped them of all power. For example, the French Revolution, or even the Bolshevik Revolution… however, the new rulers will enact a new stratum of power and control.
The way you prevent this from happening is actually the way the USA is intended to be. Everybody has the right to exist in peace and become the person they are meant to be. Of course, there are many retrograde legislators, elected leaders, special interest groups, confused people, theoretical zealots, etc. who want to prevent equality for all. Why? Because they have attained some level of power, and if they lose their power, they know that they will have to legally answer a lot of the shady things that kept them in power.
Yes, historically – and we can cite hundreds of examples around the world that have the “have nots” as the second-class citizens, and again as I said – all of us could be vulnerable to be them, no matter how rich or powerful you think you are right now.
For example, let’s say if there is a dystopia and the middle class rises against the 1% of billionaires in the USA, do you think they really have a chance to fight against the bulk of the middle class? Spoiler alert, they cannot – no matter how rich they are, it becomes a number game. And by the way, it is the middle class who is indeed making them insanely rich. With that, I am not advocating for violence either way, I just want to pragmatically show that who can be a second-class citizen is very subjective – and depends on who’s in the driver’s seat.
What I will say is that whoever is making the decisions could very well lose control, and somebody will be filling that vacuum, we’ve seen that happen around the world and through history many-many times. We can now understand and measure these patterns. The way to prevent a dystopia from sparking is through fairness. That is what I am advocating for. True equality levels the plain field so we can compete based on our merits.
On my books Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools and Woke & Proud the Charlatans’ Inconvenience I go in depth on how this first-class and second-class citizen dynamic can play and shift based on the decision we make each day. I’ll keep writing more articles that add to the larger topic, which is how to defeat authoritarian propaganda. And I’m giving you answers to this complex question one article at a time. HLC