Growing up, people used to tell me, “You think too much.” I have come to see that most people don’t really think at all. They don’t assess the news to determine whether it’s true or false. They simply look for clues about what everyone else thinks and does, and they expend all their effort trying to fit in and win approval.

That’s why propaganda works so well on them. It doesn’t need to sound true or convincing. It only needs to be pervasive.