They don't really believe everything, but mass media lies are actually directives as to how to behave and which lies to regurgitate. Think of them as social marching orders; non-compliance has a social cost.

That's a good point. I guess, the word "believe" can also be interpreted in a wider sense of that word. Some of them really do believe, but for some others the very act of believing is not important anymore. When indoctrination is so deep, that they do not need to be convinced of things anymore, they've kind of outsourced their critical thinking to the third party so actual believing or disbelieving something is not relevant.

That's quite a scary thought actually. You can still argue with someone who disagrees with you because he believes in some other things or has other values etc, but you absolutely can't argue with someone whose critical thinking is simply not there - if it's outsourced any meaningful discussion becomes impossible.

They don't really believe everything, but mass media lies are actually directives as to how to behave and which lies to regurgitate. Think of them as social marching orders; non-compliance has a social cost.

That's a good point. I guess, the word "believe" can also be interpreted in a wider sense of that word. Some of them really do believe, but for some others the very act of believing is not important anymore. When indoctrination is so deep, that they do not need to be convinced of things anymore, they've kind of outsorced their critical thinking to the third party so actual believing or disbelieving something is not relevant.

That's quite a scary thought actually. You can still argue with someone who disagrees with you because he believes in some other things or has other values etc, but you absolutely can't argue with someone whose critical thinking is simply not there. If it's outsorced any meaningful discussion becomes impossible.