Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Hi everybody. Welcome along to another episode of the Dispatchers podcast. My name is Brendan Malone. It is great to be back with you again. And today I want to talk about propaganda because it's my contention, and it has been for quite some time now, that we are actually the most propagandized people and we are living in the most heavily propagandized era ever in human history.
[00:00:26] And yes, when I make that statement, I am thinking of the peoples who lived under National Socialism in Nazi Germany. I am thinking of the people who lived under Soviet socialism during the eras of Stalin and beyond that, I'm counting them, I'm including them.
[00:00:46] When I make the claim that we, the people who probably today, I think would like to think of ourselves as being some of the most famous free peoples who have ever lived in human history, that's certainly how we tend to think of ourselves in the post liberal enlightenment period are actually some of the most propagandized. And in many ways as a result of that, we are probably a lot less free than we imagine ourselves to be. Now, when people think of propaganda, they tend to assume that you mean, ah, the news media or political propaganda. No, that's not what I'm talking about at all. That's certainly a part of it, but it's much bigger, more complex and more serious than that. So ironically, the news media and journalism is one area where I think increasingly a lot more people are now aware of the pitfalls. And there is generally, as a result of this, a distrust that has developed in the mainstream media.
[00:01:49] And you could argue to the merits of that. I think at times that is a healthy thing and at other times that's not such a good thing at all. And it's just another example of the breakdown of the institutions. Like we are living through a period of great social collapse. And when you have social collapse, when civilizations collapse, because that's really what we're living through right now, then you have institutional collapse. And obviously people can't trust institutions anymore. So this is a reflection of that. And ironically, this is one of the areas where, as I said, people are generally a lot more attune and they're a lot more astute about some of the problems associated with mainstream media.
[00:02:29] And also like political propaganda in general, I'm not just talking about social media either, because that's a big issue. Absolutely. And that really has changed the game of propaganda in all sorts of ways. And I'm still not convinced we've really got our head around this. I think we like to think that really you saw a big scrutiny of this in the post Brexit era, and then the Trump 2016 win, there was a lot of scrutiny on the question of social media and its influence. But I still don't believe for a second we've really got our head around this and the implications of all of this and what it would actually take to address it in any sort of meaningful kind of way. And ironically, this is yet another area where increasing numbers of people are actually cognizant of. If, you know, they're not sure of how to deal with it, at least they're cognizant of the fact that the Internet and social media in particular, is actually a prime place of propagandisation and unhealthy influence. The problem I see in that regard at the moment is what we tend to do is we tend to pick a political lane, and if we're being propagandised on social media, but we agree with the politics of, of, or it's coming from our side of the political aisle, we tend to downplay it, I think, or we tend to happily absorb it when it's happening from the other side of the aisle, we tend to scream propaganda, propaganda and point the finger. And so it's kind of one of those unique things. Human ego, basically, and our own human fallibility has really sort of taken over and the results aren't necessarily great. There is another area which we are now starting to see take off in a really big way. And although a lot of people are quite worried about the specter of AI, it seems to me that there is also increasing numbers of people who are being fooled by AI propagandization. And this is quite serious because AI is not simply a communications medium, it's not simply a way of spreading propaganda. It can be its own source of propaganda. That's a challenge in and of itself. But we've already got mediums and sources of propaganda already, you know, plenty of those we can point to. The difference here is that AI has the capability to actually deceive human beings, and we are all very vulnerable to this. Effectively, it creates a scenario in which we can't even trust our own eyes. And internationally speaking, there have been intelligence agencies for many years now who have been examining, talking about and writing papers on the great risk of AI propagandization. Like what happens when you watch a video clip that looks like a real video clip, and for all intents and purposes, there's no way to tell the difference. But you genuinely believe that you are witnessing real world events as they actually happened when it's all a fabrication, what you're seeing or you are hearing from a particular political leader when in actual fact that political leader has never recorded that video.
[00:05:36] And it's photographic imagery, it's video imagery, it's voice cloning technology, it's all embroiled in this. So it's not just propaganda and it's not just a powerful medium. You know, it's not the question of just having a medium to spread propaganda. It's the fact that this propaganda can be so utterly false and extremely difficult to refute. And then on top of that, the spread at which this can sort of propagate around the world is quite a serious thing. But here's the other thing that I think we often forget so maybe we think about. And I think most people are probably aware of news media and you know, mainstream media propaganda risks. I think most people are aware of things like social media propaganda risks, even if they're not quite sure how to grapple with that. Increasing numbers of people are becoming aware, but still a lot of people are being fooled by, even though lots of people are quite frightened by the prospect of AI.
[00:06:32] But the one thing that maybe we don't actually pay much attention to is something like propagandization through entertainment media. We consume a lot of entertainment media now, streaming services, we're watching movies, we're watching TV series, we're going on YouTube and other video platforms to consume all sorts of video content there.
[00:06:53] We are watching documentaries, we are watching TV shows and all of the stuff is rife with propaganda. It's one of the great tragedies I think of our age actually has been the desecration, the hollowing out and the way in which art, which should be a thing of beauty that points us towards goodness and truth, has been sort of hollowed out and is now worn as a sock puppet regularly by different ideologies. They take what should be like for example, great cinema or you know, well made stories for television and they just gut them of their deep thought thematic symbolism and their deep thematic examination of the world as it really is. And the human person, their anthropology, who we are, who God is, all of that kind of stuff is stripped out and instead we end up with this very sort of vacuous imitation of greatness that is little more than it's a bully pulpit at times. It's preaching, it's a propaganda, you know, it's a skin suit effectively for different ideological propagandas that wear that skin suit.
[00:07:58] A big part of this is something that Tolkien the author of the Lord of the Rings was very aware of, and he was keenly aware of the fact that our myth making, in fact there's a great quote from him about this. Our myth making was our imperfect way of trying to reach for and understand and grapple with the big story, the big mythos, the true mythos of the universe. And it was our imperfect way of trying to grasp and at that perfect far off shore that we will only finally, fully and truly know once we have passed on and find ourselves in eternity with Christ. And so as the we've lost sight of the big story, then is it any wonder that the little stories we tell are just so deficient and are now often they're not even really little stories anymore. They are simply carefully manufactured propaganda morality plays to teach people how they are supposed to think and how they are supposed to feel and act about issues according to the ideologies of the age. But here's another one that maybe we don't really consider all that deeply at all. Like even people who might think about something like entertainment media. And as I said, we're swimming in this now. There's just video content, entertainment media all around us, and we are bombarded with this stuff and we consume more of it.
[00:09:18] And at a great, you know, the volume of it is probably the greatest ever, in fact it is in human history. So it's more readily available, it's constantly coming at us and we're consuming more of it than ever before. And so maybe people are aware of that. But one thing I think possibly we also take for granted is the propagandistic power of music.
[00:09:36] Music is very powerful when it comes to propaganda because music does something that other forms of propaganda perhaps don't do. And what music does is, is it actually couples its messaging, its themes with the profound and soul searching, soul captivating power of melody of music. And if you can produce a good melodious hook and then insert into that errant ideas, it's very easy for someone to be drawn along on that journey. And I think the way in which music tends to propagandise us, it's a little bit different from other forms. Forms of propaganda like that are out there. It's not like there aren't musicians out there who are just promoting their political ideas. I mean, that's always kind of been a thing.
[00:10:23] The way in which I think we more commonly tend to get propagandised by music is it's our passions that get propagandised. It's our passions that get Stirred up. And we often get pulled into things that are perhaps debasing of the human person and that pull us down. And so I think that's something that is worthy of our consideration. I know during this period of Lent, I've got a specific focus. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but my Lenten fast is actually more focused on things like entertainment, media and music and trying to sort of refocus a little bit and sort of strip out the noise. And it's quite interesting. Already we're only, well, not even a week into Lent, and already I have noticed the huge difference between in my own self, my own person, my own sense of the world, my place in it, and my engagement with others. And what I'm prioritizing. It has radically changed, simply based on a stepping back from so much of the media, the music, and everything else, and being a bit more deliberate and intentional about that than, you know, the stuff that we just constantly sort of surrounded by. I want to share two thoughts, if I can, that are not my own. The first is a short paragraph, actually, that comes from a book. Well, a letter, actually. An apostolic exhortation that was published by the late Pope Benedict xvi called Verbum Domini. And Verbum Domini was an exhortation that the Pope wrote after a special synod was held, a gathering of the bishops of the church in Rome. And the synod was focused on the word of God. And this was the apostolic exhortation that Pope Benedict wrote to summarize everything, the word of God and the life and mission of the church. And there's a statement towards the end, just a short paragraph, and I think it's worth considering. Among the new forms of mass communication nowadays, we need to recognize the increased role of the Internet, which represents a new forum for making the gospel heard. Yet we also need to be aware that the virtual world will never be able to replace the real world, and that evangelization will be able to make use of the virtual world offered by the new media in order to create meaningful relationships, and only if it is able to offer the personal contact which remains indispensable in the world of the Internet, which enables billions of images to appear on millions of screens throughout the world. The face of Christ needs to be seen and his voice needs to be heard. For if there is no room for Christ, there is no room for man. And that's a really powerful point.
[00:13:07] That final statement, if there is no room for Christ and there is no room for man, is actually a direct quote from a message that was given by Pope John Paul II on the World Day of Communications, I think it was 2002, somewhere around there. If there is no room for Christ, then there is no room for man. And this is a really essential point that often what we're being propagandised by is a false anthropology, a false vision of what it is to be human.
[00:13:35] And if our human anthropology is flawed, then we're in real trouble. And an essential component of our human anthropology is understanding who Christ is. Because Christ in his incarnation is both fully divine and fully human. And there is something profoundly important about our humanity we need to understand from that. So if there is no room for Christ, there is no room for man. Or like our authentic anthropology, sorry, is grounded in the fact that we are human persons made in the image of God. So what that means is this is really important. If we don't understand who God is, we're not going to understand who we are. So this is a really, a really essential part of all of this is that sense of sacred, transcendent identity. And most people today lack that. They don't have a sacred, transcendent sense of identity. It's grounded purely in the material and nothing more. And that's a real problem for people. And the reason for that crisis is because we have lost sight of or deliberately walked away from the sacred transcendent. We are no longer looking upwards. We're just looking down and around at ourselves for our own salvation and to, you know, answers in life. And it's all very much grounded in ideology. The second thought I want to share with you is here a couple of thoughts. Comes from the teachings or a particular teaching document that was published at the Second Vatican Council, a very important church council in the life of the church. And this is, I've got this great volume here. It's a really nicely hard covered bound volume of all the declarations and decrees. There's another volume I've got sitting on my shelves on my shelf over there. But this is just the declarations and decrees. And the one in particular that I want to focus on, in fact, it's such a good declaration, it's called Inter Mirifica and, and in Latin, pretty sure that translates to something like among the wonderful. I really love that title. But Inter Mirifica is the decree on the media of social communication. And so it's about media and it's a really, it's a fascinating decree, actually a very important document. What it has to say, this is a document that was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963. But it is still just as relevant and more prescient than ever before. In fact, have a listen to this, just to get a sense of the gravity of how important they considered this particular issue at the Second Vatican Council, this Sacred Synod, attentive to the watchful concern manifested by the supreme pontiffs, and so that's the popes and bishops, in a matter of such great importance, judges it to be its duty to treat of the principal questions linked with the media of social communication. So, in other words, the issue of the media is a really, really pressing issue. Even back then, they're aware of this.
[00:16:24] It trusts, moreover, that the teaching and regulations it thus sets forth so in this document will serve to promote not only the eternal welfare of Christians, but also the progress of all mankind. And this is really important. Like this is how seriously they took this. And can I suggest to you that these particular problems have only worsened and. And become more complex than when this document was first promulgated at the end of 1963. And I love the way they highlight the fact that this is about the eternal welfare of Christians, not just their material welfare. It's about what's happening after this life. I want to read to you, first of all, just one sentence or two sentences, actually, from the end of paragraph four, and then I want to read to you two other paragraphs which I think are worthy of our consideration, and particularly in light of this issue of propaganda and the many ways in which we are propagandised today. This particular document is such a good one, and it has such a universal application for all persons of goodwill that I'm going to dedicate a future episode to actually just working through it, because it highlights, I think, a set of key principles for thinking about and engaging with media that I think really do matter. But let me start with this sentence at the end of paragraph four of inter mufica. Among the circumstances to be considered is the precise manner in which a given medium, and so in this case they're talking about media, achieves its effect.
[00:17:59] For media's influence can be so great that people, especially if they are unprepared, can scarcely become aware of it, govern its impact, or, if necessary, reject it. Let me read that again. Media's influence can be so great that people, especially if they are unprepared, can scarcely become aware of it. So they're not even aware that they're being impacted by it.
[00:18:23] They can scarcely govern its impact because it is so powerful and consuming, or if necessarily like even Reject it. It's difficult to do even there.
[00:18:33] That is a very, very prescient observation. And as I said, the power and the influence of the media has only become bigger and more complex since then.
[00:18:46] So let me read to you now a couple of key paragraphs, just two in particular, that I think are worthy of our consideration from this document, that offer some practical insights. And then I want to conclude with a final thought to end this episode of the Dispatches. And what's so important about these particular paragraphs is they are speaking here not just to those who create media content, because I think that's often where we want to perhaps lay the blame for the ill effects, but also to those of us who actually consume, who are swayed by, influenced by, who place ourselves in front of media in all of its myriad of forms and allow ourselves to be shaped by it.
[00:19:28] So, starting from paragraph number nine, all who, of their own free choice, make use of these media of communications as readers, as viewers, as listeners, have special obligations.
[00:19:42] For a proper choice demands that they fully favour those presentations that are outstanding for their moral goodness, their knowledge, and their artistic or technical merit. So that's like this is a teaching saying we have an obligation to seek that kind of stuff out.
[00:19:59] They ought, however, to avoid those that may be a cause or occasion of spiritual harm to themselves, or that can lead others into danger through base example, or that hinder desirable presentations and promote those that are evil.
[00:20:18] So we should seek out that which is good and avoid those evil variations as described here. To patronize such presentations, in most instances would merely reward those who use these media only for profit. And I would say now it's not just for profit. The world has changed radically. We are a lot more keenly aware now of media use for ideological propagandistic purposes.
[00:20:48] In order that those who make use of these media may fulfil the moral code, they ought not to neglect to inform themselves in time about judgments passed by authorities competent in these matters. So don't just believe what a talking head on the TV is telling you or on social media.
[00:21:08] Think about competent authorities and seek out their wisdom. They ought also to follow such judgments according to the norms of an upright conscience. So ensure that your conscience is well informed. Not a relativistic approach where you say, well, if it feels good to me, I'll follow it. But is your conscience properly informed? One of the things that's really important that the Catholic Church teaches about conscience is that it's not just following conscience that matters. It's also you have an obligation to properly form your conscience so that when those decisions do arise, you are following a properly formed and informed conscience.
[00:21:43] They also ought to follow such judgments according to the norms of an upright conscience, so, so that they may more easily resist improper inducements and rather encourage those that are desirable.
[00:21:56] Let them take care to guide and instruct their own consciences with suitable aids. So in other words, look beyond the mainstream media and obviously read the scriptures, that's first and foremost. Read the great writings, read great literature, read beyond just the easily packaged sound bites, propagandistic sound bites that are easily presented to us and easy to swallow, like the sweetest of candies or chocolates, you know, divinely wrapped and attractive, but in actual fact doing great harm to us in the process.
[00:22:32] Those who make use of the media of communications, especially the young, should take steps to accustom themselves to moderation and self control in their regard. So in other words, don't just be constantly controlled consuming it. They should, moreover, endeavour to deepen their understanding of what they see, hear or read. So look beyond just the media as a source. They should discuss these matters with their teachers and experts and learn to pass sound judgments on them. So don't actually be afraid to look beyond. Don't just say, oh well, who knows what the truth is, but actually judge things according to moral norms and according to that which, which is good and true.
[00:23:11] Parents should remember that they have a most serious duty to guard carefully lest shows, publications and other things of this sort. So that includes the media, social media, et cetera, which may be morally harmful, enter their homes or affect their children under other circumstances.
[00:23:30] And so I think there's some really sage advice for us there about, you know, in this important decree on the media, as I said, we're going to take a deep dive into that decree, sorry. And we're going to do a degree in the decree in a future episode where we just unpack all of its principles, because there's a lot of really sound wisdom in there.
[00:23:53] Let me say one last thing, and this is something I'm learning at the moment as I journey through Lent and have been more attentive, as I said, and more deliberate in my focus on the question of media consumption. That's the way I'm. I've got food related fasts as well, but this is a particular thing that I'm doing this year a little bit differently and I'm being very focused about this and I've really noticed already actually, how powerful that impact has been upon me and just how, even though I Didn't consider myself, but just how addicted, if you like, behaviourally speaking, I had become to some of these forms of media.
[00:24:24] And so I think one of the things that we have, we often struggle. How do we deal with this? One of the great weapons we have is our silence.
[00:24:31] Silence and our stillness of our interior life is profoundly important. And what media does today is it's constantly coming at us. We are constantly bombarded and we are distracted. So when we're not busy or we're not sleeping, we are distracted. We've got YouTube, we've got Netflix, we've got our personal devices, which are not communal. So we're often by ourselves, just consuming, consuming, consuming. And what's happening is silence is being robbed from us. Our interior stillness is being robbed. And without interior stillness, we can't stop and discern well, we can't judge things as they really are. And so our stillness, our silence is actually a powerful weapon against this. Think of what's going on right now with the Epstein files and you've had this overwhelming dump of information, and it's quite astounding to watch, not really surprising, but still astounding nonetheless, to watch the number of people who have run off in all sorts of different directions. And it's irregardless of politics. This is all across the political spectrum.
[00:25:27] And they are making all sorts of rash and, you know, very profound and bold, you know, declarations and judgments about what they believe is actually hidden in these documents. The reality is that that's just at the moment, a lot of that is noise. We don't know the full truth. There is so much contained in there. And to think that we could just be bombarded with that much information and suddenly come to see the fullness of the truth is, I think, is one of the great follies of our age.
[00:25:56] Our silence, our stillness allows us to step back from all of that and just say, you know what?
[00:26:01] I have more important eternal matters to focus on. And those eternal matters, as I focus on them, that causes me to be reorientated again towards local matters that really mattered. So, like my love of God, my focus on the eternal matters then causes me to focus on my love of neighbor and my local priorities, family life, work, church, et cetera, et cetera. So your stillness and your silence is absolutely essential in light of all of this stuff. And one last thing, I think that is really important to consider, and I'm very challenged by this myself. And it's why some of you who are a bit more attuned and have been following me for a while, will have noticed that there has been a bit of a change in the way I conduct myself and what I'm putting out there on social media and other public forums.
[00:26:49] I have become keenly aware of the fact that all of us now are effectively, if we are not careful, we are our own self creating little propaganda machines. The way social media works and the power that it hands to us, we can receive information and we can pass it on very quickly and often to large numbers of people.
[00:27:14] And we have become the propaganda creating machine. And it's something we need to, I think, be very, very prescient of, very, very keenly aware of.
[00:27:22] And that requires from us, I think again bringing that stillness and that silence and in that discernment and then right action. And so you'll see a bit more of a change for me. I'm really determined. I want to encourage and something I wrote in my journal last year was that I wanted 2025 to be the year of sacred enchantment.
[00:27:43] I'm really hoping that 2026 can be the year of sacred enchantment promotion where, you know, I get to encourage others to come on that journey with me and to share in that journey too. And that's like, hopefully you'll see that in the content and the type of content that I'm producing. And in that regard, one of the things that we're going to start very soon actually is a podcast series of a three part presentation. I'm gonna break it down into individual separate podcast episodes.
[00:28:13] But it was originally a three hour lecture series given in three parts that I was asked to present in January of this year on AI and human dignity. And I'm going to present that. I'm going to, as I said, when I engage on social media, what I'm trying to do now is actually bring something of goodness and truth, not simply just be reactive and then as a result of that reactivity, turn myself into a mindless propaganda promoting and producing machine. Thanks for tuning in. Don't forget, live by goodness, truth and beauty, not by lies. And I'll see you next time on the Dispatchers.
