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Why obvious lies make great propaganda
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CEFR Level
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Subtitles (197 segments)
At the height of the 2016 election researchers released a report warning about a strange
propaganda technique.
Another day, another lie, another conspiracy theory, another falsehood.
They called it the "firehose of falsehood."
When a propagandist bombards people with more lies than they can possibly keep up.
Why all these lies?
Why is it lie after lie after lie?
According to the report, these lies don't have to be believable.
It wasn't just a lie.
It was such a bad obvious lie.
Researchers found that even obvious lies had the potential to be highly effective at shaping
public opinion.
I mean he just says things and then they are the truth in the world of the Donald.
The thing is, that report wasn't about Trump.
It didn't even mention him.
It was about Russian propaganda.
And it raised an interesting question: How could a powerful leader benefit from telling
obvious lies?
We've signed more bills than any president ever.
The president just simply lies for no reason.
I was against the war in Iraq.
Why lie about something that you don't have to lie about?
You have people registered in two states.
They vote twice.
Why does he keep repeating it if it's obviously not true?
We're going to get to Trump in a minute.
Hell yeah!
But before that, we have to talk to Christopher Paul.
I'm a senior social scientist at the RAND Corporation.
He co-wrote the report on Russian firehosing and he described it as having four key characteristics.
Russian propaganda is high volume and multichannel.
It's rapid, continuous, and repetitive.
It makes no commitment to objective reality.
And it makes no commitment to consistency.
Oooh, sounds like Trump.
Can you give me a second?
I'm building a narrative here.
The first two characteristics are pretty standard for propaganda.
Research shows that if we hear a lie from multiple sources, we think of it as more credible.
The same is true for lies we hear repeatedly.
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