You were never meant to think for yourself
Excerpt from Chapter 4 of Coddled Children
“Propaganda doesn’t need to lie.
It only needs to control what you see—
and leave out what you were never meant to question.”
We like to believe we hold the truth and that the other is misinformed. But in reality, almost everything can be looked at from two opposing sets of views, given sufficient ingenuity.
Facts rarely speak for themselves. The same facts can tell entirely different stories, depending on context, interpretation, values, convictions, and lived experience. We can share the same reality and still arrive at opposite conclusions about what’s happening and what should be done.
Once, we called that diversity of thought.
Now, we call it misinformation. Or worse: interference.
That’s the true power of propaganda. Not to deceive, but to narrow the field. To reduce complexity until only one conclusion seems reasonable and all others feel like a threat. It works quietly. Through repetition, simplification, omission. Not only in the facts we’re given, but in the language we’re allowed to use, the ideas we’re encouraged to support, the questions we’re discouraged from asking.
Over time, people stop thinking with each other and start thinking against each other. Ideas turn into slogans. Dialogue becomes accusation. We no longer try to understand why someone believes what they believe. We only judge that they do.
And even when someone tries to push back—by offering facts, nuance, or a broader view—it often doesn’t matter. Propaganda doesn’t anchor itself in truth, but in belief. And belief, once fused with identity, is nearly impossible to dislodge.
That’s how people end up defending positions that harm them. That’s how nations sleepwalk into conflict. By the time the full picture comes into view, the crowd is already marching and the road back to peace is almost shut off.
Try to push through that surface, and people will more often respond with outrage than with argument, fracturing families, friendships, neighborhoods. It doesn’t take a war to break a society. Carefully managed narratives can achieve even more.
Here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 4 of Coddled Children. If you like content that challenges your thinking, you can subscribe for free.
"And now you want sympathy?"
He scoffs.
"Enough. You got your answer. Get back to work and fix the system. Or things will get very bad for you."
The young officer crosses his arms and stares straight ahead, his anger radiating off him like heat. The older officer looks momentarily stunned by his colleague’s outburst. But after a brief hesitation, he straightens up as well, though not before giving Joshua a sharp nudge with his baton, forcing him back toward his screen.
Slowly, Joshua turns around. His mind is racing.
Rupert was right. These people are so convinced of our evil that they’ll fight to the last man if we take the Free Nations.
But something else gnaws at him. The ACID officer’s response felt… rehearsed. He recited those words like a script, as if they had been drilled into him, not learned through experience. Rupert always said the Free Nations spoon-fed their people hatred against white men. And he remembers his grandfather’s constant grumbling about how their entire information system was nothing but one-sided propaganda.
"Ignorance is the strongest armor against truth," his grandfather used to say. "The easiest way to control a population is to control their access to information. People believe what they see, read, and hear. And they act accordingly. If you want to break through that armor, you need a powerful weapon. Facts alone won’t be enough."
Joshua never truly understood what he meant. Not until now. His grandfather had always pushed him to seek out his own information, to form his own opinions.
"Otherwise, you’ll end up trapped in an echo chamber."
But what if that’s not the problem? What if you never even get the chance to decide? What if the only things you’re allowed to see, hear, or read are what others want you to believe? A sharp jolt runs through him, and he bolts upright with a sudden cry.
Then you don’t think for yourself at all. You only think what they want you to think.
The realization slams into him like a lightning strike. His fingers fly across the keyboard as his idea takes shape. Behind him, the two officers exchange a knowing glance, but Joshua doesn’t see them. He doesn’t hear them. His mind is racing.
How would the people of the Free Nations react if they were exposed to another truth?
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