Many of us (self included) woke up from this childhood indoctrination of propaganda by the United States government a long time ago. I also managed to get this across (thankfully) to family (especially post September 11, 2001 when it was way too easy to get caught up in the whole patriotism propaganda campaign that did eventually put the U.S. into an unjustified war in Iraq with the now proven false, weapons of mass destruction claim) which allowed them to make sense of why things are the way they are.
I’d recommend looking at the old style posters (during WWI and WWII) which are full of so called “patriotic” slogans, agendas, and/or racist portrayals of whomever was cast as the enemy at the time. The promotion of Liberty bonds (initially called war bonds but then later renamed to U.S. government bonds) was one form of the campaign that persuaded citizens to invest in the war effort. The “I Want You” Uncle Sam poster was another (it’s your sacred and solemn duty to actively serve in the armed forces).
Note: Those who do serve their country with military service (so long as in an honorable fashion) have earned a level of respect and acknowledgement of this service. Where the whole thing goes too far is in the propaganda when it comes to patriotism and the sort of messaging that is involved as well as any sort of excessive entitlement that some believe is due to them. I do believe a government should take proper care of their veterans at a base minimum though (something which the U.S. has done a terrible job at unfortunately).
Stolen valor unfortunately is such a big thing because this act of falsely claiming/exaggerating military service, rank, or awards that one did not earn, often times will allow that individual to gain respect or benefits (there is a Federal law in place called the Stolen Valor Act of 2013 that deals with those who gain benefits under false pretenses). Digressing…
A lot of this type of propaganda was also in media at the time. Even when I was growing up, plenty of childhood cartoons (including Looney Tunes) still had large numbers of highly racist and stereotypical portrayals of people. The modern day whitewashing that is now called “political correctness”, ended up removing most of that stuff from being broadcast and distributed. And that is all that it did; remove versus actually coming to terms with the United States’ highly racist past (but that is also an entirely different subject matter which is better left for another post).
Like this content creator, I point out the negatives in some of my postings because for many American’s who have never left the country (or in many cases, even their town or state), it’s difficult to see past any of this. Some will get defensive when it comes to criticizing certain aspects of this country because of the exact reasons noted in this video; they believe that such talk is “un-American”, “unpatriotic” and “disloyal”.
Many of us speak out because we want to see this country live up to its full potential. By being silent about wrong doings (especially by those in positions of power), that right there is no different than the loyal North Korean praising the “dear leader” without question. American propaganda however has been weaponized to such a level where it’s created this “cold civil war” by very partisan actors across the political spectrum to a point where facts no longer matter to some. A country that’s divided, surely will not stand in the long run.
But once you step outside of that protective bubble of the states, a lot of that veneer we’ve learned/become ingrained with comes tumbling down (more so if you end up living abroad for any length of time). And yes, the same happens to the citizens of other countries. It’s what governments do with their citizens unfortunately. The above simply highlights some of the more annoying aspects of what many American’s are grasping with now with the corruption that is no longer being hidden.
My unlearning of the half-truths/whitewashing began during college from just meeting people from different backgrounds, cultures, and more importantly, those who had come from other countries (especially those the government with the help of the media, would call the enemy). That is when I quickly developed a skepticism for the government including politics (thus remaining apolitical as far as political parties).
Nikkeijin’s as a whole tended to lean on the conservative side; it was hard to shake some of the original cultural/societal qualities that the issei/nisei practiced including meiwaku (迷惑) which is not being an annoyance/inconvenience to others, the culture of shame aka haji (恥), the culture of social exclusion aka murahachibu (村八分) — all of this is intertwined in Japanese society which is why “sticking out” is a social stigma which also has this proverb; deru kugi wa utareru (出る釘は打たれる) which doesn’t translate to English literally. Instead, it is akin to the “nail that sticks out, gets hammered down”. Just a short tangent.
Basically, Japanese society has long been built around this idea of conformity. And part of this makes sense as an island nation which also had limited areas to live in. Past Japan’s feudal era (of different clans trying to gain more territory), society had to get along (where it was in the best interest of all to be able to also work together towards a common goal versus constantly at war with each other). That part of Japanese society is also why the country is good at certain things (large scale civil engineering projects, a transportation network that follows a timetable like clockwork, performing service related work that focuses on the customer, etc.
Where some of that falls down however is “thinking outside the box”. A lot of these are often times documented in very specific, step-by-step guidebooks (the employee manual). This regimented aspect is why trains run on schedule the way they do because everyone is doing their part in a very specific way. But when that process gets interrupted, solutions can become stymied or in some customer service situations, the equivalent of “that cannot be done” is the response.
I bring up this tangent because this is what makes work in many regular Japanese companies, challenging for foreigners (who come from a country like the U.S. where we have this ability to think and speak our mind). And for Japanese people who fall outside of this norm, they often times try to find work outside the standard work environment. A lot of the Japanese whom I know who moved overseas, do not fit this mold to the point where even living within their home country, is far too stifling. Regardless, it’s a similar experience when they view their country from the outside (allowing a better appreciation of some of those subtle nuances that might get masked over when living inside that system).
When I moved overseas, I already knew about my own countries transgressions and quirks; still, it was even more stark seeing and hearing it from the outside especially after a few years had passed (a lot of this was basically from 2003-2019 though from the latter half of the prior decade, I was already spending part of my time back in the U.S. due to family).
Digressing, lot of my thinking about my career and life goals changed where by the time I graduated, that original idea of being one of the corporate climbers (because the capitalistic bullshit is one of those things pushed early on in the form of “American exceptionalism” where America is this special place that anyone can be successful, where that success is defined by $$$ versus other more humanistic goals), became more focused around being able to become self-sufficient where I wouldn’t have to work/slave my entire life just to survive/pay off debts.
Part of that was also cemented into place by the late comedian, George Carlin. His monologues were crude and profanity laced but also thought provoking. I didn’t agree with all of his takes, but the vast majority of them were what I considered as spot on including the following from his 2005 show at the Beacon Theater in New York City (which two decades later, now makes more sense to many American’s who are now seeing the fruits of that, playing out; if Carlin were alive today, he’d be like “I told you the system was rigged years ago”). It’s the “Dumb American’s” portion.
This is what me and my late college classmate used to discuss before and after we graduated well before Carlin gave this magnificent monologue about the rigged system that keeps most folks enslaved on that hamster wheel. But the most important part was wising up to the propaganda part and unlearning a lot of that stuff, while learning the actual history that has long been sugarcoated, glossed over, and whitewashed.
What is taking place geopolitically now in the Middle East, is deeply intertwined with the basis of this post because the regime in the U.S. exemplifies this American propaganda by trying to will lies as facts to the public, and expect the less educated to believe it. Backing that willful ignorance up with the U.S. military is where the danger lies (because they will attempt to use that power to scare other countries into submission; that is unless another super power decides to confront the bullies which in this case, are Israel and the United States).
Those who exist in the FOX News echo chamber will mostly take whatever is dished out as fact. The sad part is that viewer demographic are largely the older boomer generation; the ones who should know better but clearly do not. Most of the sane people (including the rest of the free world), will view it as idiotic lies.
This taken together with the fact that the MAGA movement is definitely cult-like in its behavior/functioning, and is fueled by social media algorithms that keeps users in these political silos (if their feed is highly politics focused), makes it easier to continue feeding disinformation and highly focused propaganda to individuals that lack critical thinking skills and refuse to research or even question anything that they see on television and/or in their social media feeds. Foreign adversaries have long utilized asymmetric cyber warfare to accomplish this prior to social media and its algorithms.
Yuri Bezmenov was an ex-KGB who defected to the west, and gave talks about Kremlin subversion tactics that provides background on how the United States government has been captured over the years (why we have this incompetent regime in place since January 2025).
When the bad actors control the narrative on broadcast, print, and social media, you end up with a society that isn’t seeing the entire picture (which is why many of us have to find alternate sources of information and doing our own vetting); it’s one reason why the ultra rich/powerful have bought up so many media companies in the U.S. (there’s a lot of stuff that most American’s aren’t being given details on if they are only getting their news from the mainstream media).
