The more one lives alone on the river or in the open country, the clearer it becomes that nothing is more beautiful or great than to perform the ordinary duties of one's daily life simply and naturally.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
Propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Propaganda undermines democracy in a similar way that violence undermines a dictatorship.
This quote by William Blum highlights the insidious nature of propaganda in democratic societies, suggesting that just as violence is a tool of oppression in a dictatorship, propaganda serves to manipulate and control public perception and thought in a democracy. Both are mechanisms of power that serve to distort reality and suppress true understanding among the populace.
Themes
PropagandaDemocracyControlManipulationPower
In practice
Example use cases
In a political debate, one might say, 'As William Blum observed, propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship.'
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