Thomas Hobbes on page 235 lays out the responsibility of the Sovereign to educate the people over which he rules. He does so by giving 4 lessons that must be taught.
1) "first, that they ought not to be in love with any form of government they see in their neighbor nations, more than with their own, nor to desire change."
2) "They are to be taught, that they ought not to be led with admiration of the virtue of of their fellow subjects, how high soever he stand, nor how conspicuously soever he shine in the commonwealth"
3) "They ought to be informed how great a fault it is to speak evil of the sovereign representative,or to argue or dispute his power; or any way to use his name irreverently, whereby he may be brought into contempt of his people, and their obedience slackened."
4) "It is necessary that some such times be determined, wherein they may assemble together, and hear those their duties told them, and the positive laws, such as generally concern them all, read and expounded, and be put in mind of the authority that maketh them laws."
These 4 lessons are the basis upon which all propaganda stems from, and we can see the influence of such in the world readily enough today. One can especially see how lesson 3 has been applied in places like North Korea and Iran, where Kim family has been given god like status, and it is criminal to speak poorly of the Ayatollah. They have been very effectively applied in country after country, especially in times of war.
This makes me wonder, just how much influence do these 4 rules have here in the United States? Have we all been propagandized into being dutiful and obedient citizens? Are corporations using these same methods to indoctrinate us into being dutiful and obedient consumers?
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