Short theses in propaganda practice

While studying a specific issue for scientific purposes requires the most detailed consideration possible with references to authoritative sources, such work may be presented as a study whose conclusion can be distilled into a short thesis. For example, the scientific study of history involves a full examination of the complex set of causes behind the start of the Trojan War; however, in the mind of the average person, this complexity may not remain. Instead, only the most striking reason they heard (not necessarily obtained through scientific analysis) takes root, and a short thesis is formed: “The Trojan War began because Paris abducted Helen the Fair”. Sometimes, a short thesis quite accurately reflects the essence of a matter. For instance, in this article, we proved the thesis that a vast number of innocent people were repressed under Stalin, and this serves as a correct short thesis.

A system of views in a person’s head is built from these short theses. A non-politicized person usually “consumes” very few short theses — for example, “God exists” or “if not Putin, then there is no one else to lead the country” — and forms their worldview based on these few points. Usually, if a person reads an article where a short thesis is clearly formulated — for example, “GMO products are harmful” — they will not, of course, remember the entire article, but they will remember the short thesis. They might pass this thesis on to others and base their behavior on it (for example, by not buying GMO products). Therefore, the ideology that manages to spread the largest number of short theses usually dominates in society.

Thus, the dissemination of short theses influences the type of policy that will be pursued in society. Even if various political movements exist in a country — such as social democrats, right-liberals, nationalists, or communists — if theses in support of authoritarianism (that authoritarian countries are more efficient than democracies, that rotation of power exists nowhere, that a “strong hand” is needed, that stability is more important than anything else, etc.) dominate that country, then most representatives of these movements will support authoritarianism, and all parties, even the social democratic one, will become authoritarian. If false short theses dominate a society, it will be unable to achieve success.

How short theses are implemented

Often, short theses turn out to be false due to superficial analysis and the perception of reality by the majority of people (for example, if someone looks at the horizon and concludes that the Earth is flat). However, sometimes a false short thesis is implemented or popularized “from above” to shape the opinion of the majority. In such cases, they are presented in a “ready-made” form rather than as a conclusion of an article or study. For example, a phrase like “a man must serve in the army” might be uttered in a movie — this is a typical conservative short thesis.

The task of such short theses is to influence the political and historical views of an unsophisticated listener/reader by evoking specific emotions. As a means of propaganda, they are effective because, due to their very simple language and message, even a person with low intellectual training can become familiar with and understand them; due to their small size, it does not take much time to read them. But even smart people, sometimes even those with academic degrees, fall into these “mousetraps”.

Such short theses are widely used by various types of conservatives — Stalinists, fascists, Russian right-liberals, and representatives of other ideologies. They are implemented through lines in movies, TV shows, politicians’ speeches, school textbooks, and so on (in short, through the propaganda machine).

Narratives

According to EUvsDisinfo, a site that studies Kremlin propaganda and disinformation, a narrative is “an overall message, conveyed through texts, images, metaphors, and other means”¹. However, it is also known that a narrative is a “story in the form of an oral tale in all the variety of its manifestations: life events, scary and funny stories, family legends, anecdotes about acquaintances and celebrities, accounts of inexplicable incidents, retellings and interpretations of dreams, miracles, rumors, talk, and even gossip”². Therefore, we would differentiate between a short thesis and a narrative. Let’s put it this way: statements like “The West is decaying” and “migration leads to increased crime” are short theses, while various articles or news stories about the rising US national debt or a story about an undocumented person committing a crime in Sweden are narratives that work to prove the corresponding short thesis.

As EUvsDisinfo notes, pro-Kremlin disinformation sources use a set of short theses that work like templates and can be adapted to the target audience. Different narratives are used for different audiences to promote these short theses. They can be combined and modified depending on current events — for example, various versions of the short thesis about the “decaying West” have been known since the 19th century.

The diagram above illustrates how narratives shape thoughts in a person’s mind. In essence, this is how any individual’s consciousness is structured — it consists of short theses (ST) formed by other short theses and narratives. Some of them are true, some are false. Based on this knowledge and their system of views, a person makes decisions, including political ones.

Narratives can be not only true or false; they can also be partially fabricated. For example, a case where a migrant attacked another migrant due to a domestic dispute — let’s say, out of jealousy — can be presented as “A migrant attacked a person and threatened them with a knife”. This allows the news to be used to strengthen a Level 4 short thesis (hereinafter ST4) “The higher the migration, the higher the crime rate”. This ST4, along with others also reinforced by narratives (e.g., ST4 “Migrants do not work, they only live on welfare”), creates ST3 “Europe is in chaos because of migrants”. This ST3 and others — such as ST3 “Europe is in chaos because of gay people” — create ST2 “Europe is bad”. In turn, ST2 “Europe is bad”, combined with ST2 “The US is bad”, “Social democrats are bad”, “A strong leader is needed”, and others, creates the most fundamental ST1 (for the sake of which all other STs are developed): the idea that the Russian government is doing a good job and therefore should not be opposed. Most of the short theses debunked on “Logic of Progress” are ST4s.

Legendarium

Short theses are implemented either one by one or in batches, and the goal of their implementation is often to form a system of views from them. Conservative movements create entire legendariums out of false theses, such as the conservative legendarium or the Stalinist legendarium.

Legendariums perform a vital function in conservative politics: the more false short theses they contain and the more media promotion they receive, the more firmly conservative ideology can be driven into the minds of the masses. It becomes harder to dislodge because if you debunk one false thesis in an argument with a conservative, many other interconnected ones remain in their head, which they still consider to be the truth. Consequently, it is easier for them to accept the thought that you are lying than the idea that everything they have studied their whole life (which, in reality, was driven in by the propaganda machine) is a lie. This greatly helps conservatives maintain a large number of people under their ideology and resist other ideologies.

Examples of use

One of the first manipulative short theses we examined in our “Stalinist Legendarium” section is the thesis: “under Stalin, there was no corruption because it was severely punished“. В In the corresponding article, we examined and proved, based on historical facts and authoritative sources, why this is a false thesis.

What is the purpose of its implementation? As we explained in the article on Stalinism, this ideology serves the interests of the nomenklatura. To turn the population back into disenfranchised slaves who can be destroyed for dissent and robbed, the authorities need to popularize Stalinism so they can begin implementing its policies under the guise of the ideology’s popularity among the masses. How is Stalinism popularized? There is strong dissatisfaction in society with the theft committed by the nomenklatura; to exploit this for their own ends, the short thesis “under Stalin, there was no corruption because it was severely punished” was developed. Once popularized, the energy of those dissatisfied with corruption is channeled into a direction beneficial to the authorities.

However, if society begins to realize that people were severely punished not for corruption but for disobedience to Joseph Stalin, additional false short theses must be created: “Stalin only shot thieves”, “Trotskyists were traitors”, and so on. In this way, an entire legendarium is born.

How to avoid deception?

First and foremost, one must think critically and question even the most seemingly self-evident truths. Do not trust individuals who use demagogic techniques. Verify every claim using as many authoritative sources as possible, rather than relying on propaganda. One of the tasks of “Logic of Progress” is specifically to examine and analyze legendariums in detail based on authoritative sources — we try to do some of this work for you, but ultimately, only your own mind decides how objective your thoughts and decisions will be.

1. 5 common pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives // EU vs Disinformation (euvsdisinfo.eu). April 2, 2019. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/5-common-pro-kremlin-disinformation-narratives/ (Accessed: 09.02.2021).
2. Vocabulary: Narrative // Strelka Mag (strelkamag.com). August 9, 2016. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://strelkamag.com/ru/article/vocabulary-narrative (Accessed: 09.02.2021).