Propagandists' Playbook

What I found surprising:

1. information voids -- right-wing propagandists purposely look for terms indexed on search engines (primarily google) that have few if any results, or few new results within the last year or so, and essentially colonize those terms, using propaganda to reassign the meaning they prefer and their media personalities to push audiences to "do their own research." When they go to google and search for the newly co-opted term, they find results authored by right-wing journalists, think tanks, and scholars that reinforce the messaging of the propaganda. Thus the propaganda is reinforced, and people take ownership of this interpretation of facts and issues, because they had to put some (minimal) effort into confirming the narrative. This is often how "new" issues turn up in the media, because even so-called liberal sources will start covering these stories, but...

2. Co-optation -- it's less that I found this surprising then that I find it endlessly frustrating. This is a bit of a closed-loop, if you look at it holistically. The right undermines public education and insists that only a sanitized version of history may be taught (otherwise its indoctrination; often the right projects their intentions onto the left in this way). People either never learn or forget important historical political moments, or they are so inundated in misinformation that they slowly begin to believe the current (erroneous or misleading) framing over the previously more accurate or correct framing they once believed; context and nuance are stripped away. The right resurrect the issue but with new framing and new key terms/language that fits neatly into an information void on index search engines and voila: everything old is new again. I struggle with feeling like my education deprived me of a comprehensive understanding of history and politics that I have spent a lot of time and effort correcting as an adult, so reading about this is...enraging.

3. Scriptural inference -- as far as I know, this is a term coined by Tripodi to explain an epistemological phenomenon common on the right and far less common in the center or left. It is common and often encouraged in Protestant Christianity for adherents to read the Bible - frequently, closely, daily - and meditate on the text, think of different possible meanings and applications, interpret it. (As a person who has studied religion, I could say a lot about translation and authorial intention and contemporary context, but I digress.) The only real authority in this method of interpretation of texts is the individual - certain interpretations may gain popularity within the community, but that popularity isn't necessarily rooted in expertise. Tripodi demonstrates how right-wing lawyers, judges, politicians, etc. use this technique when interpreting law and the other American texts they have reified - the Declaration, the Constitution, (some of) the Federalist Papers. It seems obvious to me to draw a line here between scriptural inference, textualism (in the legal sense), and originalism (in the constitutional sense). Textualism and originalism are now being slowly, painfully abandoned in instances where it does not produce the results that the right would prefer in terms of politics and law, but this method of interpreting text will likely remain.

I find this book an interesting mix of academic and anecdotal. It is foremost a document of Tripodi's social scientific research, but it is peppered with small stories and moments of Tripodi's own experience of her research as it was happening. I wasn't able to get my hands on a ebook version so I've only listened to the audiobook, which the author narrated. I think this would be interesting to readers who find themselves asking, where is this coming from and why is it happening? in relation to hype-news cycles. Tripodi is concerned less with the content of current right-wing propaganda than with its methods: how does it accomplish its ends? I wish she elaborated a bit about who is driving the machine, but I found the text engaging and approachable.