I wrote in my last piece about how Russian neocolonialism/cybercolonialism, and information peddling is affecting us and most of our allies in the world. Today I’m going to talk about domestic propaganda.

The term propaganda has its roots in the Catholic church, from a commission of cardinals (Collection: Catholic Church. Congregatio de Propaganda Fide Records | Hesburgh Libraries) charged with overseeing the propagation of the church in non-Catholic countries circa 1622-1908. We can clearly see how and why the word propaganda has always been linked to governments interfering in each other’s affairs, the Catholic Church is after all considers itself a government.

The way we use the word today usually means an exchange of information; it could be something as innocuous as a political slogan a politician uses to get you to vote for them. By its nature propaganda is meant to be persuasive, I’m not here to talk about sloganeering. That’s for another day.

I’m here to talk about the type of domestic propaganda that destroys and divides communities by grabbing on to the most controversial subjects of the moment. Moms for Liberty is a such a group, it is an Astro-turfed propaganda group and nothing more (because of their 501(c) (4) status they’re not required to provide their donor lists), first activating racist white people by saying CRT was being taught K-12, it wasn’t and never had been. The controversy that was created surrounding it was propaganda 101.

Now they’ve grabbed onto our LGBTQ communities saying that children are being encouraged to be gay, trans, and something to the effect that being exposed to gay or trans people at an early age will make them gay or trans. They use the most heinous language possible, grooming, genital mutilation. You see these astroturf groups jump on to the most divisive issues of the day to create allies. Who doesn’t want to protect children? Meanwhile the groups funding them are lobbying successfully for legislation that takes money from the very organizations they are attacking and targeting, our public schools. Which have been on their list since 1954; when Brown v Board was decided.  It’s a tale as old as time really dating back to the Catholic Church’s Congregatio de Propaganda.

When a European Country invaded or colonized a region whether it be the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, or Asia, it wasn’t with the purpose of freeing the populations they found. It was for the purpose of converting them for the church, and conquering, and or enslaving them, by force if necessary. That’s not freedom; Mom’s For Liberty and their benefactors do not want all of us to be free.  No different from the Congregatio de Propaganda they are the Pied Pipers of oppression and forced religious standards based on some cherry-picked version of the Bible that doesn’t exist.

They want their version of history taught; some straight WASP version of our country that has never existed for many. They say they don’t want their little children to feel bad when they learn that white people have been oppressors for most of recent history. Yet, the people who’ve been oppressed must live with the scars and trauma of the oppression that have been passed down from generation to generation.  How is this creating a just and equal society?

They want us to forget, yet here they are oppressing LGBTQ people into hiding, here they are allowing, encouraging children to be ripped from the arms of parents who are just trying to do the best for their children. It seems to me that some of our white Christian brothers and sisters will always be for oppression.

The target of their oppression just keeps changing, lest you believe they won’t come for you, all I have to say is wait. You see the modern targets keep shifting, from CRT, to porn, to LGBTQ, the ubiquitous reproductive rights, all in the name of “saving” the children. The rapid shifting of targets is also a propaganda tactic, to exhaust their own citizens whom they see as the enemy, no matter how much they talk about love.

We’ve been on the defense this cycle, because of gerrymandering, eroded voting rights, and just plain poor voter turnout.  It’s time to get on offense, I’ll leave you with the words of the great John Lewis.

“When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”

Now my friends it’s our turn to take up the mantle, if you’re not ready, you need to get ready.