What is propaganda?

Is there propaganda in the USA today?

That's are very important questions today.  Why? Perhaps because we in the USA are being exposed to far more propaganda than we realize.  Propaganda about infectious diseases.  Propaganda about the economy.  Propaganda about various careers.  Propaganda about countries. Propaganda about health. Propaganda about ourselves.

What's the problem with propaganda?

It's simple. Let's first look at the purpose of propaganda. 

The spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.   - Merriam-Webster Dictionary

One way to look at propaganda is this:  If what is being stated is truth, then it's not propaganda.  If it's the promotion of an idea that isn't true, but people are trying to make it seem true, then it's propaganda.

When we are inundated with propaganda, a few things start to happen.  First, we lose the ability to distinguish reality from artificial or malevolent messaging. Repetition of the message makes the audience believe it is true.  We lose our ability to witness various view points, consider each of them,  think clearly and then make our own decisions. With propaganda, pushing a message over and over leads to a non-critical thinker to believe it is true.  Voila! ...

How do you stack up against other people?

Do you look at yourself and compare you with others?  Or do you look at your achievements and compare those with others?

It makes a big difference.

We are all inherently different.  Different skills. Different life experience. Different physiology. Different makeup.  Because of that our uniqueness makes it impossible for us to be all the same.  A short, chubby guy isn't likely to be a successful pro-basketball player.  A person with limited inherent aptitude for math is unlikely to be an actuary or a doctorate in physics.  When we look and compare ourselves and our innate abilities to others, we can set ourselves up for disappointment.  I am a physician and have been successful in that area, but there are countless other areas where I simply don't stack up to others.  Event though I love music and playing music, when I look at my ability, it's far inferior to many people with a lot less training than I have had.  If that's what I look at, I am doomed to be disappointed, with little chance of overcoming that disappointment.

Focus On What YOU Have Achieved

If I focus on what I have achieved, I can truly feel good.  What I have done in some areas of my life is far beyond what others have achieved in those areas.  We are all not the same, so it really doesn't matter what specific...

How often have you heard the phrase "that's a good idea"?

If you are like me, you hear it all the time.  It's likely when used, the idea is a good idea.  But like most "good" ideas, no action is ever taken on it.  Maybe because people are afraid that providing further refinement of the "good" idea undermines their original comment.  If it was a "good" idea, then why are you changing it?  So those "good" ideas simple fade away due to to the inhibition of refinement and action.

Some ideas that are not good, are still interesting...

The other problem with labeling something as a "good" idea is that we then write off other ideas that are not "good" as not being worth further consideration.  Unfortunately the opportunities that are hidden in non "good" ideas are lost. You hear of many huge successes in life and in business as the "bad" ideas that were shelved for years, with their true potential only discovered years later. (Think of post-it notes.) It's clear the distinction between a bad idea and a good idea is perspective, situation and opportunity. 

The Interesting Idea.

It's likely that something interesting can be found in just about any idea, good or bad.  When something is interesting, we feel more free to explore it.  To change it. To expand it.  It's far easier to be open to modification of an interesting idea than a ...

Life is one big negotiation. Negotiation interactions are about getting something.  It may be permission.  It may be a raise. It may be a purchase. It may be ... anything.

During that interaction for permission, there are two sides to the negotiation.

The "Asker"

First is the person asking.  They have a requests, demand or need that they are looking to have fulfilled.  It's what they want.  Behind each of those requests, there is a reason for it.

The "Giver"

The second party to this conversation is the person being asked for fulfillment of that item.  They have the ability to say yes or no to the person asking.  That doesn't mean that they always have the final or ultimate arbiter of the decision, but they have a significant amount of influence and/or authority over it.  For them, there is a reason behind their ultimate decision.  That reason why they will grant, or refuse such a request. It's a simple rule: They have to be better off after they give you what you are requesting...than before. If they have no benefit, there is no motivation for them to say yes.

It's Not About You

When  you are asking for something in the negotiation, the discussion shouldn't be about you.  It's about the "giver".  If it's their permission that will get you what you want, you have to provide them with an "after" status that is better...

There is something in the news media that has been obvious to me as a medical professional.  Why is so much of the recent news about the Wuhan coronavirus in regards to immunity is slanted negative?

Yes it is true that we simply don't know how long and how effective the immunity to COVID 19 will be in recovered individuals.  But it seems that the news media is trying to downplay the increasing immunity seen in the general population.  The media likes to question the effectiveness of the antibody response in recovered individuals, especially in relationship to some future immunization, yet doesn't put two-and-two together when they then report on the benefit of antibodies from recovered individuals in helping critically ill COVID19 patients. 

Why Are They So Negative?

I don't want to believe that there is a political purpose to this negative reporting.  I have my thoughts, but can't confirm that.  However the axiom "If it bleeds, it leads" that has been the mainstay of mainstream news for decades certainly plays a role.  Honestly reporting about the potential benefits of recovery and immunity in the population probably wouldn't get the same readership as casting doubt and panic by a contrary perspective with the same data.  So negative information, regardless if it is true or not, becomes headlines.  Facts replaced with...

What Messages Are You Ignoring?

Could it be something that someone is telling you?  Perhaps that nagging pile of mail on your counter?  The email folder with hundreds of unread messages? Or is it an important message being drown out by the sea of unwanted messages pummeling your senses.

Some messages are worth ignoring.  For me, I have been purging and unsubscribing to email lists that I find myself consistently deleting without reading.  I tell myself I will save this for later when I will read it, but  I really know I won't.  So I don't deal with it.  And it piles up and festers, like a wound that won't heal. That distraction may take my attention from the email that is important. In this case, ignoring should be replaced with eliminating those unwanted messages.

Obvious Messages

Some messages are important to not ignore and are obvious.  The stop sign, an intersection traffic light or the school crossing sign are definitely messages that you should not ignore.  The consequences of error are too high.  They are there, out in the open. But distraction from the cell phone message or the radio commercial may make those obvious messages invisible to you. 

Others can be right in front of our eyes, such as helping us to be safe.  We ignore them, not because we choose to, but because they have become invisible in...

Boy did the you-know-what hit the fan with the Wuhan Coronavirus.

Going back to New Year's Eve 2019, who would have guessed the massive pivot that would have occurred in the first few months of 2020?

I didn't.  And I suspect that only those in the epicenter really understood what we were facing in the beginning of 2020. Everyone else was blissfully ignorant of the massive microbe that was rapidly moving across the face of the globe, which would produce yet another "before" and "after" point in time in modern world history.

Before And After Points In Time

When dramatic events occur that shape the world, there are two elements to the "before" and "after" pivot that occurs.  The real physical element that happens and the psychological fallout of the event.  These may be seen as the primary event and secondary fallout. 

In WW2, the primary impact of the event occurred in only some parts of the world, yet the secondary impact was felt world wide.  The same for 9/11.  The primary impact of the initial event was quite small, (geographically), yet the secondary impact was also felt world wide. 

COVID19, like these other events will slice the events of the world in two.  "Before-COVID" and "After-COVID" is already being used by many to describe recent time.  The rapid progression of this event changed many elements of our world, with many...

In a recent blog post by Cal Newport, The Lost Satisfactions of Manual Competence,  he discusses the satisfaction of the creation of an object under the tutelage of his grandfather.  The physical effort to take a hunk of metal and turn it into a functional working engine. 

Newport's post resonated with me for a couple of reasons.   First, my own father was a tool and die maker and the workshop in my basement was filled with many different tools that were used to create functional objects from raw materials.  It was there that I spent countless days "playing" with the various tools, creating something that I had envisioned in my head.  With time, my competence for creation of such objects grew to a point where I could be reasonably proficient in creating what I had dreamed (within reason). 

I could fix a bicycle.  Mend a fence.  Create a birdhouse. Make a model car or spaceship.  I could solder a broken electrical connection. Repair a broken item. And I could create objects that were within my mind.

I didn't really know much about computers until I was in high school when only the "nerds" were playing with decks of programming cards, and it wasn't until my medical residency when I had my first real experience with the first IBM PC with a green screen and a 5 1/4 floppy disk.  It was at that time that my experience as...

I have to admit it.

I have fallen behind.  And I hate it.

Self imposed goals.

Creating self imposed goals are one of the keys to effective goal achievement. I do it all the time. 

There are two types of self imposed goals.  The first has a single point in time and single goal.  For example: Fill my auto up with fuel today.  Easy. straightforward.  Singular goal and a singular time frame.  Easy-peasy (usually). Yes there are harder goals, but they all have in common the singular nature of the goal.

The second type of goal is the ongoing goal.  For me, this blog is that type of goal.  A post, every day, five days a week.  It's a goal that never goes away. Once you have completed one, the next one looms before you.  While it keeps you moving forward, it can be difficult to maintain, and if you don't, the negative elements of not meeting that goal ... piles up.

When you fall behind on a repetitive goal, it seems harder to restart.  But it really isn't as hard to restart as it was to initially start.  You know how to do it.  You know that you can do it. But for some reason, you just fell behind.  And now you don't just have your ongoing goal, you have an element of completing the unfinished goals that you missed.

It all seems so daunting.

So you delay even more.

Getting Restarted

But you just have to just...

Let's face it.  Life doesn't go smoothly all the time.  Heck, it doesn't even go smoothly most of the time.  When it doesn't, it's an obstruction to us achieving what we are attempting to do.  The degree of obstruction that it causes for us can be minor...such as something that causes us to take longer to achieve our goal or take more effort to achieve that goal, or it can be a "fatal" obstruction which we perceive as totally blocking us from achieving our intended goal.

Problems

These "obstructions" (as I have referred to them up to now intentionally) are more typically called "problems" by most people.  A dictionary definition of a "problem"  is:

• any question or matter involving doubt, uncertainty, or difficulty.

Hmmm....If you were to use these descriptions for an obstruction that you had in achieving a goal, how would you feel about the potential for overcoming that obstruction?  The obstruction that I am trying to overcome involves doubt.  Uncertainty.  Difficulty.  That sounds pretty darn hard to overcome.  It sounds like I may not be able to overcome that obstruction.  It's demoralizing.  Can I even do it?  Should I not bother, and just give up?

Yes, there is a lot of power in words.  Subconscious power that can dramatically impact...