Isn’t propaganda just a form of persuasion? What about propaganda separates it from advertising or interpersonal communication?
Edit: Not all propaganda involves lying. For some reason, we seem to be more comfortable with a person lying to us than we are with viewing a propaganda poster that uses verifiable facts.
Edit 2: Another interesting note is that in some countries, propaganda is not viewed negatively like it is in English speaking countries.
Don’t most forms of persuasion leave out inconvenient facts or distort the argument to their case?
no
Some, not most. Propaganda and advertising are one sided conversations - you either see through the bullshit, or you find yourself agreeing with it.
Effective and rational persuasion involves a back and forth conversation, which is far too time consuming for practically anyone to bother with these days. Since everyone has to have an opinion on everything, they’ll usually find someone saying what sounds right to them and recite the same talking points. When you’re engaging in that sort of persuasion, you don’t really need to worry about giant holes in your arguments.
often it is better to directly acknowledge where your side has trouble. You can then address those areas on your terms before they find out, possibly from a source that won’t show you why your side is better despite those issues.