Piercing the Fog of Propaganda

The Theory of Political Propaganda

Bounding the Piercing Number

It is shown that for every k and every p ≥ q ≥ d + 1 there is a c = c(k, p, q, d) < ∞ such that the following holds. For every family H whose members are unions of at most k compact, convex sets in R in which any set of p members of the family contains a subset of cardinality q with a nonempty intersection there is a set of at most c points in R that intersects each member of H. It is also show...

Piercing the Veil of Ignorance∗

Theories of justice in the spirit of Harsanyi and Rawls argue that fair-minded people should aspire to make choices for society — that is, for themselves and for others — as if in the original position, behind a veil of ignorance that prevents them from knowing their own social and economic positions in society. While the original position is a purely hypothetical situation, developed as a thou...

Propaganda in Soviet Russia

Two years ago the writer found plenty of evidence. Red flags, censored newspapers, directed excursions, indoctrinated schools, motivated plays, didactic pictures, and continuous radio messages preach communism. Appeals to the need for security and class loyalty, dogmatic assertion of Marxian philosophy, the example of leaders, and calls to participation are used as incentives to action. The res...

Propaganda and credulity

Article history: Received 13 April 2016 Available online 28 December 2016 JEL classification: D83