"If you tell a lie big enough and tell it frequently enough, people will eventually come to believe it". What is an example of this happening today?

Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 365 points –

I would really rather that these were actual examples, and not conspiracy theories. We all have our own unsubstantiated ideas about what shadowy no-gooders are doing, but I'd rather hear about things that are actually happening.

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That's one of the wildest ones, like it just bypasses the critical thinking part of their brains. "Yes, there's a town in North Korea surrounded by fake fields, which are harvested by fake farmers. They all live in fake homes and go into a fake school that that has power but don't have any windows."

South Korea has potemkin villages on its side of the border. The government pays people to live there for a few weeks out of the year. Otherwise they’re empty. Source: been there.

It is hilarious how the villages are remarkably similar (and I say that to the South's credit, in some respects), but one gets called "Propaganda Village" and the other -- if it is mentioned at all -- is merely called by its name. It's that meme about "Our noble government, their nefarious regime" in such a literal and direct portrayal that you couldn't write it in a parody without it being seen as too hamfisted.