Brainwashing 101
As an Egyptian, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has long been a part of my life. This decades-long dispute is complex, with countless players influencing events behind the scenes. The brutality and bloodshed have taken a devastating human toll. The ‘facts’ are shifting day by day as each side promotes their own narrative. Arab regimes use pro-Palestinian biases for their own presence and a way to cover for internal issues, while Western sources usually (almost always) favor Israel.
Both sides are basically running the same playbook when it comes to brainwashing people. It is surprisingly easy to make the story favor one side over the other. You just need to follow simple guidelines:
Control everything. Make sure all media is controlled by governments or rich people who share your views. Independent journalism? That's just annoying.
Your story goes first. Splash your version as the main headline. If you absolutely HAVE to mention the other side, bury it on page 47 in tiny font. Don't bore readers with complexity.
Hide the messy stuff. Lead with your agenda and dump inconvenient facts at the end where nobody reads anyway.
Question everything else. Use phrases like "according to questionable sources" for stuff that doesn't help you, while presenting your unverified claims like they're gospel truth.
Shut people up. Pass laws or create pressure to punish anyone publishing different viewpoints. Can't let others mess with your story!
Make connections. Link anything you don't like to the bad guys and repeat it until everyone believes it.
Go for total control. Silence all other voices completely. Game over, you win.
Well, I get it - being 100% unbiased is impossible. We're all human. But there's a difference between having some bias and running a full propaganda machine. Real people are dying while media outlets turn their suffering into points-scoring games.
We need more independent news sources - ones that aren't owned by governments or billionaires with agendas. Yeah, some bias will sneak in anyway, but at least they try to show different sides instead of just feeding us what powerful people want us to think.