Disclaimer: I don’t really believe in impossible, not in an absolute sense. When something is called impossible it may be most correct to see it within a certain context of circumstances relative to which something may be deemed “impossible”.

That said, hype is a peculiar phenomenon. Some of us express despise for its use as if we aren’t susceptible to it ourselves. When corporations or political parties resort to various methods of appealing to our emotional self, there are two kinds of reactions. If we remain unconvinced by it we might look to those who have been convinced as prey to hype and brainwashing. If however, we are among the convinced ones we might adore it as the new true state of things - and we may be the ones who others will consider prey to the hype.

Indeed, I very much doubt there is anyone who is a human being that hasn’t fell for some sort of emotional appeal. Furthermore such appealing material is easy to construct. You can put up a video with just about any message and with the right combination of imaging and music you can make it directly stimulate human emotion even if it meant suspending all reasoning.

Interestingly, without this state of suspense we might not be capable of “loving” any work of culture. When you say “I love this song!” is that a rational statement? If you were to ask yourself why would this particular song deserve special attention you might come out short - there is no good reason, not unless you include your emotions in your reasoning, obviously which just brings us back to square one - emotions being often fairly irrational.

This makes us ALL susceptible to propaganda. Even as we claim that we can’t possibly fall for it, we do, indeed fall for it. Different people just fall for different kinds of propaganda. The only way you can make yourself truly resistant to all sorts of propaganda is to turn your emotions off, which, unlike the android Commander Data on the starship Enterprise, we do not have the luxury of doing.

Which brings us to an interesting predicament. When we have a message of our own to spread, is it justifiable to resort to propaganda? What is the line that separates propaganda with dry reasoning? Should I make a propaganda video on behalf of Freedomware or my newly established Libertarian beliefs? Would my success also be counted as “damage” I managed to make in terms of brainwashing people?

I am more and more involved with marketing, yet marketing is essentially a way of recognizing what people want and presenting the thing you are selling in such a way for it to stimulate such desires. In other words, it is not essentially a reason which marketing is supposed to stimulate in the target audience, it is an emotion they carry that we are counting on. I have had a rather devious idea for a subtle Freedomware marketing campaign. I assure you that nobody would even see it coming.

Only trouble is.. I am in a dilemma. Does spreading something I believe to be an ethically superior way justify the use of such marketing strategies as propaganda?

The answer doesn’t seem so clear cut. But then again, if I ban myself from propaganda use it still doesn’t guarantee me that I wont fall for propaganda of someone else, or that somebody elses propaganda wont convince people I would otherwise convince, but to something far worse than Freedomware.

Perhaps, when it comes to currents of thought and conviction, we are all in one big competitive, almost darwinian, marketplace.