I’m not saying it’s exclusive to right or left wing politics and memes, but short and simple is usually going to get more attention than complex and nuanced.
A big part of what it boils down to is emotional intelligence.
It is much harder to explain something to a person that asks them to understand or care about how that impacts someone different than it is to appeal to their personal fears, emotions, desires, needs or instincts.
Asking people to see things from the perspective of another is a tall order when many people haven’t really an understanding or accounting for their own emotions. Sorting and understanding our thoughts and emotions takes a lot of time and effort, so many people are more than happy to live on a surface level of emotion or thought. There isn’t really a “prize” or any material incentives for introspection beyond a desire to be more complete or resolution of internal conflict.
Since there are many superficial escapes from the internal and external issues that relate or are caused by lack of self awareness, most people can simply have an “easier” time in life by choosing to think on more superficial levels. Of course many people also face challenges in life which make it difficult to spare the time or attention for self discovery and internal growth. Somewhat paradoxically, self awareness and internal growth can help us to have less stress from these things and eliminate distractions or sources of distress in our minds.
So- people like things that are simple and short, and truly understanding just about anything in life tends to be neither.
It takes effort to think things out and not be trapped by instinct or self interest. These things are rooted in one of our strongest instincts- survival. Propaganda tends to exploit this, what is “right” or “true” isn’t as important to those making propaganda as what supports and agenda. This is true of all politics.
A big part of what it boils down to is emotional intelligence.
It is much harder to explain something to a person that asks them to understand or care about how that impacts someone different than it is to appeal to their personal fears, emotions, desires, needs or instincts.
Asking people to see things from the perspective of another is a tall order when many people haven’t really an understanding or accounting for their own emotions. Sorting and understanding our thoughts and emotions takes a lot of time and effort, so many people are more than happy to live on a surface level of emotion or thought. There isn’t really a “prize” or any material incentives for introspection beyond a desire to be more complete or resolution of internal conflict.
So- people like things that are simple and short, and truly understanding just about anything in life tends to be neither.
It takes effort to think things out and not be trapped by instinct or self interest. These things are rooted in one of our strongest instincts- survival. Propaganda tends to exploit this, what is “right” or “true” isn’t as important to those making propaganda as what supports and agenda. This is true of all politics.