Saving America From The Propaganda Industrial Complex

Glenn Beck’s new book Propaganda Wars: How the Global Elite Control What You See, Think, and Feel is a prescient warning to all freedom-loving Americans about the threat posed by fake news, strategic disinformation, and mainstream media fraud.

Starting with his first chapter “Welcome to Clown World,” Beck goes full throttle after the cynical falsehoods and control strategies of mass media and their many official and unofficial partners.

Propaganda is nothing new, but the accelerated ability to use unimaginably powerful technology to push it is new. As Beck writes:

We are now entering the nuclear bomb age of the propaganda wars, where the dissemination of misleading or manipulated content will have profound, far-reaching consequences, challenging the very foundations of democracy and societal cohesion.

While creating some “wonderful things,” Beck also warns that advanced technology is “also serving to completely erase the line between fact and fiction.”

First, the positive: This book serves as a timely wake-up call regarding the need for a society to have an objective standard of truth.

As Beck observes, “if people aren’t allowed to pursue a greater understanding of the highest, most foundational truths, then what is the point of all the other rights?”

Beck’s plan to launch an upcoming massive citizen watchdog project (“the biggest grassroots journalism project in history”) through The Blaze, where readers and viewers can send in evidence of corruption and fraud in institutions, corporations, and government bodies, is also apt.

“Sometimes conservatives act as though the worst possible outcome is that America will become like Venezuela or China or Russia or some other modern authoritarian state. I wish that were the case,” Beck writes, noting that in his past book Dark Future he has warned that the reality is far more serious and includes:

The possible rise of a highly powerful never-before-seen technocratic hellscape. This future will be dominated by artificial intelligence, government controlled digital currencies, bio-tracking devices, automation and other new technologies, all of which are being designed by Davos elites as we speak.

The book also deserves serious credit for not being merely partisan: Beck warns about misinformation and the potential for out-of-control crony capitalism and government power, urging readers not to put their hope in politicians for salvation. Beck clearly legitimately believes in the right of even his ideological enemies to question whatever they’d like and to support whichever politician they’d like. In fact, published Oct. 22, Beck’s book at times sounds a pessimistic note that’s at odds with the current enthusiasm on much of the right following Trump’s recent victory.

“If we don’t change our course, and soon, the conservative and libertarian movements in America will remain trapped in an endless cycle of failure and disappointment no matter what happens on election day 2024, 26 or even 2028,” writes Beck.

The book looks at the danger of deepfakes, the proliferation of bots, social media addiction and manipulation, AI, algorithmic manipulation that reinforces echo chambers, digital currencies, and other technological hot topics that Beck has already addressed at length in his past work.

However, the main focus of Propaganda Wars is on methods for distinguishing truth from fiction. This includes starting with skepticism about those who only tell you what you want to hear, discarding outlets and voices which believe in impossibilities (such as that men can be women), and watching out for purely narrative-based presentations of facts.

Swatting down popular conspiracy theories, Beck argues that elites don’t plan and implement specific crises but instead prepare exhaustively for whatever crisis occurs, then offer their high-control, low-freedom solution to the public as the only response. He mentions Event 201 wargames preparing for a pandemic response as one example of how elites are always preparing their own script and response to whatever occurs so they will be ready to push propaganda and force outcomes.

Beck sounds the alarm against what he calls the Propaganda Industrial Complex (PIC), outlining how “Davos elites” manipulate and coerce mass public opinion and decisions. The PIC, according to Beck, is “a vast network of key organizations, government agencies, international institutions, media outlets, corporations and NGOs, all of whom work together to systematically gain more power, more wealth and influence over society.”

By preparing extensively for all scenarios, the PIC then exaggerates the crisis when it happens, maximizing fear and confusion in order to implement big government programs and new technologies in the name of safety. They roll out ambitious, freedom-killing public-private partnerships and then silence and demonize any dissent, presenting it as crazy and unfounded.

Beck’s book is not only for believers, but ultimately he argues that an objective standard of truth falls away when an agreed upon reality falls away. Thus, the belief in God and Christ is central to his thesis, with Beck explaining that biblically the promotion of untruth is “a sin against God” and a form of harm to oneself and humanity.

Beck admits that he himself is “not perfect” but says he’s always trying to improve and resist the impulse to live in an echo chamber. He points to the length of his podcast and more in-depth content he produces as an example of avoiding simple soundbite journalism.

The most powerful portions of Propaganda Wars entreat America to return to biblical roots and abandon relativistic ideas about identity, reality, and right and wrong before it is too late. Even many churches and formerly trusted institutions have fallen prey to the “woke mob,” while Hollywood, the academy, and pop culture “lost all common sense a long time ago.” It’s hard to argue with that, and Beck’s plan to counter it with a grassroots-level infusion of truth is smart and brave.

Next, the bad: The book begins with a denunciation of woke culture and the extremes of the transgender movement that is already well-known to most people. The falling away of any standard of truth that is agreed upon by everyone is clear, as is the danger of a faceless power to swoop in and instrumentalize that in a social credit system. (Propaganda Wars warns of the coming of a technocratic control grid run by AI that I already cautioned about and outlined in my 2022 book, The Globalist Plan to Destroy America.)

Furthermore, in focusing on how to distinguish what is factually true or not, Beck fails to address the aesthetic, subjective, and emotional roots of why people believe something or not, which is not just about what is factually true, but with what is aligned with their values and worldview. In other words, Beck tries to fuse scientific rationalism with a moral worldview which is in some ways the fatal flaw at the heart of libertarianism.

Ultimately, Beck’s book doesn’t present much that’s new other than his grassroots watchdog project. That said, it still serves as an important reminder and wake-up call to the dangers that America — and the world — faces in the technocratic age.

Paul Brian is a freelance journalist whose interests include politics, religion, and world news. His website is www.paulrbrian.com.