Category Archives: Bad Propaganda

Actress, Borderline Prostitute & Other Writers (by Philip Hensher)

Posted on December 7, 2023 by David Roman

Philip Hensher wrote brilliantly in The Spectator about an incompetent admirer. That was back in 2017, and the link is dead.Why? I don’t know. I have my suspicions, but I may be wrong. So, in the spirit of making the … Continue reading →

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Bad Propagandist, Nobel-Prize Version

Posted on November 16, 2023 by David Roman

The subtle way of putting it is the way The New Republic put it in this 2016 subtitle: Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich crafts myths, not histories. So nice. There are other ways of putting it (shameless liar, dirty seller of … Continue reading →

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This Isn’t Happening & It’s a Good Thing That It Is

Posted on July 25, 2022 by David Roman

There is an old schematic model of how all new ideas sneak into a society. It works in three steps, starting after you have introduced the new idea. Let’s say the new idea is that people should eat melon with … Continue reading →

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A Quick Sample of Ukrainian Propaganda

Posted on June 7, 2022 by David Roman

Living in the global West, it’s impossible not to have seen the heroic achievements of the Ghost of Kyiv. Or the widespread reports that Russia is blocking Ukrainian ports (allowed under international rules of war), denied by Russia itself, which … Continue reading →

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Annals of Bad Propaganda: Don’t Look Up, the Movie

Posted on February 17, 2022 by David Roman

If I die, I’d like to be remembered for the idea that most art is the result of bad propaganda, and the rest is status-seeking and its derivatives: cargo-cultism and rites of initiation. It’s a simple idea that clarifies much … Continue reading →

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