What concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit? Kayfabe (2011)

Re:What concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?... by alexandercrohde on Monday April 06, 2020 @06:44PM (#22798614)

I think the distinction between Kayfabe and propaganda is that the audience knows and chooses to suspend disbelief of Kayfabe because it's engaging to them.

I like this article because I think Kayfabe is a much better explanation of certain societal tribes' mock battles, than a lack of intellect. I think propaganda is a poor theory for widespread misinformation, because if it were simply a lack of information, then giving correct information to the uninformed (e.g. wikipedia) would immediately rectify the problem.

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Re:What concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?... by krnsll on Monday April 06, 2020 @06:56PM (#22798690)

I've always found the mutual knowledge vs common knowledge dichotomy to be a good way to conceptualize this distinction between kayfabe and propaganda (although it is not strictly speaking the perfect analogy here, it does offer some insight). The famous blue-eyed islanders puzzle is a great illustration of the concept (and perhaps something to occupy one's time with in quarantine).

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Re:What concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?... by gowld on Monday April 06, 2020 @06:49PM (#22798644)

If you give someone a complicated truth and a simple emotionally appealing lie, why would they immediately recognize and prefer the truth?

Wikipedia happened, and then Conservapedia happened as a reaction.

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