cognitive dissonance, propaganda by me but not by thee

The problem is that propaganda these days often comes in the form of viral memes, and it's hard to say whether some edgelord made it or a literal adversarial nation state intelligence group.

It blends with the internet noise. It's hard to say who spread it and for what purpose. And propaganda isn't always a lie... it can be amplifying an unfortunate truth. So just because you see it is, and know it is propaganda, doesn't mean you can always say "well that's a lie then".

Is McConnell dead or alive, for example? Propaganda is being spread to tell both stories. One is wrong. One is right. Recognizing it's propaganda doesn't tell you much other than people are trying to capitalize on the situation.