Most people don’t believe the propaganda they’re given. Here's why the CIA tried to hide it for so long

The CIA's internal report in 1967, "Attitudes Toward U.S. Propaganda" was recently declassified by the agency. The report was written by the CIA's internal Office of Research and Analysis. The report details the agency's findings on how much of the world's population believes the information provided by the US government, and what attitudes people from various countries had about propaganda in general.<br><br>Here are a few highlights of the findings:<br><br>* **Over 70% of the people surveyed from 25 countries have a negative opinion of propaganda:** The CIA took this as evidence of a large anti-American sentiment in the world. But the CIA also conducted additional research to find out why that was the case. The CIA found that people don't have a negative opinion of the propaganda they were given. They had a negative opinion of propaganda in general. This means that people were not simply hating the fact that they were being fed propaganda, they hated propaganda.<br><br>* **Most people don't believe the propaganda they're given:** The CIA was surprised by these findings and made additional research to see how much of the propaganda the agency was sending out was actually being believed by the people of the countries the propaganda was directed at. This research found that the majority of the population of the countries surveyed did not believe the propaganda they were given.<br><br>* **Most people have a negative opinion about the government's use of propaganda:** This seems obvious. People generally don't like the idea of the government using propaganda to influence their opinions.<br><br>The CIA tried to keep these findings a secret from the public for several reasons:<br><br>* **The government wouldn't have liked it:** The CIA found that most people didn't believe the propaganda the agency sent out. The CIA and other government agencies use propaganda to shape public opinion, and if the public knew they didn't believe their propaganda, they would have a lower opinion of the government.<br><br>* **The agency wouldn't have been able to justify itself:** The CIA used the propaganda they sent out as evidence of its importance. The agency argued that the world was a dangerous place, and that it needed the power to send out propaganda in order to "defend" America. The CIA couldn't use that line if it knew the majority of people didn't believe what it was sending out.<br><br>* **The agency wouldn't have been able to justify its budget:** The CIA would not have been able to justify its budget if it knew the majority of people didn't believe the propaganda the agency was sending out. The CIA used the propaganda as evidence of its success. The CIA argued that the world was a dangerous place, and that it needed the power to send out propaganda in order to "defend" America. If the agency knew that people didn't believe its propaganda, it wouldn't have been able to justify its budget.<br><br>The CIA tried to keep these findings a secret for so long because the agency's very existence and budget would have been threatened by it. The CIA used the propaganda it sent out as evidence of its success. The CIA argued that the world was a dangerous place, and that it needed the power to send out propaganda in order to "defend" America. If the agency knew that people didn't believe its propaganda, it wouldn't have been able to justify its budget.