American Propaganda: Beautiful People (Chapter 3)

Wanting to know more about how the January 6th insurrection turned violent, Kim visits her high school teacher Merj (whose parents were orphaned by the Armenian genocide) and learns about unsettling parallels between the manipulation techniques of Hitler and Trump. She also gains insight into the Braveheart-like warrior mentality that fuels today’s evangelical propaganda.

American Propaganda is an investigative five-part podcast series from The Control Variable, hosted by journalist Kim Cutter, that takes an unprecedented look into the history and science of propaganda to better understand the events of January 6th, 2021. The podcast chronicles Kim’s own journey, from watching the events of January 6th in horror to desperately seeking to understand how this group of people could be moved to scale the Capitol walls and storm the seat of our democracy… in the name of something so patently false as a stolen election. Exploring the events leading up to that fateful day, she quickly realizes the crucial role that propaganda played in inciting the mob to violence. Join Kim as she speaks with a wide range of experts, from prominent neuroscientists and theologians to artists, historians and crowd psychologists about the role propaganda has played at key moments in history, the devastating impact it’s having on America right now… and what we can do about it.