When we hear the word "propaganda" in our media, we immediately catch two nuances: hatred and contempt. Hate because by definition propaganda is that of the enemy, contempt because it is 100% lies and deception. It is an evidently Manichean vision and therefore irrational and anti-empirical: white all on one side and black on the other. Perhaps such a conception could suit children, but not adults and grown up persons. Our reason and experience know well that while not excluding a priori (a priori is always irrational) that there are situations in which all wrong or reason are on one side, this is very rare. Doubt, percentage, probability, these are the tools with which we compare ourselves and at the same time we measure the realities that arise. And it is practically impossible that they do not make us find a shred of truth in the most wrong speech, in the most hateful motives, if the partisan interest has not made us blind or dishonest.
Instead, the perverse mechanism is this: if there are two enemies, of course there are two propaganda: ours and theirs, but the first act of any propaganda is to deny its existence and affirm instead that there is only enemy propaganda. We say only true things, while the devious enemy wants to seduce and weaken with his falsehoods the citizens, who must therefore be prevented from listening to them. Propaganda is born to say that a policy is 100% good, that there are no deceptions, failures, discord, but since this is something that does not stand up to a critical spirit, to a mind that has free access to all information, why is it censored? What are you afraid of? The only explanation is a lack of confidence in one's own arguments, in one's own evidence, and in the ability to represent the interests of the majority of the population. The justification given is that it is in fact the intelligence of ordinary people that is not capable of evaluating complex issues, whereas in reality they are feared for their ability to understand them. Freedom of speech is a great thing, and if there is anyone who wants to spread the propaganda of others he must be able to do it, but even greater is the freedom to listen to every possible source, without which there is no free opinion and real democracy. It is those who plan to create a society of defenseless and under guardianship minors who are our worst enemies.