> This could also describe a mediocre student reading a mediocre physics textbook.
I think you're being too generous. It's more like a mediocre student listening to someone's take on a mediocre physics textbook and believing now that he knows how the world works.
The difference between the consumption of propaganda and non-propaganda, is related to the perception of everyday events and the consequences of it.
In your mediocre student example, his unacknowledged poor understanding of physics won't have much consequences, he can try to lecture people, and he can go about the world and unless he tries to defy laws of physics there won't be much to it - like a "flat earth believer" can have a boat ride and not fall off the earth.
Propaganda, on the other hand, changes your perception of reality and the way you interact with society and institutions. Suddenly, a normal election process is rigged because your side lost, or the normal vaccination process is now harmful to you and your peers.
I think you're being too generous. It's more like a mediocre student listening to someone's take on a mediocre physics textbook and believing now that he knows how the world works.
The difference between the consumption of propaganda and non-propaganda, is related to the perception of everyday events and the consequences of it.
In your mediocre student example, his unacknowledged poor understanding of physics won't have much consequences, he can try to lecture people, and he can go about the world and unless he tries to defy laws of physics there won't be much to it - like a "flat earth believer" can have a boat ride and not fall off the earth.
Propaganda, on the other hand, changes your perception of reality and the way you interact with society and institutions. Suddenly, a normal election process is rigged because your side lost, or the normal vaccination process is now harmful to you and your peers.