What Radicalization Means (Plain English)
Radicalization isn’t just “being passionate” or “having strong beliefs.” In simple terms:
Radicalization happens when frustration or loyalty turns into extreme thinking—where opponents are no longer neighbors to debate, but enemies to destroy.
It can happen on the left or right. It often starts small—feeling silenced, angry, or betrayed—and then builds step by step until people accept violence, hatred, or blind loyalty as “normal.”
The goal is to help everyday Americans spot the patterns, avoid being manipulated, and stay sane in an age of outrage.
The goal is to help everyday Americans spot the patterns, avoid being manipulated, and stay sane in an age of outrage.
Four Lenses of Reading Radicalization
1. Elementary Reading – Spotting the Basics
At its simplest, radicalization means moving from “I disagree with you” to “You are evil.” Anyone can recognize this shift in tone—on social media, in politics, in protests. Learning to spot these signals early is like learning to sound out words: it gives you the ability to recognize danger signs before they escalate.
2. Inspectional Reading – Asking First Questions
When you “skim” radical rhetoric, ask: What’s the tone? Who’s the villain? Where’s the pressure to conform? Inspectional reading helps you scan speeches, articles, or videos for red flags: moral binaries (“us vs. them”), emotional manipulation (fear, outrage, guilt), or glorification of violence. This quick read doesn’t solve the problem, but it tells you whether to look deeper.
3. Analytical Reading – Digging Into Claims
This is where critical thinking kicks in. Analytical reading asks: What evidence is offered? What’s left out? Are claims being conflated with facts? Radicalization thrives when people stop analyzing and simply absorb. By slowing down—checking sources, comparing timelines, questioning assumptions—you break the spell. Analytical reading reintroduces reason into what radicals frame as “obvious truth.”
4. Syntopical Reading – Seeing the Bigger Picture
Finally, step back. Put today’s rhetoric in conversation with history, philosophy, and psychology. Compare patterns: How did past movements radicalize (fascism, communism, extremist cults)? How do institutions today (universities, media, churches, political parties) contribute to or resist radicalization? By drawing connections across sources, you begin to see the forest, not just the trees. This level of reading helps you distinguish between ordinary political passion and movements sliding into extremism.
Why This Matters
Radicalization feeds on surface-level reactions—anger, outrage, tribal loyalty. But if we teach ourselves and others to read rhetoric at multiple levels, we build resilience. Instead of being swept along by the tide, we can pause, reflect, and choose differently. Reading—truly reading—becomes a civic guardrail against manipulation.
Ground in Moral Order Before Politics
Why
Without a shared sense of morality, politics turns into nothing more than raw power. When truth and virtue aren’t the anchor, whoever shouts loudest or controls the rules wins by default. That is the soil in which propaganda thrives.
How
The way forward is simple but not easy: anchor yourself in faith, family, and virtue before you anchor in parties or platforms. Politics should be downstream of morality, not the other way around.
A good gut-check: “Would I defend this if my own side were the one doing it?” If the answer is no, then it’s not grounded in principle but in partisanship.
Reading Radicalization Through Four Lenses
1. Elementary Reading – Spotting Obvious Morality Gaps
At the simplest level, you notice when something doesn’t match basic decency. A politician mocks a widow. A protest turns violent. Elementary reading asks: Does this line up with the Golden Rule? Would I want this done to me or my family? It keeps morality simple and human.
2. Inspectional Reading – Scanning for Power Plays
When you skim headlines or speeches, look for telltale signs: outrage without solutions, loyalty tests (“real patriots believe X”), or scapegoating entire groups. This quick read is like smelling spoiled food—you don’t need to eat the whole meal to know something’s wrong.
3. Analytical Reading – Testing Motives and Claims
Here you slow down. Does the proposed policy actually help people, or just expand control? Are statistics real or cherry-picked? Does this argument serve justice—or just protect my tribe? Analytical reading helps cut through propaganda by comparing the moral claim with the real-world effect.
4. Syntopical Reading – Putting Politics in Moral Context
This is the deepest level: comparing today’s rhetoric with broader traditions—Scripture, history, philosophy. Ask: How have societies fallen when they let propaganda replace virtue? How does this compare to times when truth and conscience led to renewal? Syntopical reading reveals long-term patterns of radicalization and recovery.
Propaganda collapses when people practice all four levels of reading, not just the literal.
Understanding Moral Growth (Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development)
Psychologists say people mature morally in steps. Here’s the short version:
- Fear of punishment: Doing right because you don’t want to get in trouble.
- Fair trades & Self-Interest: Doing right because you want rewards or reciprocity.
- Tribal loyalty: Doing right to fit in with your group or tribe (Echo chamber).
- Law and order thinking: Doing right because “the rules are the rules,” even if the rules are unjust.
- Principled reasoning: Doing right because of universal fairness, truth, and conscience—even if your group or the law disagrees.
- Highest conscience: Doing right because you see moral law as rooted in something greater than human power (God, natural law, timeless truth).
Here’s the catch: Radicalization thrives in that “Tribal loyalty” stage—where left and right both say, “Our rules are the only rules, and the other side must be crushed.” It’s the perfect soil for divide-and-rule propaganda. People at this level often obey authority (“Law and order thinking” & “Tribal loyalty stages) blindly, believing safety comes from conformity.
Most propaganda plays its tricks in the middle levels:
Step 1 – Keep People in Group & Tribal Loyalty (Stage 3)
- Propagandists fan the flames of “us vs. them”.
- Left vs. right, red vs. blue, rural vs. urban — the same playbook keeps running. Division isn’t limited to politics; it extends across every layer of identity. Black vs. white, male vs. female, straight vs. gay, rich vs. poor, educated vs. “ordinary,” believer vs. skeptic. Each category is framed as the defining battle line, as if your worth or morality depends entirely on which box you fit into. When identity itself becomes the compass, shared truth disappears — and propaganda wins by keeping us fighting over labels instead of linking arms around principles.
- People measure right and wrong by whether their side approves, not by truth or principle.
- This keeps citizens stuck at the tribal loyalty level, where belonging matters more than reasoning.
- Citizens fight endless left-right wars. Morality is reduced to “my side good, your side bad.”
Step 2 – Collapse the Overton Window
- Once people are locked into tribal fights, the range of “acceptable” ideas shrinks.
- Instead of debating policies on merit, the debate narrows to “What’s our side’s rule?”
- The Overton Window becomes a cage: alternatives that don’t serve tribal identity get labeled “traitorous” or “dangerous.”
Step 3 – Law-and-Order Obedience (Manufacture Stage 4)
- Out of the chaos of endless left-right conflict, propagandists present law, order, and authority as the only solution.
- Citizens, exhausted by division, accept rigid rules, surveillance, or censorship as the price of safety.
- At this stage, questioning authority becomes taboo — obedience itself is sold as virtue.
- Out of that chaos, people cling to authority for safety. Obedience is sold as virtue, even if the rules themselves are corrupt.
The Trap
- By keeping people stuck in Stage 3 loyalty wars, elites prevent them from rising into higher reasoning (where universal principles matter more than sides).
- Then they channel the exhaustion into Stage 4 obedience, where “the system” (often controlled by the same elites) defines morality.
- It’s divide → exhaust → control.
Bottom Line
When you ground yourself in moral order before politics, you insulate yourself from manipulation. Reading at deeper levels—and maturing past “rules and tribes” toward principle and conscience—equips you to resist propaganda and avoid the radicalization trap.
The Propaganda Game
- Stir endless tribal fights (Stage 3). Keep people busy hating the “other side.”
- Collapse the Overton Window. Narrow acceptable debate until only two extremes remain. Nuance disappears.
- Usher people into Stage 4 obedience. Exhausted by tribal war, citizens accept “law and order” as salvation — not realizing they’ve traded freedom for control.
Bottom Line
The way out is to rise above Stage 3 and Stage 4 thinking. Ground yourself in faith, family, and virtue — the higher, principled level of morality. Only then can you resist divide-and-rule propaganda and keep politics in its proper place: as a tool for a free people, not a weapon of control.
Reclaim Education and Formation
Why It Matters
Education isn’t just about cramming skills for a job. It’s about shaping character, conscience, and the ability to think clearly. If we don’t guide our children, others will—whether schools, TikTok, or propaganda from every glowing screen.
Formation is more than academics; it’s about preparing the next generation to love truth more than comfort, freedom more than conformity, and responsibility more than ease.
What to Teach
- Truth before technique: Skills change with every new technology. Logic, history, and moral clarity endure.
- Civic duty: Children should learn not just their “rights” but their responsibilities—how to steward freedom, respect others, and defend justice.
- Antifragility: Kids who never face challenge or disagreement become brittle. Debate, critique, and failure, handled well, build resilience.
Adler’s Four Levels of Reading Applied to Education
Teach your children to read the world at all four levels—not just books, but news, politics, and even their own emotions:
- Literal Reading — What does the text (or claim) actually say? Train them not to skim headlines but to grasp content.
- Interpretive Reading — What does it mean? Teach them to trace arguments, symbols, and historical context.
- Critical Reading — Is it true? What’s the evidence, and what’s missing? Help them ask, “Who benefits if I believe this?”
- Moral Reading — What should I do about it? Anchor every analysis in virtue, justice, and conscience.
Without the fourth level, education produces clever cynics, not wise citizens.
Kohlberg’s Moral Growth
Children move through stages of moral reasoning:
- Self-interest: “I do it if I get a reward or avoid punishment.”
- Group loyalty: “I do it because my friends, family, or tribe expect it.”
- Law and order: “I do it because it’s the rule, and rules must be obeyed.”
- Principled morality: “I do it because it’s true, just, and respects human dignity, even if it costs me.”
- Higher Conscience: “I do it because it aligns with eternal truth, the divine, or the highest good — even when it defies the world.”
The morality of transcendence. Right and wrong are grounded in an inner harmony with God, higher law, or ultimate reality. It’s not about recognition or even justice here and now — it’s about fidelity to a higher order that gives meaning to life itself.
Schools and culture often leave kids stuck in the middle stages — either craving group approval (peer pressure, social media) or blind obedience (“just follow the rules”). This produces fragile citizens who either fear rejection or cling to authority without deeper reflection.
Real education should aim higher. It should help young people:
- Move toward principled morality — where conscience, truth, and fairness matter more than conformity or convenience. Here, students learn to weigh evidence, defend unpopular truths, and respect dignity even when it costs them socially or politically.
- Grow into higher conscience — where choices align with ultimate meaning, divine law, or the highest good. At this level, education isn’t just about producing workers or even citizens; it’s about forming whole human beings who see life as a sacred trust. They live as if every act must harmonize with something greater than themselves — God, truth, or eternal justice.
When schools stop at conformity, they mass-produce obedience. When they teach students to pursue principle and higher conscience, they raise up leaders, reformers, and truth-tellers.
How to Reclaim Formation
- At home: Dinner-table debates, reading original sources, practicing logic through Scripture, history, and even family decisions.
- In communities: Homeschool co-ops, classical academies, or strong private schools that prize wisdom over indoctrination.
- In daily life: Turn news stories, movies, and trends into teaching moments. Ask: “What stage of morality is this showing? What’s the deeper truth here?”
Bottom Line
If we want children to resist propaganda and grow into courageous adults, we must form them in both critical thinking (Adler) and principled morality (Kohlberg). Skills without truth produce clever tyrants. Truth without resilience produces fragile idealists. But truth plus antifragility? That builds free men and women who can stand when the world shakes.
Spot the Radicalization Pipeline
Radicalization rarely happens overnight. It moves step by step—like a funnel that takes ordinary frustration and channels it into destructive action. Understanding the stages helps us slow down, check ourselves, and keep truth bigger than outrage.
The Steps
- Grievance → “We’re victims.”
- Adler’s Reading: At the literal level, listen carefully—what is the actual claim? Is the grievance real, exaggerated, or selective?
- Moral Lens: Early-stage morality here often means self-interest—“We were hurt, so we deserve payback.” Growth means asking: Is my hurt being turned into a weapon?
- Permission → “We can defend ourselves.”
- Adler’s Reading: Interpretive reading asks: What’s the underlying meaning? Is “defense” being used as cover for aggression?
- Moral Lens: At the group-loyalty stage, people say, “My side gives me permission, so it must be right.” True growth asks: Would it still be right if my group wasn’t doing it?
- Inevitability → “Violence will happen anyway.”
- Adler’s Reading: Critical reading challenges inevitability. Who benefits if I believe this is unavoidable? Is it really “fate,” or is it framing to push me toward escalation?
- Moral Lens: At the law-and-order stage, people often accept authority narratives: “It’s bound to happen, so fall in line.” But principled morality says: No outcome is inevitable—my choices matter.
- Sanctification → “Our cause is holy.”
- Adler’s Reading: Moral reading kicks in here. Even if the language is wrapped in sacred symbols, ask: Does this truly reflect justice, or is it a cloak for revenge?
- Moral Lens: Here’s where the leap into extremism happens: opponents are painted not just as wrong, but evil. Mature morality says: Truth doesn’t need dehumanization—it needs courage and clarity.
- Action → “Now it’s on us.”
- Adler’s Reading: Before you move from thought to deed, re-read the “text” of the moment at all four levels: literal (what’s happening), interpretive (what it means), critical (is it true?), and moral (what is right?).
- Moral Lens: At principled morality, the question becomes: Does this action honor human dignity, justice, and truth—or does it betray them?
Gut Check Questions
At each stage, pause and ask:
- Am I being moved from frustration to hostility?
- From debate to dehumanization?
- From principle to partisanship?
Radicalization thrives when we read shallowly (taking words at face value) and when we stay stuck in lower moral stages (tribal loyalty, blind obedience). It weakens when we read deeply (through Adler’s four levels) and grow into higher moral stages (acting from truth, not just rules or groups).
Guardrails That Keep Conviction Without Extremism
Strong conviction doesn’t have to slide into extremism. Guardrails help us keep passion aligned with principle. Without them, movements drift into tribalism, blind obedience, and dehumanization. With them, we grow into moral maturity and resilience.
1. Red Lines: No doxxing, no political violence, no cheering harm—ever.
- Adler’s Reading:
- Literal: Take the statement seriously—violence or doxxing are not tools, no matter the cause.
- Interpretive: Understand why these rules matter: they destroy trust and escalate spirals.
- Critical: Test claims that “violence is the only answer.” Who gains if you cross this line?
- Moral: Decide based on principle: would this uphold human dignity if everyone did it?
- Moral Theory: At the “tribe” or “rule-following” stages, people justify harm if their group or authority permits it. Higher morality says: human life and dignity set limits no cause can override.
2. Separate Strength from Spectacle: Organize locally, influence school boards, draft policy. Don’t confuse viral clips with real change.
- Adler’s Reading:
- Literal: Viral outrage ≠ actual reform.
- Interpretive: See the deeper pattern—spectacle drains energy from sustained effort.
- Critical: Ask: Is this clip informing or inflaming? Does it solve anything?
- Moral: Choose what strengthens communities, not just what excites the crowd.
- Moral Theory: Lower stages seek approval (“look good for my side”); higher stages focus on principle and lasting justice.
3. Language Hygiene: Stop using dehumanizing labels (“vermin,” “NPC,” “fascist,” “groomer”). Call out actions, not identities.
- Adler’s Reading:
- Literal: Words matter—don’t normalize slurs.
- Interpretive: See what the labels do: they collapse complexity into an enemy image.
- Critical: Test: Does this word describe reality, or just provoke emotion?
- Moral: Use language that reflects truth and respects humanity, even in disagreement.
- Moral Theory: Group-loyalty morality says, “Insult them; they’re not us.” Higher morality says: “Critique ideas and actions without erasing people’s dignity.”
4. Bridge-Talk: Celebrate those who debate opponents in good faith. Reward restraint as courage, not weakness.
- Adler’s Reading:
- Literal: Don’t mishear restraint as surrender—it’s strength under control.
- Interpretive: Understand bridge-building as a deeper kind of victory.
- Critical: Examine: who benefits when we mock bridge-builders? Often, it’s those profiting from division.
- Moral: Treat courage as measured by truth and restraint, not just volume or aggression.
- Moral Theory: At the “law-and-order” stage, people assume strength = domination. Higher morality reframes strength as principled self-control and the pursuit of justice.
5. Reality Loops: Before sharing outrage, ask: What’s the full context? Who benefits if I spread this?
- Adler’s Reading:
- Literal: Check what’s actually said or shown.
- Interpretive: See the framing: what’s emphasized or omitted?
- Critical: Ask if the outrage is being weaponized to manipulate you.
- Moral: Spread what’s true and constructive, not just what confirms your tribe’s anger.
- Moral Theory: At early stages, people react impulsively (“my group is angry, so I share”). Mature morality asks: Is this helping truth, justice, and peace—or just deepening division?
Bottom Line
Propagandists keep people stuck in tribal loyalty (Stage 3) and blind rule-following (Stage 4) by inflaming outrage and narrowing choices. Guardrails break that cycle. They lift us toward principled morality—where conviction is strong, but never at the expense of human dignity or truth.
Break the PSYOPs Cycle
Propaganda thrives because it follows predictable steps. Once you recognize the steps, you can step outside the script.
The Playbook of Propaganda
1. Isolation: “Cut them off.”
- Adler’s Reading:
- Literal: Notice when you’re told to avoid or block “the other side.”
- Interpretive: Ask why. What does the isolator gain by cutting you off from outside voices?
- Critical: Test the claim—are they protecting you, or just controlling you?
- Moral: See isolation as a trap. Real truth holds up to scrutiny, so why hide you from it?
- Moral Theory: At the group-loyalty stage, people are pressured to shun outsiders. Higher morality says: “Truth can stand debate; I don’t fear contact.”
2. Echo Chambers: Algorithms feed only rage.
- Adler’s Reading:
- Literal: Notice when your feed only shows anger and affirmation.
- Interpretive: See the design—algorithms amplify what keeps you hooked.
- Critical: Ask: Is this shaping my worldview, or shrinking it? Who profits from my outrage?
- Moral: Choose variety and balance; wisdom grows by weighing opposing evidence.
- Moral Theory: Lower stages confuse agreement with truth. Mature morality values testing ideas against rivals, not just repeating slogans.
3. Tribal Script: Every issue becomes holy war.
- Adler’s Reading:
- Literal: Notice when normal disagreements get framed as life-or-death battles.
- Interpretive: Recognize the emotional pull—holy war language makes compromise feel like betrayal.
- Critical: Ask: Is this issue really ultimate, or is it being exaggerated to mobilize me?
- Moral: True moral maturity distinguishes between sacred principles (life, dignity, truth) and policy debates (tax rates, zoning laws).
- Moral Theory: At the “law-and-order” stage, people think their side’s rules are the only rules and all opposition must be crushed. Higher morality asks: Does this respect justice, even for those I disagree with?
Countermoves That Break the Cycle
Stay connected with people you disagree with.
- Don’t let politics dissolve family ties or neighborly bonds.
- Reading Level: At the critical and moral levels, you learn more by comparing worldviews than by staying safe in agreement.
- Moral Growth: Higher morality says disagreement is not betrayal—it’s an opportunity for truth-testing.
Diversify your feeds with opposing but thoughtful voices.
- Intentionally follow people who disagree respectfully.
- Reading Level: Move beyond literal agreement to interpretive and critical engagement—asking “What truth might they see that I’m missing?”
- Moral Growth: This prevents stagnation at the tribal or obedience stages, lifting you toward principle-based thinking.
Replace cult-like “us vs. them” with “citizens vs. bad ideas.”
- Focus on actions, arguments, and outcomes—not labels or identities.
- Reading Level: At the moral stage of reading, ask: “If everyone adopted this habit of separating ideas from people, would society be healthier?”
- Moral Growth: This reframes conflict from people-as-enemies to bad-ideas-as-enemies—restoring the dignity of opponents while still fighting error.
Bottom Line
Propaganda wins when it locks us into Stage 3 (tribal loyalty) or Stage 4 (blind obedience), where fighting the “other side” or obeying “our rules” replaces real thinking.
Breaking the cycle means climbing higher:
- Expose yourself to challenge (Adler’s critical reading).
- Judge by principle, not tribe (Kohlberg’s higher moral stages).
- Anchor in truth that holds whether or not your side wins.
Practice “Sanity as Civil Resistance”
The loudest battles today aren’t fought with rifles but with clicks, shares, and words that inflame. Practicing sanity—keeping your head when outrage is the currency—is itself a form of resistance.
1. Don’t let screens define your enemies. If a clip makes you seethe, pause before you share.
- Adler’s Reading Levels:
- Literal: Notice exactly what the clip shows. What words are used? Who is speaking?
- Interpretive: Ask what the clip means—is it a whole story, or just a snippet meant to spark anger?
- Critical: Weigh its truth. What’s the source? Who gains if you believe and share it?
- Moral: Ask whether sharing this helps truth or just fuels division.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: At the “tribal loyalty” stage, people believe our side’s outrage is always justified. Higher morality recognizes manipulation: “If this same clip were about my side, would I demand context before judging?”
2. Refuse violence as politics. Once blood replaces debate, freedom dies.
- Adler’s Reading Levels:
- Literal: Pay attention to calls for “fighting back” or “taking action.” Are they literal or metaphorical?
- Interpretive: Consider how audiences might hear those words differently—does it push them toward peace or violence?
- Critical: Test the long-term outcome. Has violence in politics ever led to sustained liberty?
- Moral: Anchor in principle: real justice is never secured by bloodlust.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: Lower stages think “law and order means force.” Mature morality says: violence erodes the very rights and freedoms it claims to defend.
3. See human first, politics second. Your neighbor is a parent, worker, or friend before a partisan label.
- Adler’s Reading Levels:
- Literal: Listen to your neighbor’s actual words, not just the label attached to them.
- Interpretive: Ask: What deeper fears, hopes, or values lie beneath their vote or position?
- Critical: Judge arguments, not identities. Could this be an honest disagreement rather than malice?
- Moral: Treat people as ends, not means. Dignity comes before debate.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: At the tribal stage, neighbors become “the enemy.” Higher morality insists: Before they are Democrat or Republican, they are human beings made in God’s image.
4. Starve the outrage economy. Don’t click, share, or dunk on rage-bait. Starve it of oxygen.
- Adler’s Reading Levels:
- Literal: Notice the hooks—ALL CAPS headlines, loaded terms, “must-see” framing.
- Interpretive: Ask why this is framed this way. Is it to inform—or to addict?
- Critical: Look at patterns. If every post ends in rage, who profits from your anger?
- Moral: Choose to resist. Withholding your clicks is as much a civic duty as casting a ballot.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: At the rule-following stage, people obey algorithms and trends like laws. Higher morality chooses principled silence over mindless reaction.
Bottom Line
Sanity is not passivity—it is courage. In a culture addicted to outrage, slowing down, fact-checking, refusing violence, and honoring people above politics are acts of civil resistance.
This is how ordinary people break the radicalization spiral: by stepping out of the propaganda game and living at a higher level of moral clarity.
Economic Stewardship
Money is never neutral. Every dollar spent is a kind of vote—for the systems, values, and futures we want to see. Practicing stewardship means aligning your wallet with your conscience.
Vote with your wallet. Don’t fund corporations or media that undermine your values.
- Adler’s Four Reading Styles:
- Literal: Check the basics—what company is this? Who owns it? Where does your subscription or purchase go?
- Interpretive: Ask: What story does this company tell? Is it just selling products, or pushing cultural, political, or moral narratives?
- Critical: Compare alternatives. Does this business reinvest in your community, or funnel profits to agendas that oppose your values?
- Moral: Judge not by convenience but by conscience. Even small spending choices, multiplied across millions, shape the culture.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: At the tribal stage, people buy what their group buys. At the rule-obedience stage, people obey marketing trends as if they’re law. Higher morality asks: Does this purchase uphold truth and human dignity, or just feed the machine?
Support local businesses, ethical creators, and platforms that honor truth and civility.
- Adler’s Four Reading Styles:
- Literal: Who is making this product? A neighbor? A small creator? Or a faceless conglomerate?
- Interpretive: Ask: What values are embedded here? Supporting local butchers, farmers, or bookshops sustains community resilience—not just commerce.
- Critical: Measure impact. A dollar to your neighbor circulates locally many times; a dollar to a global giant vanishes into corporate lobbying.
- Moral: Stewardship means sacrifice. Sometimes it costs more or takes more effort—but it builds a moral economy instead of a hollow one.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: Lower levels think only of self-interest (“Where’s it cheapest?”). Higher morality considers: How does this choice shape the world my children inherit?
Why This Matters
Propaganda doesn’t just live in speeches or news clips—it lives in the economic bloodstream. Corporations bankroll media, lobby governments, and influence education. If we fund them blindly, we underwrite the very systems that radicalize and divide us.
Stewardship breaks that cycle. When we deliberately support what is good, true, and community-rooted, we weaken the hold of propaganda-driven systems and strengthen the foundations of a moral economy.
Create, Don’t Just Consume
If we only consume culture, we inherit whatever others feed us. If we create, we shape the moral imagination of the next generation. Culture shifts not when elites dictate, but when ordinary people flood the space with light, truth, and resilience.
Build parallel media: podcasts, films, newsletters, art, music.
- Adler’s Four Reading Styles:
- Literal: Learn the skills—audio editing, writing, filming, painting, music-making. Know the tools of your craft.
- Interpretive: Ask: What story am I telling? Every medium has its own symbols and subtext. A podcast builds dialogue; a film stirs imagination.
- Critical: Compare your work with mainstream output. Does it challenge propaganda, or just mimic it? Where does it sharpen truth and where does it blur it?
- Moral: Does your creation cultivate virtue—courage, compassion, integrity—or does it inflame division? Moral media multiplies good.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: Lower stages of morality create for attention or approval (“likes,” clicks). Higher morality asks: Am I creating something that uplifts conscience, even if it costs me popularity?
Tell stories that celebrate integrity, resilience, and truth.
- Adler’s Four Reading Styles:
- Literal: Know the facts—what happened, who did it, what’s verifiable.
- Interpretive: Draw meaning. How does this story reveal resilience, sacrifice, or moral courage?
- Critical: Compare narratives. Are you glorifying comfort, rage, or cynicism—or are you elevating endurance and virtue?
- Moral: Stories shape souls. The goal isn’t entertainment alone, but formation—teaching audiences what is noble to imitate.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: At the “tribal loyalty” stage, stories elevate heroes because they’re “ours.” At the “law and order” stage, stories exalt authority because it feels safe. But at higher levels, stories celebrate universal moral courage—even when it rebukes our own side.
Culture shifts when regular people flood the space with light instead of ceding it to rage merchants.
- Adler’s Four Reading Styles:
- Literal: Understand what the “rage merchants” actually produce—soundbites, outrage clips, propaganda.
- Interpretive: See their strategy. They use anger as glue to hold attention and loyalty.
- Critical: Ask: What happens when we let them dominate the narrative? What’s lost when only anger is amplified?
- Moral: Replace the cycle. Instead of rage, flood the space with hope, truth, and moral imagination. That is how light displaces darkness.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: Radicalization thrives when people never move past “group loyalty” or “rule obedience.” To break the cycle, creators must invite audiences higher—to wrestle with conscience, universal justice, and human dignity.
Bottom Line
Consuming culture is passive. Creating culture is resistance. When we tell better stories—about courage, family, truth, and redemption—we short-circuit the propaganda cycle and offer our children something stronger than rage: a moral compass.
Local Organizing > National Spectacle
Real change doesn’t begin with viral clips or political theater in Washington—it starts with rooted communities: homes, churches, neighborhoods, and city councils. History shows that an informed, organized minority can shape culture more effectively than a distracted majority.
Change doesn’t start in D.C.—it starts in homes, churches, neighborhoods, and city councils.
- Adler’s Four Reading Styles:
- Literal: Learn the structures of your local community—who sits on the school board, how city budgets are allocated, what your zoning rules mean.
- Interpretive: Ask what these structures mean for your daily life. Federal laws are distant; local ordinances determine schools, taxes, and policing.
- Critical: Compare your community’s priorities to its outcomes. Do your leaders reflect your values, or are they just repeating partisan lines?
- Moral: Anchor your involvement in virtue, not just victory. Local politics should reflect care for families, fairness, and dignity—not just scoring points.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: At the “tribal loyalty” level, people focus only on their group winning. At the “law-and-order” level, they obey distant authorities without question. Higher moral reasoning asks: What is just for my neighbor? How do we govern ourselves responsibly right here?
An informed, organized minority often outperforms a disorganized majority.
- Adler’s Four Reading Styles:
- Literal: History shows this pattern: abolitionists, civil rights activists, and reformers often started as small but disciplined groups.
- Interpretive: The meaning: numbers alone don’t move history—clarity of mission and steady organization do.
- Critical: Ask why large majorities so often fail. Comfort, apathy, or media distractions often neutralize them. A small group that reads carefully, organizes wisely, and acts consistently wins out.
- Moral: The lesson: it’s not about mob power but moral power. Conviction with discipline is stronger than outrage with chaos.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: At lower levels, people only act when personally rewarded or when everyone else does. Higher levels recognize duty: Even if we are few, truth obligates action.
Show up to school board meetings, run for small offices, join trade associations.
- Adler’s Four Reading Styles:
- Literal: Know when meetings are held, what issues are on the agenda, and how to get on the ballot for local office.
- Interpretive: Understand the ripple effect—school board decisions shape the worldview of the next generation; trade associations affect local jobs and values.
- Critical: Compare: Does watching national news for hours accomplish as much as speaking at a single school board meeting?
- Moral: Ask: Am I doing this for power, or to serve my neighbors faithfully? True local organizing is service before status.
- Kohlberg’s Moral Lens: At the “authority” stage, people wait for someone else to lead. At the higher conscience stage, they say: If the guardrails are missing, I will help build them. If the truth is absent, I will speak it.
Bottom Line
National spectacles drain energy. Local organizing builds resilience. When you engage your immediate community with moral clarity, you not only resist propaganda’s divide-and-rule tactics—you embody the higher stages of moral maturity: leading with conscience, not conformity.
Daily Micro-Habits (Practical Tools)
Grand reforms start with small, daily habits. Radicalization thrives when people scroll, react, and rage without reflection. These micro-habits train the mind toward discernment and moral steadiness instead of tribal volatility.
Slow the scroll: Step away 10 minutes before sharing something that spikes your pulse.
- Adler’s Reading Styles:
- Literal: Notice the words, images, and headlines that inflame you.
- Interpretive: Ask, What is this post trying to make me feel? Fear? Anger? Tribal pride?
- Critical: Question, Is the source credible? Is the framing manipulative?
- Moral: Reflect, If I spread this and it turns out false, am I serving truth—or fueling harm?
- Kohlberg’s Lens: Lower stages pass content along for approval or because “everyone else is posting it.” Higher stages pause, realizing truth is a duty—even when it costs clicks or tribal applause.
Diversify inputs: Read one smart writer you disagree with each week.
- Adler’s Reading Styles:
- Literal: Summarize their actual argument, not a straw man.
- Interpretive: Seek the meaning: Why does this person see the world this way?
- Critical: Compare strengths and weaknesses of their case against your own view.
- Moral: Ask, What truths can I acknowledge here, even if I still disagree overall?
- Kohlberg’s Lens: Lower stages stay inside the “good boy/good girl” echo chamber of their group. Higher stages honor justice and truth by weighing all voices—even those that challenge their comfort.
Steelman: Restate an opponent’s best argument before critiquing it.
- Adler’s Reading Styles:
- Literal: Write out their strongest point in their own terms.
- Interpretive: Ask, What problem are they really trying to solve?
- Critical: Now weigh your response. Does it address their best case, or only their weakest?
- Moral: Treat the opponent as a fellow citizen, not an enemy—someone to reason with, not to annihilate.
- Kohlberg’s Lens: Lower stages mock or dismiss opposition for status. Higher stages embrace fairness, even if it weakens one’s short-term “side,” because conscience requires it.
De-algorithm your feed: Use lists, RSS, subscriptions—reduce rage-driven curation.
- Adler’s Reading Styles:
- Literal: Recognize what the algorithm shows you (and hides).
- Interpretive: Ask, What does this curation mean for my worldview?
- Critical: Compare: Am I being nudged toward outrage? What’s missing?
- Moral: Choose your inputs like you choose your food. Garbage in → garbage out.
- Kohlberg’s Lens: Lower stages accept authority (algorithm) as unquestionable. Higher stages demand transparency and self-responsibility: I will curate my own mind, not outsource it to Big Tech.
Move offline: Attend one local meeting/month.
- Adler’s Reading Styles:
- Literal: Listen carefully to what is said in the room.
- Interpretive: Ask, What does this tell me about my community’s real concerns?
- Critical: Compare rhetoric vs. results: Are these leaders serving or posturing?
- Moral: Embody civic responsibility: democracy isn’t a spectator sport.
- Kohlberg’s Lens: Lower stages wait for “someone else” (authority) to fix things. Higher stages step up: I am accountable for my community, not just my clicks.
Audit attention: Drop accounts that make you angrier but not wiser.
- Adler’s Reading Styles:
- Literal: Track what you actually consume daily.
- Interpretive: Notice the effect: Do I leave this feed more informed—or just more agitated?
- Critical: Test: Does this voice sharpen truth or cloud it with theatrics?
- Moral: Guard your conscience. Anger without wisdom corrodes the soul and poisons civic life.
- Kohlberg’s Lens: Lower stages equate outrage with loyalty (“I’m a real supporter because I’m angry!”). Higher stages discern that real loyalty to truth requires discernment, not addiction to rage.
Bottom Line
Micro-habits are where propaganda loses its grip. Adler’s model shows how to move from surface consumption to deep, moral evaluation. Kohlberg’s theory reminds us that maturity means choosing conscience over conformity. Every scroll, share, or meeting is a moral training ground: either you drift into Stage 3–4 tribal obedience, or you rise toward Stage 5–6 conscience and principle.
Propaganda thrives on fear, anger, and isolation. Radicalization happens when people surrender their judgment to that cycle.
The antidote is both old and new:
- Old → virtue, family, faith, self-governance.
- New → media literacy, algorithm awareness, civic courage.
Sanity is agency. By refusing to let propaganda define your neighbor or your future, you reclaim freedom—and help America step back from the cliff.
