Many people have been propagandised to have an extreme response to any mention of political alignment and even more so to believe that they personally exist outside of any such position themselves. It's an epidemic in the Western world to see oneself as so unique that one sits outside of all possible definitions, and it has billions of dollars of media behind it.

But most people don't wake up thinking, "I'm going to try to be a self-centred idealist today." It's not a conscious decision to fall for propaganda or feel insecure about being normal enough. These feelings result from years of conditioning to fear what might happen if one doesn't conform.

But nevertheless, the world is shifting towards the right, and the majority of the ones getting dragged along for the ride are the ones who believe they are outside and beyond this alignment. They'll tell you that they don't like either side but are incapable of actually defining any political position without regurgitating what the media told them. It's how we have people today believing that communism was worse than fascism, that it was more authoritarian; that preventing someone from doing something for their own good is as bad as killing them; that materialism is dirty and idealism is terrific; that Russia is a nation of evil orcs lead by an insane ruler trying to take over the world; and so on.

People see portrayals of a fictitious definition of "the left" on television, and they hear about "crazy SJWs" in podcasts, believing they're ruining the world. Women are turned against other women, fearing that any solidarity may be perceived as that “crazy” kind of feminism. The media makes it seem as though minorities as tiny as the trans community to cultural and ethnic minorities have much more prevalence, power, and sway than they really do to prop them up as enemies to the rest. You hear arguments against trans people from people who don't even know a single trans person in real life, who can't define a woman outside of procreation.

People also see selfish solipsistic individualism praised as being true to oneself and growing inequality explained as a necessary side effect of good economic practice all over the place. Just look at how statements such as "you do you" get co-opted into pernicious, psychopathic ideals and anti-worker labels for people just doing their job, such as "quietly quitting", spread across social media. While people don't accept everything they're told, these beliefs start seeping into their internal belief system and slowly changing how they see others and the world.

Some defend capitalism, saying it's not the problem, but "crony capitalism" (or some other imagination) and the government are the problems. They don't look further into actual government practices, spending, and organisations to see how much these governments work to benefit the private sector more than the public. They don't look into how politicians pass legislation that cripples public services, the media follows to criticise said services to have them further defunded, and the cycle continues. Instead, they use solipsistic arguments that regulations aren't necessary because common sense will fix all things in an unregulated society.

We see others all around swing like pendulums from one thought to another because they don't have a framework to live by, so they can only experience and make decisions on a case-by-case basis. The person from a religious family rebels and becomes an atheist, not because they decided it was right for them, but because they were angry at their family. The frustrated anarchist jumps on board the authoritarianism train because they can't tell the difference between having a state and fascism.

The world gets compartmentalised. Some believe each country has such unique needs that you cannot possibly have a singular global economic system. If someone doesn't immediately like something, whether for the good of the whole or not, they shouldn't have to deal with it — anything else would be undemocratic. It's as though every human is an island nation.

Yet when was the US democratic? The voting system doesn't favour the people it is meant to represent. The country has spent decades enforcing its power on other countries, going to war with democratically elected political parties when they don't suit it. At the time of my writing this (a few months before I finally posted it), the video of Fred M’membe's speech had recently gone viral, and it pointed out the hypocrisy quite well.

A country that has toppled so many governments in Africa, that has led so many coups in Africa and other parts of the world, a country that has killed so many of our leaders in Africa and other parts of the world... The killers of Patrice Lumumba, those who toppled Kwame Nkrumah, those who killed Nasser, those who killed Muammar Gaddafi, today are coming to teach us about democracy.

So what's the point of this rambling? It's a cry for increased awareness. We must step outside ourselves sometimes, be humble and empathic towards our fellow humans, and gain a thirst for knowledge and the truth. More than ever, we need increased media literacy and a healthy scepticism towards media that tries to make us feel special and in the know for even listening. We must question all the headlines that tell us which groups we should hate and which national leaders are evil because they're getting in the way of US imperialism. We need to look into the incentives of all involved to find the reality hidden underneath all the dirt.

The struggle will be in how right-wing talking heads have taken some of these statements for their own (dropping the parts about caring for other humans and wanting equality) and claim that's exactly what they're doing — they're just trying to find the truth. But somehow, their truth results in claiming that Jews run the world, that the White Man is under threat from minorities, China put microchips in vaccines, and the government is preventing private enterprises from prospering (not funding them, bailing them out when they screw up, and generally protecting the interests of the wealthy). Somehow the conclusion involves suppressing or eradicating certain cultures and people based on their identities, a desire for the paradoxical freedom of individuals to exploit others but not be exploited themselves, and a hatred for the government by many who rely on its subsidies to fund their work.

Because of their ability to appeal to people who are dissatisfied with how the world currently is (as they should be — no one here is saying that everything is great), it's hard for me to leave it here, saying that knowledge is the thing that will protect us against the propaganda and ignorance of the world. However, unlike them, I believe in people being capable of making the world a better place.

Sometimes we're too hard on ourselves because we feel we're not doing enough. But I will tell you right now that you're wrong about that. The point of living isn't to be enough but to strive for better. Whenever you stand for something, you protect yourself from being swayed by the current propaganda lines. Every moment you spend trying to better yourself intellectually and encourage those around you to do so, you're making the world a better place.