If you've been baffled at how citizens of the United State, even people you know, could turn against their democracy, there is an answer. There is a method for turning someone from a citizen of a peaceful democratic society into someone who feels he or she must destroy the existing political system to save their nation. It has been used successfully to create violence and conflict, to collapse nations and install autocratic regimes, at least four times in the last century. Now it’s being used against American citizens through social media and other channels, with startling results.
Mary Wald’s meticulously researched book, Sowing Hate and Chaos: How Propaganda is Used to Destroy Democracy, pulls the curtain back to show how what is happening in our country isn’t a natural evolution of events or "pendulum swing,” but a carefully planned and executed campaign that uses experimental and behavioral psychology to manipulate the American people toward hatred and violence — without their even realizing it’s happening.
“The world is astonished to witness events in the United States and the willingness of some Americans to dismantle their own democracy. Sowing Hate and Chaos, written by one of my most trusted associates, is a vital work for understanding and navigating the dangerous waters ahead for the United States and other democracies." --José Ramos Horta, President Timor-Leste, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
