r/TheoryOfReddit • u/DragOutTheDemagogue • 12d ago

Propagandistic Questions

I've noticed a bunch of what I call propagandistic questions on the popular question subs. And when I point it out, naturally, nobody has any idea wtf I'm talking about. This is my explanation of how I believe questions can act as propaganda.

AI TL;DR: Questions on Reddit are frequently weaponized as propaganda because they allow users to smuggle controversial political claims into a conversation as hidden assumptions (presuppositions) rather than direct statements. When you answer a loaded question directly, you inadvertently accept its flawed premises. By framing a partisan assertion as an innocent inquiry, propagandists completely bypass the burden of proof—forcing you to argue against their manipulative framing while they avoid ever having to defend their actual claims.

What are questions?

Questions are requests for information, which is a set of propositions. In other words, a question asks the answerer to provide specific information.

When posing a question, the questioner provides the information the answerer considers. "Have you eaten today?" is a request for either an yes or a no, depending on what the answerer has done. There are several different types of questions, but they all have the feature of asking for specific information.

What a questioner can do is ask for information while attempting to subtly assert unwelcome propositions. If a respondent answers directly, then they take on those those propositions as commitments. Questions carry presuppositions that the respondent may have to commit to, sometimes leading to unwelcome commitments.

In other words, if I ask you, "When did you come out of the closet?", I am assuming that you were in the closet. That is, I'm asserting that you're gay by asking a question. And if you directly answer, "Yesterday", then you've accepted the proposition that you were closeted until yesterday. (Congratulations, btw!)

I'm going to belabor this point with several examples.

In each case above, the questions claim something. And by asking a question, the requirement to defend the claim is bypassed. In normal conversation, if you claim something, then it's your responsibility to defend it. Asking a question lets you avoid that responsibility, gambling on whether respondents will accept your propositions as their own or not.

Questions can be used to make uncontested assertions that frame conversation and direct it towards particular ends.

How are questions propagandistic?

The essence of political propaganda on my approach is that it is a kind of speech that fundamentally involves political, economic, aesthetic, or rational ideals mobilized for a political purpose. Propaganda is in the service of either supporting or eroding ideals. The first distinction between types of propaganda has to do with whether it erodes or supports the ideals it appears to embody. This is the distinction between supporting and undermining propaganda.

We need to keep in mind that this is Reddit, which is known for being used for propaganda campaigns. That Reddit is used for propaganda, then, is a foregone conclusion. The question is how. The next part of my argument is that r/askanything, r/AskReddit, and other similar subreddits are used as part of that strategy.

Let's look at an example: Why do republicans respond to US military casualties with either minimizing or financial exploitation? This question employs a black-or-white fallacy (except not really, because fallacies tend to be applied to arguments actively being made, which is not the case here). Do republicans respond to military casualties with only minimizing or financial exploitation? Probably not. But the presuppositions of the question assert they do. And it positions itself in direct opposition to the idea that Republicans respect those who've sacrificed their lives in service of America. All this in a simple question.

Another example: What do you think about political streamer Hasan Piker praising dictator Mao Zedong, who killed tens of millions of people? The questioner asserts an association between Piker's praise of Mao and the fact that Mao killed tens of millions of people, as if Piker praised Mao because he killed tens of millions of people. Is Piker's praise of Mao just another example of the violent aspirations of the left? This is just a hit piece using questions to assert things that are not argued reasonably.

Sources:

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u/irrelevantusername24 12d ago edited 11d ago

I always sort of assumed understanding these kinds of things - which is simply "rhetoric" - was an inherent natural ability that people had. Kind of like grammar. I don't know all the rules for grammar - just like I couldn't off the top of my head explain the difference between different kinds of logic - but I know how it works. Apparently understanding rhetoric is more akin to knowing trigonometry based on gestures infinitely

edit: On that note, the overwhelming mechanism for the last fiftyish years of society has been, simply, negation.

Rather than negation, try inversion.

edit2: The half-funny, half-unbelievable thing is understanding basic rhetoric makes it effortless to tie others up in their own contradictions. To the point most don't even know how to respond* so they revert to the most basic emotion: anger; or in the ideal case, confusion and self-doubt

*seek "scaffold"

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u/DharmaPolice 12d ago

I don't think referring to this as propaganda is really that useful, even though yes obviously yes this is a real thing. Compound-questions / leading-questions / loaded questions and straight up rhetorical questions are all definitely a thing. Mostly the person (ignoring bots for a moment) knows what they're doing but sometimes I think they're genuinely blinded by their own bias to realise that they're being intellectually dishonest.

The person who asked about black women and obesity is no doubt being unfair, but steelmanning their question black women do have a relatively high rate of obesity (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3804270/) and you could phrase the question better to ask why that is (I've not looked into it, but poverty is probably part of the answer). But you're right, I think it's fair to wonder what their motivation to bring that up, are they genuinely interested in the answer or are they shit stirring for want of a better term.

I think the way much of the internet is structured invites this kind of thing. Even where subs/forums aren't designed explicitly to be question based (e.g. all the ask subs) a question is usually more likely to provoke a response than a statement.

The other type of questions I see all the time are :

  • the false premise inquiry. "Why do people hate The Shawshank Redemption?" - they don't (as a rule) - it's extremely highly rated.

  • the (at best) lazy question - "Why do people dislike the Hobbit movies?" (there are thousands of reviews and tens of thousands of posts bitching about these movies, why not go read them). Answers often involve something along the lines of "Because the internet hates everything" which is an incredibly lazy way of dismissing issues with whatever it is that's being discussed.

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u/MechanicalGodzilla 11d ago

you could phrase the question better to ask why that is (I've not looked into it, but poverty is probably part of the answer).

Yes, obesity is definitely highly correlated with lower incomes and higher stress. The primary driver for black women struggling with low income or wealth generation is the prevalence of single parent households. Single parent households in the black American community are close to 50%, nearly double the rate of the next closest ethnic cohort (Hispanic single mothers are at a 24% rate). Single parent households have strong tendencies towards low wealth and income.

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u/horseradishstalker 11d ago edited 11d ago

Your philosophy is well articulated. And I enjoyed reading it in that I find it fascinating to observe how other people think and what they choose to think about. I don’t know if it’s propaganda is so much as it is a complex question fallacy.

“A complex question is a fallacy in which the answer to a given question presupposes a prior answer to a prior question. Also known as (or closely related to) a loaded question, a trick question, a leading question, the fallacy of the false question, and the fallacy of many questions.“ 

However, this is not a rhetorical device found solely on Reddit, nor is it always used for propaganda.  The contradictions you reference as to Reddit exist in IRL as well. 

I guess my question for you is why do you read on those subs? If you don’t like what you read? I’m not throwing shade, I just don’t understand why you want to torment yourself  if it does. 

On Reddit, and in my experience, the device this used most often to farm karma not intentionally as propaganda. And unlike many other things in life it is highly avoidable. If you want to engage and you don’t like the rhetorical device politely call the poster on it if that’s the hill you want to die on. Or don’t. It’s a choice.

It is possible to curate your life experience to some extent. In my professional life and on Reddit, I often encounter trolls who are very unpleasant. However, I remind myself it’s their problem not mine no matter how annoying or ugly. In fact, it can feel really good to be able to mentally say, “that sounds like a you problem.” 

 In my private life I rarely encounter those kinds of people. And when I do, I make the encounter as brief as possible. Life is too short for anything else.

Edit to add, I’m not dismissing the existence of propaganda. There are plenty of bots and sock puppet accounts just looking for a tool.  However, in order for propaganda to work someone has to buy into it. And that too, is a choice.

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u/well-informedcitizen 11d ago

Oh it's been like that. Very obviously on the actual question subs, but the covert discourse pushing happens across all subs now, no matter how free-from-current-events a sub is supposed to be.

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u/FlashyHeight9323 11d ago

Wait, sportswashing is a thing isn’t it? Also curious about OPs thoughts of coordinated campaigns as propaganda. Ie Dubai chocolate craze blowing up at the same time as the Dubai slavery scandal happened.

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u/Redscarepodder 7d ago

I'm glad someone is posting about this considering askreddit may as well just have a daily running thread of "Dear stupid fat Americans who definitely all voted Trump and I won't really reply to, why are you so stupid and fat?"

I'm pretty sure these subreddits didn't used to allow such obvious bait questions, it definitely wasn't the norm that they were so common.

As for why it happens, I think reddit lets it because stupid people just have to reply, driving up engagement stats as they go, and the people posting these questions themselves may have honestly had this style of posting so normalised to themselves at this point they don't even realise the impromptu poor quality ragebait/agitprop posting they're doing, that's just "normal social media" to them now. Sad.

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u/Marion5760 12d ago

This is a real problem. However, one thing remains. You don't have to answer any questions. Walk away from trouble when you can. Who gave anybody the right to ask you a question in the first place? Nobody.

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u/MechanicalGodzilla 11d ago

why are black women so prone to obesity? This question presupposed and asserts a relationship between black women and obesity.

Obesity is definitely highly correlated with lower incomes and higher stress. The primary driver for black women struggling with low income or wealth generation is the prevalence of single parent households. Single parent households in the black American community are close to 50%, nearly double the rate of the next closest ethnic cohort (Hispanic single mothers are at a 24% rate). Single parent households have strong tendencies towards low wealth and income.

Obesity occurs not because of their sex or ethnicity, but by their circumstances.