Propaganda works because people use theory to explain the world.

Razib Khan wrote a fascinating post about the very high rate of educational & financial success called Asians are a model minority on average. The article informs us of a very well educated & successful Asian American woman's attempt to dispel this "myth" by undermining her own argument. This is classic propagandist behavior, because the propaganda is aimed at signaling inclusion in a select group more than at convincing outsiders of the correctness of the writer's cause. This use of propaganda is about settling the nerves of the true believer not conversion of others.

Near the end he makes a straight forward observation:

This tells us that the propaganda is working, though that’s not a surprise as most people are stupid and uninformed, and use theory to explain the world.

 Mr. Khan is completely correct and for the life of me I can't see how it could be otherwise. How can humans become more informed than they are now. The internet provides so much information, yet people still know next to nothing. It seems to me that one could say the same about all humans even those with very high IQ's who specialize in certain fields rarely make a statement without numerous qualifiers. It seems people use theory to explain life because being informed about everything is impossible.

I find myself feeling quite humble the Dunning Kruger effect is always on my mind.