Propaganda

You are a person who tries to stay informed. You read blogs, listen to talk radio, watch cable news, etc. Are you more or less susceptible to propaganda than your neighbor, who does none of those things?
Ellul writes in Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes

...educated believed themselves immune to propaganda when, due to their proclivity for reading and watching news and other governmental outflow, such "intellectuals" were actually far more vulnerable than masses who did not receive propaganda as often.

In The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing, Dutch psychiatrist Joost A. M. Meerloo writes

“We must learn to treat the demagogue and aspirant dictator in our midst just as we should treat our external enemies in a cold war – with the weapon of ridicule. The demagogue himself is almost incapable of humor of any sort, and if we treat him with humor, he will begin to collapse...”

OregonMuse tells us at Ace of Spades that Meerloo wrote

...after years immersed in the study of social psychology and countless interviews with victims of mental coercion, including Nazi officers and American prisoners of war in Korea. This treasure of insights was written for the layman. It is an absolute must-read for anyone who hopes to uphold the dignity of the individual. The book offers the psychic defenses so lacking among those who submit to logicide.

Read more here.