I mean it is really elementas of both. They are shoulder deep in propaganda and do not have the capacity to free themselves of it most of the time. We are all brought up in propaganda, from schooling to entertainment media to news to politicians to bosses to family and friends. Most people are just internalizing what they pick up along the way and that has not been confronted out of them, like a major life event that forced them to see the bullshit. The same socialization that teaches the propaganda also teaches how to approach discourse: always project knowlegability, it is ties to one's ego, and reading the New York Times is basically the height of intellectual discovery, it makes you a news head. Engaging critically with literally anything is not th3 default, it mostly happens ad hoc as a way to defend and entrench one's biases. They are socialized to believe they are on a team and that criticism comes from the other team. Only simple binary good guys vs. bad guys thinking allowed, there are only two teams, and so they lap up things like horseshoe theory because they need everyone to be at a pole away from themselves ane bad in the same ways, and secretly on the same bad guy team.

This way of thinking is harmful. It is why such people are the most prolific cheering audience for genocide, via a lens that allows them to pretend they aren't doing so. And it can have elements of malice, like how they respond to disagreement in bad faith. But even that is taught and many are not really cognizant of it. They are reacting like an upset toddler because it is more about ego than anything else. Upset toddlers lie and pout and lash out. But they aren't calculating, scheming, or particularly knowledgeable about geopolitics or media critical.

They're not the same as the bloodless ghouls that know better and lie and mislead for their often genocidal projects. They are the common person, completely incoherent, frequently defensive, and absolutely unprepared to do anything valuable politically on purpose.

So much of this article describes my parents perfectly, but I just can't agree with the conclusion that they know that they are choosing to believe comforting lies. That would imply a capability for introspection that I've never seen them demonstrate.