> That absolutely is propaganda.

Of course it is, and so is the opposite claim.

But that wasn't what the parent post said. The word "merely" does work in that sentence - i.e. "This is not propaganda" has a different meaning to "This is not merely propaganda"

"merely" here makes the claim that it is not only propaganda, it is not just propaganda. It has substance beyond being propaganda. It is that and more.

This is true for every propaganda, otherwise it wouldn't work.

Nope. These days, most of it is "flood the zone with crap" stuff (1) that's wrong on even a quick inspection, not to mention contradictory to the rest of the crap.

It's almost refreshing to see a good old-fashioned well-constructed propaganda edifice, and not a big pile of crap, one that that aims to get people to believe in something rather than nothing at all.

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehose_of_falsehood

https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/on-fake-hannah-arendt-quotat...

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8220792-the-point-of-modern...