It’s propaganda but it’s also spiritual. See what I mean in this week’s edition of “Beyond Ironic”.
There has been lots of controversy about Bill C-11, as there should be whenever governments take more power for themselves—and that’s exactly what Bill C-11 is about. As usual, the basic argument is that there are problems in Canada and the only solution is more power for the federal government. That alone should raise a red flag.
The main problem with Bill C-11 is that the bureaucracy, not parliament, gets to make the regulations about what to censor and what not to censor.* Yeah, it’s really a censorship bill disguised as a “Canadian content” bill. That’s how all dictatorships get people to go along with becoming slaves—tell them it’s for their own good, for their protection.
Just think about how much government censorship of media and the internet exists right now, then ask yourself if our governments really need more power to censor us. Take a look at these 11 principles of propaganda that were developed a century ago by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister. All of these have been going on in Canada for decades, and recently getting much worse. Bill C-11 opens the door to even more.
The Nazis are often credited with turning the art of propaganda into a science. Goebbels summarized his techniques in a famous list that was found amongst his papers after the war. Here I have taken the basic ideas and expressed them in a manner fitting the digital age. This is precisely what came to be called psychological warfare.
Nazi propaganda principles applied to digital marketing.**
Simplification and a Unique Enemy: Create a simple, unique brand identity. Do the same for your main enemy. Make it easy to understand; reduce complexities.
Unified Force: Have clearly defined objectives and fight hard against your single enemy. Collect all enemies into a single identity for easy assault. Label everyone who opposes you as a: fascist, racist, homophobe, science denier, anti-vaxxer, etc.
Deflection: Charge your enemies with errors, defects, faults. Blame someone else. Deflect all attacks on yourself or your narrative onto your enemies. Attack their credibility, replace their facts with your “facts”. Truth is irrelevant.
Exaggeration: A big lie is easier to sell than a small lie. Inflate any anecdote or fact to create fear in people so you can manipulate them. Then propose your solution as the only reasonable option.
Vulgarization: Everything must be presented in simple language and ideas, directed to the least intelligent and educated person. Avoid all complexity, nuance, subtlety, technicality. Appeal to emotion not intellect. Use slogans not analysis. Social media helps this tremendously because it is impossible to communicate complex ideas in a tweet.
Repetition: A lie repeated often enough becomes truth. The same narrative must be repeated over and over, on TV, radio, and constantly retweeted on social media. If people hear it often enough, they will stop questioning it. Be the first to present your narrative and overwhelm all opposition with the volume of your propaganda.
Reinforcement: Your message must be constantly renewed and updated—same message in a slightly different format. People are bombarded with new images and information that reinforces the message. This must be daily—hourly is better.
Many Voices: Transmit your message through many different people and media, from many different perspectives: TV, radio, social media, newspaper, movies, popular music, art, theatre, etc. Every message comes to the same conclusion, supporting your narrative. When every TV and radio station supports your narrative, it gives it overwhelming weight in peoples’ minds. “Everyone is thinking this, so it must be true.”
Silencing: Bad news must be silenced. You must remove all narratives other than your own. That is, censorship. If someone cannot be removed, you must discredit them. Isolate dissenters as idiots, paid enemy propagandists, dangerous threats to society, conspiracy theorists, Big Oil apologists, climate deniers, racists, etc.
Association: Exploit people by attaching your message to their existing beliefs, biases, feelings. For example, “All compassionate people will agree with me.” “Only selfish people (or fascists, racists, homophobes…) will disagree with me. Associate your message with qualities people associate with themselves. Then they will identify with your narrative. Use existing terms and movements. Thus, we see terms like social justice, equality, inclusion, etc. taken over and associated with our narrative. We tar our opponents by associating them with terms like racist, bigot, sexist, etc.
Unanimity: Create the impression that everyone agrees with your narrative. “95% of scientists agree.” “The American Medical Association agrees.” Therefore, only a fool would disagree.
If these principles sound familiar it’s because they are. It’s Beyond Ironic but we are living exactly these principles today. And it’s getting worse.
But don’t fear. The escape from propaganda is already in your hands. Just stop paying any attention to the mainstream or what our governments say. It has become all lies and propaganda. You are responsible for finding out the truth. You are responsible for being correctly informed. Strange and ironic as it might seem, this is really a spiritual defense from a spiritual attack. No one can control your mind without your permission—active or tacit permission. Stop giving other permission to control your mind. You can do it!
God Bless You!
* See, Jay Goldberg, Opinion: How Ottawa’s internet censorship law will affect you. “The bill would give the CRTC power to control what Canadians are exposed to online by filtering our news and streaming feeds on apps like Netflix and TikTok. The government says bureaucrats would only use their new censorship powers to try to promote Canadian content. But C-11 gives them the tools to filter online content on any basis, not just according to whether something counts as ‘Canadian.’”
** These are adapted from, María Andrea Gomez Torrealba, “Joseph Goebbels’ Principles of Nazi Propaganda applied to Digital Marketing,” Visionar (September 6, 2017).
· If you enjoy reading my take on life’s ironies, but sure to subscribe to this blog.
· Click here to get a short excerpt from my new book, “The Band Director’s Lessons About Life”. It’s a collection of short modern-day parables to help you along your spiritual journey in life.
· If you haven’t read my new book, "What the Hell Is Going On?," check it out at my publisher, Booklocker.com or at Amazon.