Big Lie Repeated Audaciously becomes Truth
Hitler, for good or bad, changed the world history. Some of the things going around me, just reminded me of Dr.
Joseph Goebbels – Adolf Hitler’s public relations / marketing / propaganda man.
What’s most remembered of Goebbels is his explanation of Britain’s Big Lie theory (which was adopted by Hitler / Goebbels very well). Quoting:
That is of course rather painful for those involved. The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.
So a big lie + repetition + audacity will soon become truth! People won’t care to find the truth, they will just listen to the big lie, and blinded by it, soon they will start believing that’s the real truth.
If you look at it, what were the primary rules of Hitler?
- Never allow the public to cool off
- Never admit a fault or wrong
- Never concede that there may be some good in your enemy
- Never leave room for alternatives
- Never accept blame
- Concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong
- People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.
The mentality of people is such that they will believe a big lie sooner than they would believe the truth. Malintentioned people use this to their advantage. They skew the facts and present only portions of it to public, omitting the original context and adding their own “big lie” context to it.
Some people realize this is so ridiculous, since they know the original facts. But the number of such people is generally less. And the propaganda man walks away to his advantage fooling everyone. By the time people realize the truth, it’s too late for them.
Have you ever experienced this happening? With you?
How would you fight it?
- Would you start countering every big lie?
- Would you keep quiet and wait?
- Would you expose the big lie?
(Image courtesy: notionscapital)
It reminds me of someone on Gujarat! ‘Jooth bolo, jor se bolo’ is the strategy. The primary rules of Hitler are nicely put. When I see certain individuals and certain political parties, it seems they have mugged up these rules!