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How
a Free Society Can Protect Itself from Psychological Warfare
By William
A. Levinson August 6, 2011 |
Source: American
Thinker
Copied here (with additional reference
links) 6 August 2011 |
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Niccolò
Machiavelli and Sun
Tzu both wrote that it is the duty of a prince to study warfare because
his nation's survival might depend on it. Colonel
Paul Linebarger's
Psychological
Warfare (1954) added the same of his science: "Yet success, though
incalculable, can be overwhelming; and failure, though undetectable, can
be mortal."
All citizens in a free society need
to understand psychological warfare to protect their property, their freedom,
and possibly their lives from tiny self-serving minorities and even lunatic
fringe organizations. "Scientists discover tipping point for the
spread of ideas" explains
how a handful of Nazis could gain control of an advanced, civilized, and
educated nation like Germany. "Researchers
have found that minority rules; when only ten percent of the public
holds a firm opinion, the majority will always follow." Linebarger,
however, set the figure at two percent:
The Communists had shown that
an organization calling itself a party, actually a quasi-religious hierarchy
with strong internal discipline, definite membership, and active organizational
components, could control fifty times its own membership. ...such a movement
needed to have youth branches, women's organizations, labor sections, clubs
of its own, and so on, calling this "mass organization."
The structure of Barack Obama's 2012 campaign
bears a certain uncomfortable resemblance to such an organization.
Henry Ford's publication of The
International Jew, meanwhile, shows just how easily dishonest propaganda
can victimize decent, honorable, and intelligent people. |
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Henry Ford: Anti-Semite or Propaganda Victim?
Ford's publication of one of the most
loathsome pieces of anti-Semitic propaganda ever written, an English version
of the Protocols
of the Learned Elders of Zion, was totally out of character for
a man who believed in a square deal for workers and who hired black people
long before equal opportunity laws existed. Ford was also aware
of propaganda and its dangers. He wrote an entire chapter on "Honest
and Dishonest Propaganda" in Ford
Ideals (1922) in which he said honest and square dealing is "the
best propaganda you can ever have." Ford was therefore a highly intelligent
person who was at least aware of psychological warfare and its implications
-- but he nonetheless got stung by it.
Upton Sinclair's The
Flivver King (1937) reports, "Among those who managed to get by
[Ford's] secretaries was a Russian by the name of Boris
Brasol, investigator of the wicked forces which were seeking to wreck
Europe." A Google search on this name leads to the Jewish Virtual
Library, which
elaborates
that Brasol translated the Protocols into English and first attempted
to peddle them to the U.S. State Department. Then, "[r]esilient in
his efforts, Brasol sent a copy of the Protocols to automobile manufacturer
Henry Ford, who was convinced that they were authentic."
To phrase this in the language of the
21st century, Ford received credibly written albeit dishonest
propaganda and then pressed his "reply to all" key. His mailing list,
unfortunately, included the Dearborn Independent, which allowed the propaganda
to circulate around the world to harm Jews and eventually Ford's reputation.
Ford was therefore not an anti-Semite, but rather a victim of an anti-Semitic
propagandist, although he is responsible for failing to have his staff
investigate Brasol's claims before he acted on them.
How many of us have received e-mails
or seen web pages with conspiracy theories? Ford's experience should
make us check the facts for ourselves (e.g., Snopes.com
and also legitimate news sources) before we make fools of ourselves by
pressing the "send" key. The internet is an enormous force multiplier
for both honest and dishonest propaganda, but it also provides a convenient
way to verify before trusting. |
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Manipulative Propaganda is Not Good for
Children and Other Living Things
Boris Brasol demonized Jews with propaganda
that still circulates today, and he abused Henry Ford's trust (at Ford's
eventual expense) in the process. Dishonest, self-serving, or manipulative
propaganda has also accumulated a large and quantifiable death toll.
(1)
The "Yellow
Press" (William
Randolph Hearst and Joseph
Pulitzer) fomented hatred of Spain with largely false atrocity claims,
such as Spaniards strip-searching
American women on American ships while searching for Cuban spies or rebels.
This helped incite the Spanish-American War.
(2) The Triple
Entente, with the aid of American cartoonist W.A. Rogers,
fomented enough hatred of Germany to draw the United States into the First
World War. This manipulative propaganda therefore killed more than
100,000 Americans along with countless Germans with whom our nation had
no quarrel, noting that the Lusitania was carrying munitions
and was therefore a legitimate military target.
(3) Adolf Hitler
was unfortunately the German who learned the most from his country's errors
of omission in psychological warfare, and he applied what he learned to
kill another 40 million or so people (including 7 million Germans, whom
the Allies killed in response to their country's actions) between 1939
and 1945.
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Remember that 10 percent or even 2
percent of a population can gain control of an entirely free society --
Germany elected Hitler -- and these examples show that the results can
be truly horrific. Here are some manipulative propaganda initiatives
that we need to call out as such today:
(1)
A group calling itself 350.org is running radio ads on the "urgency" of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The ads do not mention that carbon
taxes or cap and trade mandates will drive up the cost of necessities like
heat, electricity, and even food (because the cost of transportation is
built into the price). They also omit the identities of various wealthy
entities -- Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
(D-NY) names Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, and the New York Stock Exchange
explicitly -- that stand to gain from action on "climate change."
(2) Israel's
enemies have turned it into an international pariah even though Israel
is the only country in the region with a rating of "Free" from Freedom
House. Hamas and Fatah both have ratings of "Not Free."
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How to Fight Manipulative Propaganda
(1)
Recognize it for what it is. Every American must understand thoroughly
the sole weapon of war that is legal for anybody -- be it a government,
an individual, or a private organization -- to use during peacetime.
(2) Expose it
for what it is. If you can catch the propagandist in a lie, the principle
falsus
in unum, falsus in omnibus (false in one thing, false in all) discredits
him. Proven bad faith such as hidden agendas and conflicts of interest,
as is the case in the "climate change" issue, meanwhile discredits even
nominally truthful propaganda.
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William A. Levinson, P.E. is the
author of several books on business management including content on organizational
psychology, as well as manufacturing productivity and quality. |
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