Familiar control tactics used in 21st-century America

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Hitler believed that by manipulating the consciousness of his nation, he could, in the manner of Alexander the Great or Napoleon, rule the entire Western World. He wasn’t shy about setting down his tactics for making that happen. Hitler displayed cynical confidence in his ability to control people’s thoughts when he wrote, “I use emotion for the many, reason for the few,” and, “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”

Hitler’s studies of Machiavelli’s works left him believing that, “Politics have no relations to morals”; and “Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.” Hitler understood that by controlling language, he could control the nation. It was through his dynamic speeches and a media that echoed his words, that he dominated Nazi Germany’s dialogue. His words took on a steely tone when he went to war: “It is not truth that matters, but victory,” and “The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.”

Hermann Goering, Hitler’s World War II air marshal, summarized the Nazi practice of knowledge control at his Nuremberg trial in 1946, saying: “Naturally, the common people don’t want war, but, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship… The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”

If echoes of these Fascist tactics can be found in 21st century America it means we haven’t learned from history.

Robert Graef

Lake Stevens