“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” (Hitler. Lenin apparently said something similar.)
“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”
(Hitler. Lenin apparently said something similar.)
There is a formula for bigger, better lying.
How often have you heard a friend proclaim the power of the gospel truth, only to uncover the assumption underneath? Each one of us can be only too ready to accept ‘truthiness’ above actuality.
As the most cunning monsters of history understood, a kernel of truth liberally sown lends authenticity. Really, the question must be why do we want to believe? Third Reich rhetoric found willing ears in the beerhalls of Bavaria, but surely polemic alone is not enough?
If we look at Hitler’s arguments, he begins by dehumanising the Jewish race. Suppose this is a classic trait of bullies everywhere? Today is it departments at work you dislike (sorry HR, IT, Compliance), or maybe immigrants taking your benefits and jobs? A group is impersonal, the other, the alien, the imposter… from the Jewish ‘threat’ to the 50’s Communist menace to migrants on your doorstep.
Maybe repetition also has a role to play.
Looks like there’s a formula here: a kernel of truth + dehumanisation + villains = big, believable lie. Include repetition and you can play the audience. Note the rhetorician’s rhythm – say what you’re going to say, say it and say what you’ve said. Knowing these traits, we can re-examine not ‘das Leben der anderen’ but ‘die Luegen anderer heute’. Lies like today’s ‘immigrants are coming over here and taking all our jobs’, and ‘they’re all benefit tourists not refugees’ absolve us of our human responsibilities.
A lie by Hitler about Poland in September 1939 had all the right hallmarks:
- Kernel of truth – attacks on ethnic Germans in Poland (but exaggerated tenfold)
- Dehumanisation – Playing up immoral behaviour by your target (Polish ‘atrocities’ against Germany before the Nazis invaded)
- Villains – Nazi propaganda posters in Poland depicted Polish Jews as lice
- Repetition – Propaganda across newsreels, newspapers, posters, film and radio addresses.
This is not new, but what happens when you apply the same propaganda principles to some of today’s most pressing problems? Emigration from war zones is causing unprecedented migration flows across Europe – that’s undoubtedly true. Read migrant for Jew, or Muslim for Jew, or anyone else who is just not you and you have your villain. If you dehumanise your villains (‘Rescue boats? I’d use gunships to stop migrants’, Katie Hopkins, The Sun, 17 April 15), you don’t need to face the fact that these are real people with real names, real fears, real dreams. Seems they might be human like you.
An excellent illustration about stereotyping found its way onto the internet. Like an X-ray, it showed six skeletons: black, white, gay, straight, religious, and atheist. Individuals are all the same under the skin. Evaluating the truth, empathising with others, always challenging character assassinations – the only way to combat the big lie formula is by telling the better truth.
Hard hitting and very timely – very strong accompanying image.
Thank you, Therese. It felt like the right approach and I had a good editor and artist to work with!
Really clear. Very powerful. Thanks.