How propaganda sells fear: From Hitler to doorstep apocalypse peddlers

By Janet Marugg | FāVS News Columnist

I never thought I’d be one of those old ladies saying, “Can you believe I’m this old and still astonishing myself?” All these years marooned inside my skull, living along with things for better and worse like a long marriage, only to find old age is quite surprising. 

I’m particularly surprised by my brain, this very brain that is incessantly critical of how well it is operating, whether it is under the influence of …well, influencers, or filled with misinformation and propaganda. I prefer objective truth and (sigh) here I go again: Can you believe I’m this old and so full of doubt? 

Is it possible to be too skeptical? Yes, I’m sure it is — I’m no solipsist. But it’s the thinnest line that separates ignorance from knowledge, madness from genius, and societal spectacle from the genuine, and I think I’ve had enough of fakery. 

The research

In 1950, the U.S. Air Force reported the RAND Project called The Exploitation of Superstitions for Purposes of Psychological Warfare to learn how Hitler and Stalin manipulated populations to commit crimes against humanity in WWII. 

Everyone should read it. It’s about propaganda and how the mind is influenced by it. People are simple, so the report is rather short: 37 pages double-spaced, but it’s rich with insights into the methods used to manipulate people into believing falsities to be used to commit atrocities. 

Later, in 1961 American psychiatrist Dr. Robert Jay Lifton published “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China, which is available free online here. Lifton is credited with exposing thought reform techniques used by the Chinese Communists on their people. 

Later still, in 1967, French philosopher Guy Debord, published a work called “Society of the Spectacle” and exposed the systematic exploitation of people by commerce through propaganda that sort of hypnotizes people into a pseudo-world of images. 

In 2007, American author, George Saunders, published a critique of modern propaganda titled “The Braindead Megaphone.” He states that “In surrendering our mass storytelling function to entities whose first priority is profit, we make a dangerous concession. ‘Tell us’ we say in effect, ‘as much truth as you can, while still making money.’ This is not the same as asking, ‘Tell us the truth.’” 

The doorstep

I never thought I’d be one of those old ladies who’d scoff at the fallen, but I’m also secretly proud about it. Just the other day, two brain-dead megaphones came to my door and opened with, “Are you ready for the apocalypse?” 

I’m still belly laughing at how Monty-Pythonesque it was. I can’t stop imagining John Cleese’s poshest, “Hello, would you like to buy an apocalypse?” Followed by a cockneyed Eric Idle, “And a cure?” 

I have to think that apocalypses aren’t an easy sell. There is obvious hard evidence that people do, in fact, survive challenges, including the made-up apocalypses convenient only for nefarious propaganda and psychological warfare. Were I the betting type, I’d throw it all in for humans to keep surviving. Somehow.

In the end, I figure I saved myself a wicked case of buyer’s remorse for refusing to buy the latest and greatest apocalypse, but later I wonder how many they sold. What kinds of destructive things do my neighbors have planned? What kind of nightmares haunt the people around here who, by all meaningful measures, have so much to live for? 

As long as I have lived, my government has known about religious propaganda, brainwashing, undue influence, and outright manipulation without informed consent, and has neglected to issue a surgeon general’s warning. 

Fear is a powerful drug, but somehow we let marauding missionaries roam the neighborhood, pushing apocalypses onto our doorsteps, and we let brain-dead megaphones disseminate death and destruction every chance they get. Enough, I say. 

I never thought I’d be one of those old ladies yelling at people to get off my porch, but, “Come pushing peace or get off my porch!”

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.

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