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| Propaganda |
Propaganda is the art of making nonsense seem desirable.
It is a very old art: the
Greek Sophists were already practicing it 2,500 years ago, and they were by no
means* Its inventors.
However,
the technique has been developed to such an extent* during the past fifty years
or so that it is easy to acquire. No matter how big the lie that you want
people to accept as truth, you can put it over* successfully if you observe a
few elementary rules: firstly, tell your lie loudly; secondly, tell it in the
simplest language, which even the mentally subnormal* (they are your best
allies) can grasp; thirdly, tell it again and again, at frequent intervals,
without introducing any confusing variations in the formulas you use; fourthly,
make sure that your propaganda involves hating somebody (it does not matter
particularly who, but hate is a very pleasurable and a very binding emotion);
fifthly, make sure that you enlist the support of the parasites of your society
ـــpickpockets, sneak-thieves, pimps, bullies,
blackmailers, extortioners, and in fact everybody who is too lazy to work, and
therefore preys on those who do. Such people are very useful to you, because
they hate and are jealous of the intelligent and competent people, who are your
chief danger. You can use them to intimidate and beat up your opponents among
the latter.
To
achieve quick results, make full use of radio-vans: send them around the town
and countryside, each with its hoarse voiced announcer shrieking your slogans
in an urgent, excited voice. Intelligent people will think it is a running
dogfight and not even look out of the window, but the mass of the people will
be drawn. Use the radio too: have gramophone records of people shouting short
slogans in chorus; have songs with easily remembered words and tunes which the
children will pick up* and sing in. the streets; and have these songs and
slogans repeated at least once an hour on the radio.
Organize mammoth rallies:
be sure to provide the masses with free transport, free flags and banners and
free refreshments (they themselves pay in the end, because the money comes from
the public treasury, but they will think they are getting something for
nothing, and come along for the ride and the refreshments).
Make violent, emotional speeches (remember
that it is not to the people's reason but to their emotions that you are
appealing; avoid reason: it is a dangerous, double-edged weapon,* and can often
get you mixed up with the truth, which is something you must avoid like the
plague*).
Fill all the newspapers
with your lies: it doesn't matter very much whether they are credible or not;
you will gradually build up an atmosphere of belief* by sheer repetition. But
to do this, you must suppress all opposition. Newspapers that tell the truth about
you must be banned as traitors to the people. Individuals who speak up against
you must be imprisoned (if you have not yet got enough power to do this without
trial,
Frame them: accuse them of
corrupt practices, or of immorality, or anything else. You will be able to
appoint plenty of 'witnesses' from among the parasites who support you). If you
fail to get them imprisoned, see that some of your parasites beat them up so
severely that they are unable to oppose you further. It will be excused by the public
as a playful excess of zeal* in the cause of 'the people'.
Always speak in the sacred name of 'the
people'. No one will be able to prove
that you do not in fact represent them, because the idea that "the
people" have a voice is a myth provided you control the army (which, as
you know, means having the generals and colonels in your pocket*) you are 'the
voice of the people', and woe to* any of these 'people' who challenge you. It
will be easy for you to 'prove' that they are in the pay of foreign countries
(they must be if they oppose you!) and that you are protecting 'the people'
against them.
Take a few lessons in
arithmetic (the amount you need to know will not be difficult to acquire): then
you will know how to multiply a group of twenty students demonstrating outside
a foreign embassy by ten, or perhaps a hundred, in the newspapers and on the
radio.
A mob of 2,000 students
staged a spontaneous demonstration against ــــــ outside the ــــــ
Embassy yesterday morning ' sounds much better
than 'twenty" professional" students paid by the government and
provided with military transport and rations demonstrated etc. Incidentally, a
narrow-lens camera is invaluable for photographs of such 'mobs because it is
then possible to take a solid mass of people, however few, and make it look as
if they are only a small part of a crowed. Also, if the photographs purport,
for example, to show students, see that they are slightly blurred so that
inquisitive people cannot see that they are far too old and far too
moronic-looking to be genuine students.
Be careful
about making speeches to University students; unless you have already managed
to make University entry dependent on membership of your party, you will find
that a considerable number of students are intelligent and will not be able to
swallow your usual line of talk. This means that you will have to use your
brain for once. If (as is probable) you are not confident of your ability to do
this, don't make speeches to University students; attack the problem in a
different way, e.g. by seeing that students who are too intelligent for your
purposes fail to pass their examinations and thus have to leave the University.
Become an expert in
double-talk by reading the speeches and writings of famous and successful
propagandists. Language is a wonderfully imprecise tool, so that it is quite
possible for you to claim that you are building up your country when you
are in fact- ruining it or to make yourself out to be a great champion of
liberty and independence while you are crushing the liberty of your people and
the independence of minorities in your country. You can rant about respect for
the sovereign rights of a nation (your own of course) while at the same time
encroaching on the rights of neighbors. There is a vast and profitable field
for you in such double talk. It can get you out of any corner.* For instance,
if your people are starving because you refuse foreign aid in building up
industries in your country, nothing is easier than to blame the food-shortage
on foreign interference.
Be bold
and self-confident! Don't pay any heed to people who warn you against rashness
and recklessness! If you know how to play the propaganda game, you are safe!
But remember: the truth is disastrous> Once the white light of truth shines
into your hates and your slogans< beware!
(about 1.250 words)
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