New Brains for Old?

"Propaganda is a means to an end. Its purpose is to lead the people to an understanding that will allow them to willingly and without internal resistance devote themselves to the tasks and goals of a superior leadership. Propaganda as such is neither good nor evil. Its moral value is determined by the goals it seeks." A famous European leader once said that. Another added, “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly... it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.” Any guesses?

Keep. It. Simple. Stupid. The message comes first; the facts can be fashioned to fit that message later. “It has nothing to do with islam” and “You ain’t no muslim, bruv.” Keep it brief, keep it simple and keep on saying it. K.I.S.S. Any criticism of an alien culture is racism. Observing any differences between the sexes is sexism. Being afraid that a rabid cult is baying for your blood is islamophobia – fear becomes hatred by simple repetition that this is so. Keep on saying it and it becomes true. Nothing is normal. Everything is normal. Not normal is the new normal. Two plus two equals five. If everybody says you are wrong, eventually you will begin to question what you know.

Our society is wary of brainwashing. Cults use brainwashing, so they must be dangerous. Cults seek to distort reality so their adherents cleave to a different doctrine. Cults are dangerous, dividing families, dividing loyalties, dividing and ruling. Cults are minority phenomena, they say, cults are evil and wrong. This is obvious, they say, anybody can see the power of the cult is limited and we can cure you. Look into my eyes and repeat after me: “Muslims account for only 5% of the population. They must be protected. They suffer the most because of the actions of ISIS. They are a force for good in our society. Diversity is good. Diversity is good. Diversity is good. Diversity is god...” Keep looking into my eyes. Keep. It. Simple. Stupid.

Donald Trump has dared to say what millions think. Of course, what those millions think is simply wrong. The deeds they have witnessed, the words they have heard or read, the fear they feel when they imagine their lives or lifestyles are threatened are all illusory. And anyway, Trump has to be wrong because the simple, repeated message of the media, world leaders and liberal commentators says so. The condemnations from Barack Obama, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, the usual voices on the left, along with the Metropolitan Police are confined to a few simple points. Repeated over and over.

Raised by popular consensus

‘The Donald’ is having none of it. While Nigel Farage was cornered into having to repeatedly discipline his party, keep his own words sober and refute the more xenophobic utterings of some members, Trump just says what he believes and far from backing down, repeats his claims louder and with more vigour when challenged. His numbers continue go up and up with every proclamation. What is wrong with ‘his’ people, this cult of Donald? Are they being brainwashed by him? The recent surge for France’s Front National is another deep stain the bien pensants want to eradicate. 

In desperation the leaders of the ‘free world’, who know what's best, select another programme number, insert the pre-wash powder and up the speed of the spin cycle. 

Malice in Blunderland

Everybody metaphorically lives next door to Alice. Her story is considered one of the best examples of the literary nonsense and fantasy genres. But nonsense and fantasy notwithstanding, Alice gets used as an allegory for our world all the time. Today’s scribbles mark no departure from this honourable, if slightly hokey, tradition.

We all know the story: Alice follows the White Rabbit down a hole and finds herself in a hall with many locked doors. She finds a key to a door too small for her, but through it she wants to go. So, without reading any of the warnings she downs the contents of a bottle labelled DRINK ME. Then, of course, she’s too small to reach the key which is on the table. So, with exactly the same careless abandon for her physical or mental well-being  she consumes a cake labelled EAT ME, causing her to grow enough to hit her head on the ceiling. 

In our little allegory, Alice is, of course, the electorate – not sure quite what she wants but ready to swallow any quick fix without regard for future consequences. 

In social psychology Cognitive Dissonance is a term used to describe the feeling of discomfort when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting beliefs, values or emotional reactions. Thus, “We must reduce the national debt.” and “We must borrow more money to increase the welfare budget.” OR “In the forty years we've been in the EU nobody has ever given us a straight answer as to why we should be in it at all.” and “Richard Branson says it would be terrible [for him] if we left.” 

Another area of social psychology much beloved, particularly by American administrations, is the field of Mind Control (also known as brainwashing, coercive persuasion, thought control, or thought reform) whereby a group or individual is persuaded to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s), often to the detriment of that person or group, much as in Nineteen Eighty-Four, where Doublethink describes the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct. This is the opposite of cognitive dissonance – in the end you learn to love Big Brother. 

We should all learn to automatically distrust that which we can’t evaluate from our own direct experience. Lazy, handed down, accepted family beliefs are not a sound basis for decision-making - we should all become cognitive dissidents! 

As the prospect of a referendum on Britain’s role in the EU began to gather momentum I warned that the inertia brigade would begin campaigning, just as they did in 1974-5,to not rock the boat. Not content with the loaded dice of the CBI and Richard Branson, they have this time wheeled out the big hitters. Barack Obama's assistant European secretary, Philip Gordon, who has all the same credibility problems as ‘progressives’ everywhere is wading into the melee and declaring that the UK must stay very much on message and in the EU. 

My hackles are up already. Firstly what the very fuck has it to do with the USA, who recognise the ‘special relationship’ only when it has an advantage for them? Secondly, what the very fuck has it to do with the USA, who recognise the ‘special relationship’ only when it … you get the picture. 

Instead of going with the big guns bullshit, which means nothing to you, you should be asking yourselves whether you have ever actually experienced anything positive as a direct result of involvement in the EU. If you think, for instance that being ruled from Brussels and Strasbourg in return for the odd underfunded ‘Youth Project’ is a good thing then you can elect to support, with good conscience a course of action recommended by the nation that gave us some of history’s biggest shysters and con men (PT Barnum, Frank Abagnale, Lehman Brothers) and such honest politicians as Richard Nixon and Slick Willie Clinton. 

OR you could recall every rotten headline, every example of EU profligacy with your money and every example of the intrusion of European edicts on the lives of UK citizens and make up your own mind. Your own government don’t believe that after forty years you have a firm enough grasp of the EU to make up your mind. So David Cameron is now talking not of an imminent referendum, but of delaying any possible vote another FIVE years until 2018, in the hope that Greece and Spain and Portugal and France finally recover and you will forget that for the last five years we have had just six days to save the Euro.

Cabinet Meetings in the EUSSR

And if that wasn't crazy enough, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, today begins a stint as a radio co-host on LBC 97.3FM in an attempt to 'connect with the views of electorate'. If it wasn't for the fact that the whole damned world has gone stark, staring bonkers, you would have to be Mad as a Hatter to believe it.

Read this before you go. Then forget EVERYTHING