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Friday, 21 May 2021

Lies, Propoganda and Fake News

 


Democracy relies on people being informed about the issues so they can have a debate and make a decision. Stephan Lewandowsky, a cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol who studies the persistence and spread of misinformation states, "Having a large number of people in a society who are misinformed and have their own set of facts is absolutely devastating and extremely difficult to cope with."

In 1924, Adolph Hitler stated, "the task of  propaganda  is not to make an objective study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly." 

Prince William and Harry's statements regarding the Panorama interview findings include, Harry - "The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life... practice like these – and even worse – are still widespread today. Then, and now, it’s bigger than one outlet, one network, or one publication." William - "BBC employees lied and used fake documents to obtain the interview with my mother; made lurid and false claims about the Royal Family which played on her fears and fuelled paranoia ....In an era of fake news, public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important."

In 1933, Hitler established a Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. The Ministry's aim was to ensure that the Nazi message was successfully communicated through art, music, theatre, films, books, radio, educational materials, and the press. This propaganda created an atmosphere tolerant of violence against Jews, particularly in 1935, encouraging passivity and acceptance of the impending measures against Jews, as these appeared to depict the Nazi government as stepping in and 'restoring order'. Also there were clear messages tailored to a broad range of people and their problems aimed to exploit people's fear of uncertainty and instability. These messages varied from 'Bread and Work', aimed at the working class and the fear of unemployment, to a 'Mother and Child' poster portraying the Nazi ideals regarding women. Jews and Communists also featured heavily in the Nazi propaganda as enemies of the German people. Information was intended to persuade an audience to accept a particular idea or cause, often by using biased material or by stirring up emotion and was one of the most powerful tools the Nazis used to consolidate their power.

Before 1919, Hitler was a slacker and a soldier. His biographer, Ian Kershaw, summarises that it was the army that 'turned Hitler into a propagandist'. He devoted himself to planning and practicing his beer-hall performances, using a mirror to perfect expressions and gestures. He was becoming a performer, an artist. As Hitler himself put it a few years later in 'Mein Kampf,', "The correct use of propaganda is a true art... propaganda must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over."

There is currently a film on social media by Peter Stefanovic who states, " now watched 18.8 million times, ask if the PM or a single Conservative MP is willing to challenge anything I say. This lying has to end somewhere." Green MP Caroline Lucas wrote in Green World ‘If people can't believe what the Prime Minister is saying because lies are interspersed so freely with the truth, then trust in our democracy is undermined’. 

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