Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov
Look who posted it... lol
Bringing facebook to cp since 1999.
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Hey Markarov, STFU. You're the last person who should be calling out another poster about poor posting behaviors. Dion has a media literacy problem and doesn't vet his sources well, but he means well and is trying to provide some value to the community.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flashpoint
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Yeah, as soon as I read the quotes it was one of those times when you cringe because you know their attribution is not accurate. What can be said is these are the foundation for a propaganda campaign though, and even if they are misattributed they would fall under the playbook of any nation state wanting to push a propaganda effort forward. This could easily be distilled and laid out from a reading of Edward Bernays'
Propaganda (1922). Bernays is considered the father of public relations and this little book is a manual on how to manage messages and sway opinion. A must read for anyone who is in PR, government, or has to manage communications for a large entity. Now, on to the dissection of Dion's meme.
If you tell a lie big enough, and keep repeating it, people will come to believe it.
There are many variations of this saying and the variations have been around for decades. Attribution has never been clearly defined because of the number of variations on the theme and the language translation that would further twist the meaning. Trying to attribute something like this is like playing a game of telephone. The final quote is never going to look like what was originally said. So while Goebbels never said these exact words, he did say something similar, but with a different meaning.
In a 1941 publication
Die Zeit ohne Beispiel, and an article titled
Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik, a translation gives us a Goebbels commentary.
"That is of course rather painful for those involved. One should not as a rule reveal one’s secrets, since one does not know if and when one may need them again. The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, it should be a big lie, and one should stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous."
Goebbels was referencing the British, but the same could easily, and more accurately, applied to the Germans, or any nation state fighting a war for that matter.
Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty.
As with the previous quote, the attribution is not clear as the passage has been uttered in many different ways by many different people. Goebbels did say something very similar in
1934 at Nuremberg though.
"The cleverest trick used in propaganda against Germany during the war was to accuse Germany of what our enemies themselves were doing."
He was speaking to what other nations were supposedly doing, but his statements actually where exactly what the above quote was saying. He was projecting the very behaviors the Nazis were embracing onto their critics and enemies. So while the attribution may not be entirely accurate, it is something Goebbels publicly said, but as a projection on enemies of the state.
Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident that they are working on their own free will.
Another attributions to Goebbels that is not 100% accurate in text, but accurate in massage. Again, this goes to his speech at Nuremberg in 1934 when he outlines the efficacy of propaganda and the failures of German propaganda during the war (WWI).
"This requires alert attention to the events of the day, and a trained and lively creativity that must include a complete knowledge of the soul of the people. The people must be understood in its deepest depths, or intuitively understood, for only then can one speak in a way that the people will understand. Propaganda must be the science of the soul of the people. It requires an organized and purposeful system if it is to be successful in the long run"
It is vitally important to the State.. to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus... the greatest enemy of the State.
Another attribution that isn't 100% accurate. The Jewish Virtual Library attributes a larger quote to Goebbels.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
This is similar to some of the language from the Nuremberg speech, but again not 100% accurate. If anything I would suggest it is more of a statement taken out of context from
Mein Kampf and Hitler's idea of the "big lie." This was central to the Nazi propaganda effort as a foundational message, and misinterpreted many times, ultimately providing many of the greatest hits of misattributed quotes that are out there. The words in the quotes may be wrong, but the spirit of those quotes is largely accurate based on the sources available. But, as mentioned earlier, these quotes can also be easily distilled from a reading of Bernays' seminal work
Propaganda.
I urge everyone to read Goebbels' Nuremberg speech on propaganda. It was a stunning oratory in 1934 and is still extremely relevant today.
