History And The Masters Of Deceit: on the power of mass mind control through emotion

"'How can I help it?' he blubbered. 'How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.' "Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane." - 1984 (George Orwell)



History And The Masters Of Deceit:
on the power of mass mind control through emotion

By Stuart Harris

Human nature can be best understood by the study of history. Dates, locations of battles, and timelines are of secondary importance with regard to analyzing human nature through historical data. The actions of the few have not changed at all, not from Sumer, through the Roman Empire, to the present day. The lack of moral integrity and political righteousness has been haunting mankind for over 4000 years. Erich Fromm has provided insightful analysis of evil with many concrete examples from History. His approaches to psychoanalytic theory and dynamic social psychology illuminate the current crisis with which we are in.

The following passage is from The Heart Of Man 1964:


" Wars are the result of the decision of political leaders to wage war for the sake of gaining territory, natural resources...for defense against real or alleged threats to their country's security..."
Could we perhaps substitute "natural resources" for "oil"? Could "alleged threats" be substituted for Operation Northwoods, the burning of the Reichstag, The Gulf of Tonkin, or Pearl Harbour just to name a few? I think so. How naive and suggestible the masses have become to accept disinformation and opinions from any authority figure on T.V. or in the newspapers. This is what happens to those who do not get involved in the political processes, instead, they remain in their bourgeois cocoon watching T.V. and preoccupying themselves with accumulating wealth. Americans have become narcotized sheeple who have been misguided and conspired against via the mass media and corporate elitists.

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media."
- William Colby, former Director of the CIA (Please note that William Colby had died during a swimming "accident")

Take a look at the news stories presented by the conventional wisdom of the mass media. The suppression and control of information is quite apparent. We are distracted and bombarded with events such as child abductions. Without degrading or discounting the seriousness of this issue, it is noteworthy that there are over 3500 incidents of child abductions per year in the U.S. yet this is all we are fed at a time when we must be critical about our government's policies and our own civil liberties.

Fromm goes on by stating:

"There is hardly a case of an aggressive war which could not be couched in terms of defense. The tendency of pretending that any war is a defensive one shows that the majority of people cannot be made to kill and to die unless they are first convinced that they are doing so in order to defend their lives and freedom... it shows that it is not difficult to persuade millions of people that they are being attacked"

This passage was written almost 30 years ago, yet it shows Fromm's clear understanding of the marriage between sociopathic elitists and their amoral, cold-hearted actions.

Unfortunately, this example (although in a different costume) of mass repression and psychic numbing has thrived during the Crusades, the French Revolution, and Nazi Germany. The Nazi propagandists led by Goebbels had perfected the art of propaganda through every realm of media. For example, mass pamphlets were distributed such as How They Lie in 1940 accusing the Allies of inventing German atrocities. False Consideration, a weekly published by the SS suggested that German citizens should take drastic action to deal with those who grumble about the war or doubt final victory. What was considered "grumbling"? This sounds similar to the rhetoric we have been hearing about "If you're not with us, you're against us". Will the civilian, neighborhood snooping Operation Tips "find" those who are "against us" (i.e. those who are grumbling). Other propagandist material like America As A Perversion Of European Culture and Roosevelt Betrays America were clear attempts to brainwash the masses in order to vilify and demonize the enemy. The very same ploy is being carried out in the current War on Terrorism, the objectification and vilification of Bin Laden and Sadam Hussein.

Another example from history supports Fromm's position on leadership qualities.

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar." -- Julius Caesar

The Nazi propaganda machine learned how to "Bang the Drums of War" from watching American football pep rallies (their expertise was "hired" by the CIA after WW2 via Operation Paperclip). President Bush's drum beating with regards to, "Patriotism", the "Evil One", and "Us vs. Them" rhetoric is blatant, " whipping the citizenry into a patriotic fervor…" The current war on terrorism employs the human experience of emotion rather than reason, "…the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed…" The same has been repeatedly stated by the father of "spin" Edward Bernays. He had never underestimated the power of mass mind control through emotion. The last passage from Caesar's quote is probably the most disturbing one relating to the current predicament, " …the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry…rather the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all their rights unto the leader and gladly so…" How many times have we heard "I'm willing to get a National I.D. Card (which the Nazi's also imposed) in order to protect myself against terrorists!" or " I don't mind if my phone or e-mail accounts are monitored if it means I'm being protected."

History has proven that the masters of deceit have devilishly used their powers to manipulate and impregnate their citizens with lies, disinformation, and fabrications. People have to disillusion themselves from their lives, which is a conspiracy against reality.

As Hobbes stated, "Homo Homini Lupus" (Man is a wolf to his fellow Man). I believe that if Fromm were here today, he would probably say, " I told you so".