What happens when someone owns the media? The journalists turned stenographers and all kinds of compliance professionals work for him; the crowd is force-fed with his messages.
No matter if he imposes an ideology or simply his dislike of peanuts- his views are presented as the “opinion of the majority”. By the time he spreads his censorship, cans or puts in a can all the pro-peanuts dissidents, he simply becomes a dictator.
The applause of his expensively bought yes-men makes the vision of accountability comfortably indistinct; and yet, to maintain his hubristic balance and fight the subconscious fear of disclosure, he will require growing doses of coercively obtained deference.
Distraction
An individual or a group of individuals opting to destroy freedom of speech and even freedom of thought will be characterised by greed for absolute power and contempt for “the crowd”. The belief that people are malleable matter, rather than a group of unique individuals is the root of the mass-media manipulation.
Technique of distraction is usually used with a dual objective: the simultaneous “bombardment” by multiple media with identical comments is to convince “the crowd” that there is only one way to interpret the facts; an attempt to focus the subjects’ attention on a “unique” ideology.
Censorship
Censorship is often defined as the suppression of politically incorrect speech, but it consists also on harassment and collaboration. Hitler’s Reich Press Chamber established Editors Law (“Schriftleitergesetz”, October 4, 1933) not only to dictate “when and how” of the news, but to encourage informants and to oblige the editors to keep out of the newspapers anything which “tends to weaken the strength of the German Reich, outwardly or inwardly”. The media reps focused on enhancing their careers quickly learn to interpret “political incorrectness” and to deliver “too much” rather than “not enough”; they become low level compliance professionals, often playing a role in blacklisting their colleagues, authors and members of public.
Thought Reform
Coercive persuasion is used to alter system of values, and indoctrination is supposed to lull the crowd with constantly repeated lies. The aim is not only to introduce a regime friendly doctrine; people are expected not to ask questions and to give up on critical or even logical thinking. Unethical journalists act as “spin doctors”; they bury inconvenient news, misdirect, divert and practice “cherry picking” through biased and selective presentation of facts or “translation” of their dictator’s botched speeches.
Operation Trust
In 1921, State Political Directorate of the Soviet Union (GPU) inaugurated a counterintelligence operation “Trust”. GPU set up a fake resistance organization in order to lure and identify rebels. Nowadays autocrats hunt for cyber-dissidents; their prey is defined as” a professional journalist, an activist or citizen journalist who posts news, information or commentary on the internet that implies criticism of a government or regime”.
Comrade Stalin would be thrilled.
Whenever an individual or a political party reaches for uncontrolled and unlimited authority, the media are used as distorting mirrors in order to maul human values and to persuade that a caricatural ideology is in fact the only true reflection of reality.
If genuine journalists risk their careers, security and lives for the sake of freedom of speech and the truth, the crooked spin doctors and compliance professionals are duped into becoming disposable tools of an autocrat.
The fall of totalitarian regimes brings accountability not only to political figures, but also to the propagandists. Pampered by Nazi, Julius Streicher, editor of Der Stürmer was trying to force “the crowd” to believe that “Hitler speaks on behalf of a divine appointment, as a messenger sent from heaven “. Streicher was later tried in Nuremberg, charged with crimes against humanity and executed.
Ironically, blatantly coercive strategies and arrogance of wanna-be rulers of the world result in their self-destruction. Stalin did not manage to ban thinking; Hitler definitely overestimated “slowness of understanding” of “the masses”.
Fans of Saul Alinski’s “12 Rules for Radicals” must have skipped Rule No°7:”A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag”.
Joanna Rosamond is a Coach for high stress jobs, a consultant on PTSD and burnout. Joanna has 16 years of professional experience. Unconditional support for our soldiers and veterans.
