The Danger of Propaganda
June 12, 2023 in News by RBN Staff
source: lewrockwell
June 12, 2023
In an interview with the journalist Mike Wallace in 1958, Aldous Huxley warned about the danger of propaganda in leading America down the road to totalitarianism. The danger has only gotten worse since then.
In the interview, Huxley responded to Wallace: “WALLACE: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Now the devices that you were talking about, are there specific devices or er…methods of communication which diminish our freedoms in addition to overpopulation and over-organization? HUXLEY: Well, there are certainly devices which can be used in this way. I mean, let us er…take after all, a piece of very recent and very painful history is the propaganda used by Hitler, which was incredibly effective. I mean, what were Hitler’s methods? Hitler used terror on the one kind, brute force on the one hand, but he also used a very efficient form of propaganda, which er…he was using every modern device at that time. He didn’t have TV., but he had the radio which he used to the fullest extent, and was able to impose his will on an immense mass of people. I mean, the Germans were a highly educated people. WALLACE: Well, we’re aware of all this, but how do we equate Hitler’s use of propaganda with the way that propaganda, if you will, is used let us say here in the United States. Are you suggesting that there is a parallel? HUXLEY: Needless to say it is not being used this way now, but, er…the point is, it seems to me, that there are methods at present available, methods superior in some respects to Hitler’s method, which could be used in a bad situation. I mean, what I feel very strongly is that we mustn’t be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology. This has happened again and again in history with technology’s advance and this changes social condition, and suddenly people have found themselves in a situation which they didn’t foresee and doing all sorts of things they really didn’t want to do. WALLACE: And well, what…what do you mean? Do you mean that we develop our television but we don’t know how to use it correctly, is that the point that you’re making? HUXLEY: Well, at the present the television, I think, is being used quite harmlessly; it’s being used, I think, I would feel, it’s being used too much to distract everybody all the time. But, I mean, imagine which must be the situation in all communist countries where the television, where it exists, is always saying the same things the whole time; it’s always driving along. It’s not creating a wide front of distraction it’s creating a one-pointed, er…drumming in of a single idea, all the time. It’s obviously an immensely powerful instrument. WALLACE: Uh-huh. So you’re talking about the potential misuse of the instrument. HUXLEY: Exactly. We have, of course…all technology is in itself moral and neutral. These are just powers which can either be used well or ill; it is the same thing with atomic energy, we can either use it to blow ourselves up or we can use it as a substitute for the coal and the oil which are running out. WALLACE: You’ve even written about the use of drugs in this light. HUXLEY: Well now, this is a very interesting subject. I mean, in this book that you mentioned, this book of mine, “Brave New World,” er…I postulated it a substance called ‘soma,’ which was a very versatile drug. It would make people feel happy in small doses, it would make them see visions in medium doses, and it would send them to sleep in large doses. Well, I don’t think such a drug exists now, nor do I think it will ever exist. But we do have drugs which will do some of these things, and I think it’s quite on the cards that we may have drugs which will profoundly change our mental states without doing us any harm. I mean, this is the…the pharmacological revolution which is taking place, that we have now powerful mind-changing drugs which physiologically speaking are almost costless. I mean they are not like opium or like coca…cocaine, which do change the state of mind but leave terrible results physiologically and morally.”
Of course, propaganda has grown much more dangerous than in Huxley’s time. Now, social media like Facebook have become much more powerful than television, and they spy on us and manipulate us. As Thierry Meyssan pointed out in October 2021, “In the global imagination, Facebook would be a responsible social network that allows everyone to connect confidentially while censoring messages contrary to local laws. In practice, it is quite different. Facebook collects information about you for the NSA, censors your opinions and mints its own currency. In a few months, this company has become one of the most influential players in world politics.
The most important political player on the Internet is the social network Facebook. As of January 1st, 2021, it had 2.85 billion monthly active users and 1.88 billion daily active users worldwide. The social network routinely censors posts that include nude photos, sexual activity, harassment, hate speech, forgeries, spam, terrorist propaganda or violence using particularly crude and unfair artificial intelligence. It shuts down accounts that it deems dangerous, either because they have been censored several times or because they are linked to enemies of the United States.
Facebook is a huge company that includes Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Oculus, Workplace, Portal, Novi. It employs over 60,000 people.
Facebook now issues its own currency as a state, the Libra. It is backed by a basket of currencies composed of 50% dollars, 14% yen, 11% Sterling pounds and 7% Singapore dollars.
By becoming a bank whose currency is progressively accepted by Internet sales sites, Facebook is building a parallel economy, both virtual and global, that is larger than the economy of many states.
Facebook calls on its users to detect accounts that violate its rules. It opens a file on each of its informants and notes them.
Facebook, which claims to treat every user equally, has secretly compiled a list of 5.8 million VIPs to whom its rules do not apply. Only they can say and show everything
The personal data of at least 87 million users was targeted and siphoned off by the British company Cambridge Analytica (of billionaire Robert Mercer and Steve Bannon) and its Canadian subsidiary, AggregateIQ. They were used at least:
for the election of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
for 44 local elections in the US in 2014,
for Mauricio Macri in the Argentine presidential election,
for Nigel Farage in the UK Brexit referendum in 2016.
And above all during the US presidential campaign also in 2016, successively for Ben Carson, Ted Cruz ,and finally for Donald Trump and his campaign manager… Steve Bannon.
According to The Observer, Cambridge Analytica employed many figures from the British military-industrial complex and MI6 propaganda services. Perhaps this is just the tip of the iceberg: Edward Snowden revealed that Facebook had joined the ultra-secret PRISM electronic surveillance network allowing the National Security Agency (NSA) to access the personal data of all its customers. But nothing has leaked out about what use the NSA makes of it.
According to Newton Lee, a former researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses, the PRISM network is the avatar of the Total Information Awareness (TIA) project that Admiral John Poindexter developed under Donald Rumsfeld at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Propaganda played a crucial role in the worldwide fear and panic that resulted from the false “pandemic” narrative. This was designed to isolate us and soften us up for totalitarian control, just as Huxley had foreseen. Margaret Anna Alice tells the story: “George Orwell wrote,
‘As far as the mass of the people go, the extraordinary swings of opinion which occur nowadays, the emotions which can be turned on and off like a tap, are the result of newspaper and radio hypnosis.’
Can you imagine what master propagandist Edward Bernays would have done with access to today’s mainstream media conglomerate combined with the global surveillance infrastructure of Big Tech? And you really think that’s not happening now—with another century of psychological, neurological, and technological research under their belts?
The present ability to curate reality and coerce obedience is unprecedented, far beyond what Orwell envisioned in 1984, Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451, Huxley in Brave New World, and Burgess in A Clockwork Orange.
A textbook example of Problem Reaction Solution, the current tsunami of worldwide hysteria is the latest and potentially most threatening example of mass control in history.
The recipe is simple. Take a naturally occurring phenomenon, say a seasonal virus, and exaggerate its threat far beyond every imagining—despite exhaustive evidence to the contrary. Suppress, silence, ostracize, and demonize every individual who dares present facts that expose the false mono-narrative.
Whip up a witches’ brew of anger, envy, and, most importantly, fear, escalating emotions to a boil so as to short-circuit our faculties of reason and logic.”
Gary Barnett puts the whole propaganda issue in a broad perspective: “Tyranny requires that the truth be silenced, that real history be erased and rewritten, that speech be restricted, and that individual thought be silenced. In this time of constant turmoil, false flags, wars, civil unrest, and now internal bio-terrorism and manufactured pandemics, a major agenda of the state apparatus is to silence all dissent, and mandate conformity. It is imperative considering the state’s plan for total control that it stifle criticism and retain the power to control the mainstream narrative, while aggressively eliminating all other resistance and questioning. This is the state of the world that we live in today. As things continue to deteriorate, nonconformance cannot be allowed if global governance and a global reset are to be successful.
Current censorship has reached levels not seen in the past, and with all the advanced technology available, this nefarious plot to silence the thinkers and hide the truth could affect all forms of speech. It is getting much more difficult to find truthful information, as those like Google, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and many other venues are eliminating content and access to content at a blistering pace. A day rarely goes by without something I am reading or researching on these sites being taken down or hidden. This can only lead to a world consumed by propaganda alone, thus guaranteeing that only the state narrative will be presented in any mainstream or easily accessible format. This is a dangerous situation, especially considering the likelihood that through vaccination or other methods, much of the population could soon become subject to transhuman experimentation where injectable nanoparticles and chips could be used to alter human behavior.
This is not a new phenomenon, as tyrants throughout human history have censored writing and speech in order to protect their power structure. Power is always troubled by any that dare to think, and any that dare to question. In ancient times and not so ancient times, books were burned to keep the populace from having access to any material that was not acceptable by the throne or by the current political authority. In cases of resistance to ‘high’ authority, many were also killed by the state, and in many cases these ‘cleansings’ were targeted to the educated class, because they had the capability to think critically and express their ideas publically. Those that held power by force of arms would never allow criticism and dissent, because that could lead to hostility and insurrection by the people.
In this time of Covid and this fake virus pandemic, things have changed in part, but much is as it has always been throughout history. This is one reason that history is so important, because regardless of progress and innovation, the underlying motives of the ruling class have changed little over time. Money, power, and control have always been the key concerns of the ruling class, it is just that the methods to keep that power and control have changed. Instead of the sword and guillotine, propaganda and fear have become the primary tools used to fool the people into compliance. In order for propaganda to work, elimination of dissent is imperative. Censorship plays a huge role in any effort to gain support of the masses, because without the possibility to reach the bulk of the people, the truth tellers become marginalized, and are shunned and ridiculed as troublemakers and conspiracy theorists.
The biggest censorship push in history is taking place today, which means that the biggest propaganda push is also underway. This false flag event called the coronavirus pandemic is not about one king seeking control over his subjects, but is about the few attempting to take over the entire planet. This is a global effort that is run by the few top claimed elites, with their tentacles of power reaching almost every country on earth through control of the banks, corporations, foundations, and the entire political class system.
Many have fought and died in order to protect free speech, but all speech is now under attack by the forces of evil. If the globalists have their way, free speech will be lost forever. This is the world of the Internet and computerized system saturation. Censorship today takes on a new look meant to accomplish the same goals as in the past. Blacklisting users, blocking content, and algorithmic manipulation allow for the state to control information, and with that control of information, it stands to reason that the general public will then be easier to manipulate and keep in check. The acceptance of tracking and tracing technology, continued isolation, vaccines capable of altering the DNA structure of individuals, chips and dyes mimicking the mark of the beast, and a continued state of fear will lead to an end of normalcy. The result sought is a new order, a “new normal,” that will be totally controlled by ruling ‘experts’ claiming to be able to sustain you, protect you, appease you, meet all your needs, and eliminate your worries. This system is called technocracy, and is dependent on a societal class fully controlled by an upper class. Does this sound familiar? It should, as that is the want of all tyrants, but in this day and age, it will look much different.
All of this relies on a willing public, and in order to achieve that total compliance on a scale this large, the human spirit must be broken, and love, family, emotion, responsibility, open communication, mass gatherings, and debate must be squelched. Once the pathetic masses accept this ruse, and acquiesce to the mandates coming, they will be transformed into a machine-like state through technological manipulation said to make life easier and more convenient. A totally digitized system is necessary in order to retain constant control. This may sound outlandish, and something akin to a dystopian science fiction novel, but that is because that is exactly what it is. The new world is coming, and by eliminating truth, eliminating our historical roots, and hiding all that is real and honest, what is left is a fantasy, but this fantasy will be deadly.
Seek the truth, seek honesty, ask questions, and believe nothing unless it can be personally verified. Do not allow the takeover of your lives by these monsters claiming to be your saviors.”
Let’s do everything we can to counter the propaganda that is being directed at us. We have the potential to take back America from brain-dead Biden and his gang of neocon controllers and restore what the great Ludwig von Mises called “a free and prosperous commonwealth.”