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Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin is basking in the glow of an unheard-of
86% approval rating. But his popularity has not stemmed from the
people’s contentment or any monumental achievement of their leader. His
boat has been lifted by the rising tide of insane hatred for America and
Ukraine sweeping Russia. Hysterical chauvinism flogged by TV has brought
the Russian people to fever pitch, demonstrating the monumental power of
propaganda. Renowned Russian opposition journalist Vladimir Yakovlev in
a recent article published in his Russian-language Mulbabar blog
explained the mechanism of the current propaganda campaign designed to
keep the Russian people focused on the external enemy and oblivious to
their country’s sorry condition.
In Soviet times, every college in Russia had a military chair, something
like our ROTC but compulsory. It was an important incentive for the
Soviet youth because military training as part of the college curriculum
was a sure way of avoiding the hated conscription. Military training was
geared to the specific educational profile of each institute of higher
learning. At Yakovlev’s alma mater, the Moscow State University School
of Journalism, the students were trained, in an atmosphere of utmost
secrecy, in the art of “combat special propaganda,” the methods of
sowing discord in the enemy ranks by means of disinformation and mind
bending.
Combat, or “black,” propaganda is a highly effective weapon of
distorting real facts with a view to achieving the propagandist’s goals.
Here are some of the methods the future Soviet journalists were taught
and today’s Russian propagandists use with such astonishing success.
The “rotten fish” technique works as follows. A false accusation is
thought up with the primary requirement that it be as scurrilous and
scandalous as possible, such as petty larceny, child molestation, or
murder, preferably motivated by greed. The “rotten fish” is not aimed at
proving the guilt of the victim, but rather at causing public discussion
of its absurdity and injustice. It is a quirk of human psyche that as
soon as an accusation enters the public discourse it inevitably brings
forth its supporters and deniers, “experts” and “people in the know,”
rabid accusers and fervent defenders of the accused.
But irrespective of their positions and views, all participants in the
discussion again and again repeat the victim’s name juxtaposed with the
scurrilous and scandalous accusation, thereby rubbing the “rotten fish”
into his (or her) clothes until the stink clings to the victim so
tenaciously as to follow him everywhere. And every time the victim’s
name is mentioned, its association with the alleged crime
(“larceny-murder-child molestation) rears up its ugly head in the
people’s minds.
Another method, “40/60”, traces its provenance to none other than Joseph
Goebbels, the infamous Nazi propaganda minister. Under this technique,
you set up a media outlet that starts out by disseminating 60 percent of
its information favorable to the enemy. Having thus earned the enemy’s
trust, the remaining 40 percent are used to spread disinformation, which
is extremely effective because of its high credibility. During World War
Two, a certain radio station was very popular in the anti-Nazi world.
People believed it was a British radio station and took on faith
everything it put on the air. And it was not until after the war that
the “anti-Nazi” radio station was unmasked as actually a Nazi outfit
operating on the basis of Dr. Goebbels’ “40/60” principle.
Another highly effective propaganda technique was the “Big Lie” method
also used extensively by the Nazis and sanctified by Goebbels. It looks
somewhat similar to the “rotten fish”, but actually its mechanism is
different. The essence of the Big Lie is to propound, with the utmost
degree of confidence, a lie so huge and terrible as to become believable
- people would simply refuse to believe that anyone can lie so
blatantly.
The key to the success of this method is that a well designed and
constructed Big Lie profoundly traumatizes the listener or viewer,
shaping their perception for a long time in spite of any logical or
rational refutation. The most effective Big Lies are those describing
cruel torments of children or woman. A case in point is the highlight of
the Russian TV’s Big Lie hit parade: the “report” that the Ukrainians
crucified a three-year-old child on the door of his house. The deep
emotional wound inflicted by such a message renders the recipient
impervious to any logical proof to the contrary.
Yet another technique, which works slowly but reliably, is that of
“absolute obviousness.” Under this method, instead of trying to prove
what you want to get across you deliver it as something absolutely
obvious, self-evident and thereby unconditionally believed by the vast
majority of the people. Although seemingly simple, this method, which is
akin to the “bandwagon effect,” is extremely effective because it is
rooted in the propensity of the human psyche to automatically react to
the opinion of the majority, trying to join it. The important condition
is that the majority must be overwhelming and its support of the thesis
being disseminated absolute and unconditional - otherwise the urge to
join in fails to arise.
But if these conditions are met, the ranks of supporters of the
“majority position” begin to grow inexorably, at first slowly but
gradually gathering speed until the trickle turns into a roaring flood -
primarily due to the support of the lower classes particularly
susceptible to the “join-in urge”. A classic implementation of the
“absolute obviousness” technique is publication of all sorts of opinion
polls demonstrating the near unanimity of the public on a given issue.
Needless to say such polls don’t have to have anything to do with
reality.
There are a lot of other techniques of this sort, but what characterizes
them all is that “black” propaganda affects the audience at a deep
psychological level in such a way that its effect cannot be countered by
conventional logical arguments. The Big Lie achieves its effect through
an emotional trauma. The “absolute obviousness” technique - through the
“join-in urge”. The “rotten fish” - by planting in the minds of the
audience a direct associative link between the victim and a scurrilous,
scandalous accusation.
In short, “combat special propaganda” turns the person into a zombie who
not only actively supports the settings planted into his or her mind,
but aggressively resists those who espouse different views or attempt to
show the propaganda victim the error of his ways by means of logical
arguments. It couldn’t be otherwise, for all “combat propaganda”
techniques share a common goal: to undermine the morale of the enemy by
sowing discord, causing mutual mistrust and fomenting mutual hatred.
But today, writes Vladimir Yakovlev, the Russian people are the target
of this psychological warfare waged by the Putin regime, and the results
are exactly as devised. Except that mutual hatred and discord arise in
our own homes and families rather than in the enemy ranks. The results
are clear for all to see. Over the past three years, the country has
changed beyond recognition. Apparently “combat special propaganda” works
against one’s own population even more effectively than against the
enemy army. Probably because the enemy soldiers can defend themselves
while the peaceful Russian civilians are totally defenseless.
© V.Volsky
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