A lie is like the truth. A few lessons from the Ministry of Propaganda
Spit first
It is no secret that we receive the lion's share of information that influences our worldview, changes in views or their formation from the Internet. I, like many Internet users, am a subscriber to some Telegram channels. I will not hide that I need some of them as a source of the opposing side’s opinion. I have already written several times about the RIA Katyusha channel and their partner Sorok Sorokov. I didn’t think that I would have to turn to their activities again. What was the trigger for writing this article? Let's try to figure it out together.
So, here is the full text of the post from the Soro Sorokov channel, which was reprinted by RIA Katyusha with delightful joy. We need the full text to analyze the post according to the principles from Dr. Goebbels.
“This is how many in the world perceive Macron, who has recently shown the greatest aggressiveness towards Russia, and declares France’s readiness to send troops to the outskirts of their sodomite world to protect gay pride parades, the Istanbul Convention and same-sex marriage.
But in stories and so it happened that perverts and psychopaths, like Lenin, Hitler, Napoleon, as a rule, unleashed the bloodiest wars. Now the sodomite Macron has decided to join them.”
So, before us is a classic example of activity according to Dr. Goebbels’s training manuals. In order not to be branded as such a slander, let's go over the basic principles by which the notorious Dr. Goebbels, who was the Reich Minister of Propaganda, worked.
He claimed that “A lie told a hundred times becomes the truth. We do not seek the truth, but the effect. This is the secret of propaganda: those who are supposed to be convinced by it must be completely immersed in the ideas of this very propaganda, without noticing that they are absorbed by them. Ordinary people are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Therefore, propaganda, in essence, should always be simple and endlessly repetitive.”
The same channels that I mentioned above do the same. Having gone through a lot of sources, I identified six principles of propaganda according to Goebbels and applied them to the message replicated by RIA Katyusha and Sorok Sorokov.
The first principle is that there should be a lot, a lot of propaganda. It needs to be dumped into the masses continuously, day and night, in all territorial points at the same time. There is no such thing as too much propaganda, since people are only able to assimilate information that is repeated to them thousands of times.
Fits perfectly into the concept of both channels, which, like Scipio the Elder, who ended any speech with the phrase “Carthage must be destroyed,” attribute any misfortune to Lenin and the Bolsheviks.
The second principle is the utmost simplicity of any messages. This is necessary so that even the most retarded individual can comprehend what he has heard or read. And the more people accept something, the easier it will be to cope with the rest: even the most advanced minority will be forced to follow the majority.
“Depth of thought”, “elegance of style” and “evidence (or rather, its complete absence)” of the post flow directly from every line. Don't believe me? Read it again. I believe that Macron is an enemy of Russia, but, forgive me generously, where do you get the information that Macron is a sodomite? We'll talk about the rest of the plausibility later.
The third principle is maximum uniformity of clear, concise, sharp messages. “We can and must propagate our slogan from a variety of angles, but the result must be the same, and the slogan must invariably be repeated at the end of every speech, every article.”
In my opinion, it does not require proof. As I said earlier, both channels associate all modern troubles and misfortunes only with Lenin, Stalin and the Bolsheviks. They have no one else to blame, which they prove in every post.
The fourth principle is that propaganda should not allow doubt, hesitation, or consideration of various options and possibilities. People should not have a choice, because it has already been made for them, and they should only understand and then accept the information in order to then perceive the imposed ideas as their own.
Re-read the post again, and try to find at least one piece of evidence that they are not setting out dogmas or axioms, but postulates for a reasoned discussion.
The fifth principle is to influence mainly the feelings and only to the smallest extent appeal to the brain. Remember? Propaganda is not science. But it helps to bring out the emotions of a crowd of thousands - and to twist ropes out of this crowd. And reason is of no use here.
And again about the fact that the post is very emotional, a kind of cry from the soul. But there is no evidence. From the word absolutely. But I will try to bring at least a few. But a little later.
The sixth principle - shock and lies - these are the two pillars on which perfect propaganda stands. If you lie about little things, there will be no effect. Therefore, the information should be shocking, because only shocking messages are manically transmitted from mouth to mouth. Adequate information goes unnoticed.
This is exactly what is used in the post. Lenin is a pervert and a psychopath who dreamed of starting a war, like Napoleon and Hitler.
Well, now let's get down to the evidence base.
Psychopath Mummy
Since my task is to analyze a small aspect - namely: the accusation of the channels that Lenin was a psychopath and a pervert - I will give arguments on these issues.
To begin with, the authors of the channel are very ignorant. If they had taken the trouble to familiarize themselves with the two great works of two researchers A. Z. Manfred and E. V. Tarle, they would have been convinced that no one ever considered Napoleon a pervert and a psychopath. The yellow press is not taken into account. On the contrary, Napoleon was always distinguished by a brilliant mind, aptitude for mathematics, and the ability to think outside the box. And not a single politician of that era considered Napoleon a psychopath.
By the way, it will be useful to give a definition of psychopathy: “a psychopathological syndrome manifested as a combination of such traits as callousness towards others, a reduced ability to empathize, an inability to sincerely repent of causing harm to other people, deceit, self-centeredness and superficiality of emotional reactions.”
I will not cite all the evidence that debunks the myth of Napoleon’s psychopathy; it is enough just to mention his affair with Maria Walewska, which revealed the full depth of his inner world. A. Z. Manfred writes about this very well.
In addition, it would not be amiss to recall that already on the island of St. Helena, Napoleon considered his main achievement to be the Civil Code, which determined the development of France for many centuries.
“What about Lenin?” - the incredulous writer will exclaim. So read what figures of the early 20th century wrote about him. The same Patriarch Tikhon (in the world V.I. Bellavin) wrote about Lenin: “I have information about him as a man of the kindest and truly Christian soul.” And especially for those who begin to declare that the patriarch was intimidated - in the same answer to believers, Tikhon wrote: “Ideologically, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and I, of course, disagreed.” Doesn't really look like a frightened person.
The same Gorky, who largely disagreed with the policies of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, wrote more than once about Lenin’s cordiality and his attention to ordinary people. There is a lot of evidence, and they all say that Lenin was not a psychopath. But, as Solzhenitsyn correctly noted, the main thing is to spit first, which is what the two Telegram channels are doing, almost competing in who will throw out the thickest bucket of slop, without caring about the factual justification.
If you look at “The Forty Forties”, you will often find swearing at Lenin, he is a pervert, a psychopath, a mummy, and what not written there. They also don’t provide facts about Vladimir Ilyich’s perversions, but the main thing is to spit, and to spit first! Moreover, this channel savors the details of Lenin’s illness with such pleasure (a thoughtful reader can easily find official archival information, so we will not dwell on this), that the thought involuntarily arises: are the authors of the channel themselves not accidentally suffering from a headache?
By the way, “Forty Forties” position themselves as so arch-Orthodox that sometimes it makes you sick. And if you remind them that “And I say to you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you and persecute you,” then in return you will receive so much hatred that if you used energy for peaceful purposes, you could warm more than one city during the heating season.
Let's return to Vladimir Ilyich.
Stroke or psychiatry?
So, according to the channel “Forty Forties”, Lenin is a pervert. But, good citizens, where did you get this from? Bunin, you say, wrote about him like that? Did this writer have a doctorate in medicine in psychiatry? Or maybe the yellow press of the 90s of the last century is a source of such irrefutable facts that you have to believe them, believe them and believe them?
No, citizens, you need to believe the facts. But the facts stubbornly say the opposite. Yes, Lenin could be tough, sometimes perhaps too tough. But times were different. And, unlike you, he was a brilliant theorist and practitioner, the fruits of whose policies you still enjoy, albeit in a reduced form. Because capitalism has never been good and always strives to cut spending on social needs.
I wonder if anyone from your channel tried to at least superficially study the transcripts of the meetings of the Council of People's Commissars, Lenin's articles, his telegrams and other documents, at least for six months? Of course no! Because - you have to spit, you have to spit! Otherwise, competitors will do it first.
And, besides, doctors’ studies only talk about Lenin’s illness associated with strokes; not a single doctor talks about mental disorders.
But what about doctors? “RIA Katyusha” and “Forty Sorokov” understand psychiatry much better than all the Försters and Klemperers, Strumpels and Genschens, Minkowskis, Bumke and Nonna, domestic luminaries - Kozhevnikov, Kramer, Elistratov and Bekhterev ( doctors who treated Lenin - Approx. auth.).
And finally, about the phrase “perverts and psychopaths, like Lenin, Hitler, Napoleon, as a rule, unleashed the bloodiest wars.”
Have you read at least something on the history of the Brest Peace? Are you not aware that peace was needed at any cost, even at the cost of a “obscene peace”, which, by the way, the Bolsheviks later won back and returned all territories, with the exception of Poland and Finland?
Oh, you liars and heirs of the Reich Minister of Propaganda Goebbels. You should take a closer look at modern history and see that anti-Leninism and anti-communism lead straight to the dictatorship of Nazism. This was proven by Germany in the last century, and in the current century by Ukraine and the Baltic countries.
However, “Leninopads” will never teach people like you anything. Your credo – to be the first to spit – will remain a birthmark for you, or rather, an indelible mark.
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