Bruce Jenket: Those who fail to study history doomed to repeat it

To The Daily Sun,

How many readers have heard the expression “Those that fail to study history are destined to repeat it”? For those that have, how many have studied how the Nazi party came to power in Germany in the 1930s which ultimately resulted in the Holocaust and World War II? There are libraries of books that no one would have the time or resolve to read but it could be boiled down to a single quote by one man. His name, Adolf Hitler. Here is that quote from his book Mein Kampf written in 1925: “The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.”

Here are the nine fundamental principles of propaganda, bit.ly/3yK4Pn1. Big lie: Always choose the big lie over the small; the masses will believe it more readily. Focus: Use only one or at most two selling points. Repeat: Use them over and over until even your enemies know them by heart. Blame: Never waver, acknowledge no doubt; always blame, never credit the other side. Debase, defame, dehumanize. Provoke: First attract attention, then appeal to emotions. Crisis: Shades of gray don’t work. Issues must be life or death, good or evil, freedom or slavery, love or hate. Emotional symbols: Good slogans have no literal meaning, only a strong emotional appeal. Pander: Ignore intellectuals and reasonable arguments; target the unthinking masses with powerful emotional pitches. No limits: Ignore all moral limits whenever you deem it useful.

It’s scary how history is repeating itself again. In free nations around the world the media has been the guardian of “truth” to prevent government overreach and tyranny. By the same token, in totalitarian regimes like China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, etc. the media is the propaganda arm of the ruling party.

It took 10 years for the Nazi party to convince the German people that the Arian race was superior to all others (the Big Lie) through media propaganda. We are now in year five of a media propaganda effort to convince the U.S. that Democrats are superior to all others. It started with the Russia collusion hoax (the first Big Lie). That lie has been exposed by the Durham investigation but those responsible are being “protected” by the same corrupt media.

Other Big Lies that everyone knows by a single “focus point” are Donald Trump is a racist, Black Lives Matters, critical race theory and Jan. 6 Insurrection. All short on facts (truth), fueled by emotion, kept alive by ignoring reason/logic and employing censorship.

Ninety five percent of Washington, D.C. and the legacy media are Democrats yet 70% of the nation believes we are going in the wrong direction. Apparently, propaganda still works!

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough