FOR some, January is a time for resolutions, but for me it is a time for reflection. Thinking of the past two years, I can’t help but draw comparisons with the Second World War.
In times of conflict, propaganda can be an effective tool to galvanise the citizenry by instilling courage, resilience and determination to keep morale.
The Allied leaders made efforts in their famous speeches, such as Winston Churchill’s ‘We shall never surrender’ and Franklin D Roosevelt’s ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself’.
The Ministry of Information was tasked with producing propaganda in the event of war. Two posters were circulated: ‘Freedom is in peril, defend it with all your might’ and ‘Your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution, will bring us victory’.
(Incidentally, the most famous poster, ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, was never used but was found, by chance, in 2000 and then marketed ad nauseam. That said, it is only through its many advertisements that I was made aware of these posters.)
If we compare these hopeful messages with the scary, shocking and bleak imagery of the government’s ‘Look into my eyes’ propaganda campaign, not to mention the slogan ‘Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives’, we see a stark difference in the mentality and the desired results of those in charge.
Of course, the difference between these two periods is that then, the state was fighting a war against a foreign aggressor. Today, the state is making war on its citizens.
Current propaganda strategists, including the insidious ‘Nudge Unit’, have made their state leaders proud. Their success in manipulating most of the British public through fear has been exemplary. This is shown by people who still wear their masks outside or on their own in cars!
There is a pertinent lecture by Yuri Bezmenov, a former Soviet KGB recruiter and subverter. He speaks of how the KGB would infiltrate the targeted countries. To paraphrase one of his points on subversion, ‘Once you have completely demoralised a people, it is easy then to destroy them.’ His lecture can be viewed here.
For the longest time, Great Britain has been thought of as a free, peaceful and lawful country. But what does ‘free’ mean in Great Britain now?
You are free to go to the supermarket only if you ‘socially distance’ yourself and wear a mask. Here, freedom has been redefined as conditional by state decree.
The Ministry of Information’s ‘Freedom is in peril, defend it with all your might’ poster has become darkly ironic. If we view these words retrospectively from the point of view of the present administration, this sacred principle has become problematic, unwanted and counter to the state’s desires.
Tragically, what was paid for with the blood of millions has been made meaningless by today’s standards. Remembrance Sunday has become a terrible irony. The lip-service and the concomitant pomp exhibited by the elites each year has become no more than a hollow virtue signal, mouthing the words ‘we will remember them’.
They have forgotten what they were supposed to remember. And, it seems, so have the British people.
