propaganda warfare

The EU project exemplifies the spirit and mentality of the now dominant Enlightenment worldview. The Materialist, rationalist and internationalist mentality of this perspective has become the default religion of Western intellectuals.

It is so successful that it has converted the institutional bastions of the old order – the Church and main stream Conservative political parties in Europe. Prime Minister May is now defining the wave of knife crime in the UK as a matter of public health, not law and order…

The war of ideas is won; their worldview is now Orthodoxy.

But Brexit threatens it. Ordinary people in Europe see the new religion for what it is, and don’t like it. 

Its adherents, however, cannot see the truth about their Cult. Nor can they accept that people have had enough of its perversity and hypocrisy.

The EUtopian reaction is a ruthless propaganda war waged against reality and against our instinctive, common sense reactions.

Propaganda has no respect for reality or for human independence. We are not to think for ourselves; we are to take on trust whatever the ideologues tell us is true and right and good. Individual conscience and individual thought is to be discouraged in favour of the collective conception of truth as determined by Ideology.

In recent days the propaganda war has become particularly vicious in Europe, as the fateful day of Brexit nears.

 Donald Tusk told the EU parliament last week that it must not “betray” the one million Remainers who marched in London the previous weekend, or the 6 million who signed the petition to stay in the EU.

In just one sentence, Tusk trashed the legitimate outcome of the 2016 Referendum vote – a vote held according to due process of law as promised in the Election Manifesto of the winning Conservative party.

In doing so, he trashed both principle and practice of democracy.

Tusk demonstrated yet again that the European Union is an ideological project – not a democratic one.

In the UK, too, the media has continued to propagate the mood and terms of the EUtopian propaganda agenda.

Take this crucial example.

A Statutory Instrument to postpone the date of Brexit from March 29th to April 12th or May 22nd 2019 was introduced to Parliament on Monday and debated on Wednesday. This was to ratify the agreement Prime Minister May had made with her EU counterparts in accordance with Article 50 (3) of the Lisbon Treaty.

BUT with a delay approved, the media in UK and in Europe became obsessed with speculation about an indefinite delay,  about EU elections in the UK in May;  about a 2nd Referendum;  and about no Brexit at all.

Yet the official explanatory note to the wording of the SI reflected the terms of what was agreed by May with her EU counterparts: i.e. that the UK will leave the EU without a Deal on April 12th if the Commons did not approve May’s Withdrawal Deal by March 29th – the original date of leaving.

On March 29th the House of Commons voted against her deal for the 3rd time.

APRIL 12th IS NOW THE DATE OF BREXIT.

March 29th was the default date; April 12th is an Agreed Date.

But where is this central fact in all the reporting, comment and discussion ?

Sidelined or buried.

Why ?

Because we now live in a world where political debate and its perception is framed by partisan propaganda –  not by a representative and proportionate reflection of reality.

Let me repeat that. It is too important to overlook.

We now live in a world where political debate and its perception is framed by partisan propaganda –  not by a representative and proportionate reflection of reality.

This is what happens under totalitarian regimes …

So, let’s just stop and consider exactly what propaganda is and how it operates.

This is essential if we are to have any hope of getting back to a place of sanity in our politics and society.

At the heart of the propagandist’s mindset is Assumption.

It is critical to understand this crucial, fundamental premise.

They assume that their ideology is the correct and moral view of the world. There can be no other perspective but theirs. Every one else is wrong and must be corrected.  They  judge every event this way, and refuse to let reality suggest otherwise. They never explain themselves, and they refuse every attempt at rational scrutiny.

When the manifest facts of a situation disprove their assertions, they simply delete them from the record. If they deal with fact at all, they select what is convenient or spin it the way they want it seen,  not as the facts of the matter actually suggest.

Such Assumption automatically leads to Denigration of opponents – opponents are wrong, whatever the facts may suggest.  And  when anyone opposes their Ideology, they are ipso facto dangerous enemies because they threaten the sacred Truth of the Orthodoxy. So opponents are smeared and portrayed as liars, deceivers, and dangerous extremists.

In reality, of course, the propagandist is the liar, the deceiver and the dangerous extremist …

All this inevitably leads to Distortion of the perception of reality, and so to Confusion in the minds of ordinary people with little understanding or knowledge.

During the Referendum campaign I met people saying they were confused and had no facts.

The Propagandist’s purpose is the Reinvention of perception according to the terms of their Ideology.

Into the  state of Confusion which they have created, the Propagandist brings the clarity and certainty of their Ideology. They have The Truth !

Regardless of whether you agree or not; regardless of whether they are actually right or not. Their Truth is self evidently right – so you must be wrong, and you must be sidelined or re-educated.

You cannot count – because if you do, their precious Truth is wrong –  and if they are wrong, then they are the deceived – not you.

Human nature is such that people will swear black is white sooner than admit they are completely deceived.

Hence the current confusion and nonsense in the Westminster Parliament.

Ray Catlin

Copyright © 2019 Ray Catlin. All rights reserved.