“I studied at the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. We had a military department. In an atmosphere of secrecy, we were taught special combat propaganda - the art of sowing discord in the ranks of the enemy with the help of disinformation and manipulation of consciousness. Let me tell you, it’s a scary business. I'm not kidding.
Combat, or “black,” propaganda allows any distortion of real facts to solve propaganda problems. This is an effective weapon used for the sole purpose of knocking out the enemy’s brains. The "rotten herring" method. The "inverted pyramid" method. The "big lie" method. The “40 to 60” principle. The "absolutely obvious" method. You also know all these methods and techniques. You just don't realize it. As intended.
We were taught to use special propaganda techniques against soldiers of the enemy army. Today they are used against the civilian population of our own country. For two years now, reading Russian newspapers or watching television shows, I have noted with interest that people coordinating the distribution and interpretation of news in Russia clearly learned from the same textbook as I have, from the same cheerful colonel or his colleagues.
For example, the “rotten herring” method. It works like this. A false accusation is chosen. It is important that it is as dirty and scandalous as possible. For example, petty theft, child molestation, or murder, preferably out of greed work well. The purpose of the “rotten herring” is not to prove the accusation. It’s to cause a wide, public discussion... How it’s unjust and unfair.
The human psyche is arranged in such a way that, as soon as the accusation becomes the subject of public discussion, its “supporters” and “opponents”, “experts”, rabid “prosecutors” and ardent “defenders” of the accused inevitably arise. But regardless of their views, all participants in the discussion again and again pronounce the name of the accused in connection with a dirty and scandalous accusation, thus rubbing more and more “rotten herring” into his “clothes”, until finally the “smell” begins to follow him everywhere. The question “killed-stole-seduced or not” becomes the main one when his name is mentioned.
Or, for example, the “40 to 60” method invented by Goebbels. It consists in creating media that give 60 percent of their information in the interests of the enemy. On the other hand, having earned his trust in this way, the remaining 40 percent are used for extremely effective, thanks to this trust, disinformation. During World War II, there was a radio station that the anti-fascist world listened to. It was thought to be British. Only after the war did it turn out that it was actually Goebbels’ radio station, which worked on the “40 to 60” principle he developed.
The “big lie” method is very effective It is a bit like the “rotten herring” method, but actually works differently. Its essence is to offer the audience such a universal and terrible lie with the highest degree of confidence that it is almost impossible to believe that it's possible to lie about such a thing. The trick here is that a properly composed and well-invented ‘big lie’ causes such a deep emotional trauma in the listener or viewer that it then determines his views for a long time, contrary to any arguments of logic and reason.
False descriptions of cruel abuse of children or women work particularly well. Let’s say that the message about a crucified child due to the deep emotional trauma it causes will determine the views of the person who received this information for a long time, no matter how much someone tries to convince him later, using logical arguments.
But our cheerful colonel especially revered the method of “absolute evidence”, which delivers, although not fast, but reliable results.”Instead of proving something, you submit what you want to convince the audience of as something obvious, taken for granted, and therefore unconditionally supported by the overwhelming majority of the population. Despite its seeming simplicity, this method is incredibly effective, since the human psyche automatically responds to the opinion of the majority, seeking to join it.
It is just important to remember that the majority must necessarily be predominant, and its support absolute and unconditional - otherwise the desire to join in won't take place. However, if these conditions are met, the number of supporters of the “majority position” begins to gradually but surely increase, and over time increases exponentially - mainly due to representatives of low social strata, who are most susceptible to the “attachment effect”.
One of the classic ways to support the method of “absolute evidence” is, for example, the publication of the results of various sociological surveys demonstrating absolute social unity on a particular issue. The methods of “black” propaganda, of course, do not require these reports to have anything to do with reality. I could continue. We’ve actually been taught for a whole year, and the list of methods is quite long. That’s not important, though. However, the following is.
The methods of “black” propaganda affect the audience at the level of deep psychological mechanisms in such a way that the consequences of this impact cannot be removed by the usual logical arguments. “Big Lie” achieves this effect through emotional trauma. The method of absolute evidence is through the “attachment effect”. “Rotten herring” - introducing into the audience’s mind a direct association between the object of the attack and the dirty, scandalous accusation.
Simply put, combat special propaganda turns a person into a zombie who not only actively supports the attitudes embedded in his mind, but also aggressively opposes those who hold other views or try to convince him of something else using logical arguments. It can’t actually be otherwise.
All methods of combat and special propaganda are united by a single goal. It is to weaken the enemy’s army by introducing internal discord, mutual hatred, and distrust of each other into its ranks. Today these methods are used against us. The result to which they lead is exactly the one for which they were created. However mutual hatred and internal discord arise not in the enemy’s army, but in our homes and families.
Just go outside and see how the country has changed over the past three years. It seems to me that combat special propaganda works even more effectively against its own population than against enemy soldiers. Probably because, unlike enemy soldiers, civilians cannot protect themselves.”
Vladimir Yakovlev, 2016
Source: https://twitter.com/NatalkaKyiv/status/1790749745243136160
