“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels knew a thing or two about propoganda. His office successfully duped the majority of the German people into believing that Nazi fascism was the right and destined course for the country and his control over information was absolute.
Its said that if you bring up the Nazis in a political argument you’ve automatically lost the argument but there is a correlation between then and now regarding flow of information; the State is in charge and the State will tell you what they want you to believe.
During the Second World War the BBC and print media done their duty for Britain by providing propaganda for the masses and misinformation for the enemy. It was a concerted effort to combat the threat from across the channel and everyone knew it was a necessary part of preserving our liberty and way of life.
Scottish independence simply can’t be compared to those monumental events in history but the threat perceived by those in power, their authority and their international status is such that the machine has been oiled up and the establishment have instigated a full-on national emergency.
Of all the daily newspapers in Scotland only one openly supports independence (Sunday Herald).
Of all the daily national newspapers in Scotland none are owned in Scotland.
To paraphrase Mr Kitchener, “Your Country Needs You (Mr Editor)”
The eagerness with which the mainstream media in Scotland tow the UK government line makes Pravda look like a free lovin’ hippy newsletter. The lack of impartiality, journalistic integrity and investigation has relegated our print media in the eyes of many to no more than comics and the state broadcaster to the role of party stooge. The hypocrisy of certain titles who print headlines in Scotland predicting calamities after independence yet change the story in English editions to illustrate the perilous state of this union, as if the internet and social media don’t exist.
I’m talking to you, Daily Express.
Examples of this collusion are numerous. When the Chinese premier Li Keqiang seemed to favour a no vote, no one across the UK media mentioned Chinas fear of an independent Taiwan and how his statement would play in that part of the world. Political editors are well aware of such things yet no one attempted to dissect his reasoning.
When Alastair Darling agreed in an interview with the New Statesman that the SNP style of nationalism was ‘blood and soil’ nationalism he should have been pilloried and vilified. Blood and soil or Blut und Boden was a key philosophy in the rise of the nazis. He was comparing a democratic party undertaking a democratic process with fascists. He should have lost his job but the media barely registered it as news.
When the government produced a paper which demonstrated how costly it would be to set up an independent Scotland, the author of the report, Patrick Dunleavy, went public to distance himself from the figures. He wrote on Twitter (NYSE: TWTR – news) : “UK Treasury press release on Scotland costs of government badly misrepresents LSE research.”
“Appears to take minimum Whitehall reorganisation cost of £15m and multiply by 180 agencies to get £2.7bn. Overstates maybe 12 times?”
Yet the following day Danny Alexander appeared on the BBC to launch the paper and went unchallenged on the controversy.
There are many, many more examples. The problem is, it works and they know it works so they won’t stop.
People believe what they read and hear because they expect and want the people in charge to be trustworthy.
Things are different now though. We have the internet. We have access to information freely across the globe.
If Scotland votes Yes a major part of that success will be down to ordinary people on social media seeking and finding an alternative to Britnat propaganda and passing the message along.
Make no mistake, Yes are up against a powerful machine.
The UK establishment are on a war-footing and Scotland is the enemy. They will stop at nothing to maintain their status and control of resources. They dont want us to be informed, they want us to believe everything they tell us.
Make your vote your choice, not theirs.
todayinscotland 