Most if not all, with relevant qualifications in similar fields, have had the same revelation as Professor Sucharit Bhakdi, an eminent Professor of Microbiology, Virology and Immunobiology based in Germany. Only some chose to speak out as others who should, and did know better, fell into a state of fear relating to the demand for conformity, assisted by incentives to the obedient and punishment of dissent.
As Professor Bhakdi explained to the audience at UK Column’s 20th anniversary event, masters of psychology know how to influence the minds of crowds. He describes the three principles of Gustave Le Bon’s work.
Born in Northern France in 1841, Le Bon trained as a Medical Doctor before traveling the world extensively. His travels led to an interest in anthropology, sociology and philosophy. In 1895 he published his first book, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, in which he argued that individuals within a crowd can enter a “collective mind” in which unconscious instinct and impulsivity replace conscious individuality and critical judgement. Using the example of the French Revolution (1789 – 1799), he showed that this collective mind is highly susceptible to the influence of charismatic leaders, especially when three basic principles are applied:
Affirmation: the use of simple, forceful language to state a claim with no logic, reasoning or proof required.
Repetition: repeat the fact incessantly until the inconceivable becomes accepted as fact.
Contagion: the “fact” spreads through the collective mind like an infection and can never be questioned or challenged.
Throughout history leaders have drawn on the work of Le Bon to establish political movements which under normal circumstances would be considered unacceptable. Adolf Hitler read The Crowd and applied the principles aggressively using emotionally charged repetitive slogans and encouraging contagion via orchestrated rallies that mobilised the collective mind.
Benito Mussolini had a friendship with Le Bon and openly admitted to using his work in establishing Italy’s Fascist regime from 1922 to 1945. He defined Fascism as the merging of state and corporate power, and mobilised the people to fight against their own individual rights using such affirmations as “liberty is a duty, not a right” and “all within the state, nothing outside the state and nothing against the state“, using mass gatherings and chants praising his leadership to evoke emotion in the crowd mind.
During the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky used slogans such as “Peace, Land and Bread” to appeal to the masses, and “All power to the Soviets” to marginalise opposition. They successfully mobilised an overthrow of the provisional government, establishing the world’s first and most enduring socialist state (USSR) in which centralised government owned all land, resources and industry. Would the people ever have agreed to this without the crowd mind being activated first?
In an example of psychological manipulation as an intergenerational affair in powerful families, the “father of propaganda”, Edward Bernays, also applied Le Bon’s principles to his various indoctrination campaigns. Torches of Freedom was perhaps his most famous and successful social engineering project. This simple slogan pivoted the culture of women smoking, from being seen as immoral and foolish, into a symbol of emancipation and equality with men. Other projects achieved by Bernays included:
- directing public approval of America’s involvement in World War 1;
- using the collective mind’s unconscious trust in medical authority to gain public approval for water fluoridation as a health intervention. In fact, water fluoridation was used in Nazi experiments to control concentration camp inhabitants due to the neurotoxic effects which can lower one’s IQ level & affect memory. Fluoride is an industrial waste product and an example of the state-corporate merger with governments establishing laws and policies to ensure ongoing sales and consumption.
- disseminating false claims of communism against the Guatemalan government in order to justify a coup on behalf of the nation’s most powerful corporation, the United Fruit Company.
The following two quotes are attributed to Bernays, who was the nephew of Sigmund Freud.
“If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will, and without them knowing it”
“Hollywood is the greatest engine for propaganda the world’s ever seen“
It should come as no surprise then, that Bernays’ great nephew is Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix, known as the “King of Predictive Programming“.
Professor Bhakdi’s address to the UK Column event five days ago shows how important it is for the public to establish some basic understanding of the role of potentially infectious organisms in planetary and human ecology. They exist in nature and they do not need to be (nor will they ever be) eliminated. Medical authorities claiming otherwise MUST be questioned and challenged, and any products they are selling must be examined closely before taken as safe, let alone in any way beneficial.
Equally, if not more important, is the need to understand historical precedents of politically motivated manipulation of public perception. Without this understanding, we will continue to be easily managed as consumers of propaganda.
