Mother may have been wrong!
“Mother Jones,” that is. I don’t mean that the magazine “Mother Jones” was wrong about its allegations concerning the Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. Rather, I mean that the authors of the article may have been wrong in assuming that facts would make any real difference to the American public. Fox News, like many other major news services, operates on well-established principles of propaganda, chief among these being unambiguous assertion and constant repetition. Perhaps unique in the case of Fox News is the addition of a strong emotional component.
The principles of propaganda were developed in the context of the psychology of the masses and were understood quite well by the end of the First World War. As far back as 1895, the French intellectual Gustave Le Bon, who was vehemently opposed to the notion of democracy, had done groundbreaking work on mass psychology and had published his ideas in “Psychologie de foules”. Le Bon’s book was quickly translated into English and appeared in London under the title “The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind” (1896). Le Bon had nothing but disdain for the general public, which he characterized as “the confused herd”, and he was convinced that the “herd” was incapable of making rational decisions about political matters. He proposed, therefore, certain basic methods of manipulating public opinion: l’affirmation (assertion), la répétition (repetition) et la contagion (contagion). Pure assertions, constantly repeated and charged with emotion, are the key to manipulating the “confused herd”. It is the emotional element that reaches the unconscious and makes the ideas contagious. In communicating with the public, rational arguments are not only useless, they are counterproductive. Public opinion is moved not by reason, but by emotion. Making emotionally charged, unfounded assertions and constantly repeating them are, according to Le Bon, the surest way to change public opinion.
This is not the place to give an historical account of propaganda in the States. Suffice it to say that the principles of Le Bon were adopted and elaborated by Woodrow Wilson’s “Creel Commission” during the First World War. Following the War, Walter Lippmann, who is considered by many to be the Father of Modern Journalism, developed these ideas further and utilized them not only in his own journalistic endeavors, but also in his advisory capacity for several U.S. presidents.
What all of this means for the controversy between David Corn of Mother Jones and Bill O’Reilly of Fox News can be summed up in the key words of Le Bon: assertion, repetition, contagion. David Corn may have the facts and the rational arguments on his side, but Bill O’Reilly has the opportunity daily (repetition) to make unambiguous statements (assertion) with an emotional fervor (contagion) that will inevitably move public opinion. If Le Bon and Walter Lippmann were right, it is not necessary to speak the truth in order to convince the public. Simple affirmative statements, filled with emotion and repeated frequently, will win the day. What this means for our democracy should be clear to everyone.
Jack E. Brush is a resident of The Villages.
