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Getting around Fox News [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-01-21
This is basically a review of “How to Win an Information War” by Peter Pomerantzev. Fascinating history that’s so applicable today. It’s the story of how Britain broadcast camouflaged propaganda into Nazi Germany during WWII and demoralized German soldiers and civilians in plain earshot of the Gestapo.
The leader of the operation was Sefton Delmar, a Brit who had grown up in Germany during WWI. He had become a journalist, reporting back to British newspapers on the rise of Naziism between the wars. When WWII started, his fluency in German and connections within the Nazi party made him the ideal person to lead Britain’s propaganda effort.
Delmar knew that given the popularity of the Nazi party, direct attacks on them would never work. Instead, his genius was to use the cult against itself. He broadcast “news” to the Germans about those officials in the party who abused their power to steal extra ration cards and throw obscene parties. Everyone knew that it was going on or at least suspected it.
The broadcasts were funny and provided useful information to average citizens and soldiers. Germans tuned in to the broadcasts despite vicious penalties if they got caught. Of course anyone who would believe in an international Jewish conspiracy would believe that managers in the party would steal expensive perks.
Delmar pried a wedge between the German people, who fanatically supported the goals of the party, and the Nazi party itself. The broadcasts became so successful that they “…had become a serious rival to the Nazi radio and press…”
The book is a good read and it exposes a truth that is as relevant today as it was in WWII. How could we use it today? Here’s an example:
MAGA is comprised of two groups, ROBBERBARONS and POPULISTS. They forged a Faustian bargain during the Reagan administration. That gap between the two is a migraine headache for MAGA that begs to be pried apart. The weapons are:
Progressive taxation of the robberbarons like we had in 1980. Of all people, Steve Bannon supports this. The robberbarons, of course, are against it.
Immigration. The MAGA rank & file are against it. The robberbarons say they need H-B1 visas. Steve Bannon is absolutely against H-1B visas. He said on NPR, “President Trump and I disagree on this. He adamantly disagrees with me on this. He said that, for the best graduates of college, he wants to staple a green card to their diploma…We would like to staple an exit visa on the back of every graduate. You get a month and then you're gone."
If we could resurrect Sefton Delmar today, he would feast on this setup.
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