Hitler said that if you are going to tell a lie, tell one so huge that people will believe it has to be true, because no one would expect anyone to believe such a lie.
Today, people willingly accept falsehoods that are blatant, obvious, and able to be factually proven as false with little or no effort.
I am confused.
In past conflicts in which psychological warfare was brutally applied, one of the techniques was to coerce a victim to admit to an obvious falsehood. Physical discomfort or torture was often involved.
“How many fingers am I holding up,” the captor asks as he holds up two fingers.
“Two,” the victim replies.
“No, I’m holding up three,” the captor would say and continue to badger the victim until the victim would say that three fingers were held up. Sometimes it was done to halt the torture or discomfort; in other cases, after enough torment, the victim began to believe whatever the captor said. Reality was whatever the captor said it was.
I’m amazed as to how people willingly accept falsehoods today. There’s no discomfort, no torture. Nevertheless, people are willing to accept things that they could, if they wanted to, easily determine to be lies.
Hitler could learn a thing or two if he were alive today.
