The Psychological Power of Trump's Hate Propaganda
Trump' Hitlerian rhetoric makes him do better the more he is attacked
- On this Page:
- Origin
- Hitler's Hate Propaganda
- Enhancements
- Predicting Trump in <10 Minutes
- The Crime
- Ending Trump's Hate Propaganda
- References
- About the Author, and Good Bye
- (Click the images for a lightbox slideshow)
Origin
| Created: April 28, 20223 |
| Modified: May 3, 2023 |
| Final Rev. |
The first book on propaganda was by Edward Bernays (New York, 1928). Brnays simply observed how things we buy can be associated with unrelated things we like. Bernays' work, which remains the cornerstone of modern advertizing, is directly drawn on measurements of a dog's increased salivation when a bell rings just before each feeding (Pavlov, 1897). Repetition is extremely effective at increasing the association in human beings too, especially if we are never directly told of any intent to form such an unconscious connection.
For example, suppose a TV in a bar plays an ad of a pretty girl holding a beer bottle. After each time the commercial airs, men leave more saliva in their beer bottles, exactly as for Pavlov's dogs (Dean, 2020)
There were naturally some concerns that people should not be 'treated like dogs' at the time, but Bernays' point was that such subconscious associations are so innate they are unavoidable anyway. If their purpose is to increase enjoyment, the result is not only harmless, but also beneficial to the society's members, as well as the economy. Bernays' perspective was overwhelmingly accepted.
Thus the USA originally considered propaganda as a bright and cheerful result of scientific progress, without the sinister connotations later derived from the West's condemnations of Soviet propaganda in the 1950s, since when the general public has still not learned that Hitler actually was the one who invented hate propaganda as it still is today. That's understandable, because reading Hitler is, to say the least, distasteful. But as a consequence, the public doesn't know it's being manipulated with Hitlerian hate propaganda. Hence, an unethical political leader can exploit Hitler's techniques particularly effectively, at least until the methods are widely understood.
Hitler's Hate Propaganda
Hitler described how to "manipulate the vacillating mess of human children who are wavering between one idea and another" in his book Mein Kampf ("My Fight") as follows:
"Propaganda must always address itself to the broad masses of the people…. so as not to be above the heads of the least intellectual of those to whom it is directed….The broad masses of the people are not made up of…persons who are able to form reasoned judgment in given cases, but a vacillating mass of human children who are constantly wavering between one idea and another.
The great majority of a nation is so feminine…that its thought and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than by sober reasoning. This sentiment, however, is not complex, but simple and consistent…It has only the negative and positive notions of love and hated, right and wrong, truth and falsehood….
Propaganda must not investigate the truth objectively…it must present only that aspect of the truth which is favorable to its own side...
All effective propaganda must be confined to a few bare essentials and those must be expressed as far as possible in stereotyped formulas. These slogans should be persistently repeated until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea… Every change…in the subject…must always emphasize the same conclusion. The leading slogan must of course be illustrated in many ways and from several angles, but in the end one must always return to the assertion of the same formula."
-Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler (Berlin, 1928)
From studying Hitlert, Trump figured out that he goes up in polls, rather than down, by increasing polarization when he is attacked. There are very sound psychological grounds for his method, as follows.
Negative Conditioning to Reject Contrary Facts
Early in his career, Hitler discovered he could magnify propaganda's power by using negative conditioning rather than Bernay's positive conditioning. The biological reason for the greater power of negative conditioning is extremely well understood. Negative conditioning plays on the oldest part of the central nervous system, the 'limbic cortex,' popularly known as the lizard brain (Cannon, 1915). It is the root of the 'fight/flight' response, pumping adrenaline through us to increase reaction speed.
Because decisions made during an intentionally triggered but instinctive fight/flight response are accompanied by the strongest and most primitive emotions (fear, anger, and hatred), hate propaganda is particularly persistent, causing its victims to reject later contradictory facts.
Enhancements
Other hate propaganda methods include:
- Scapegoating. Hitler particularly favored attacking a representative instead of a group (Koch, 2019). By making the victim of hate a person, rather than a group, accusations of hate propaganda against groups are mitigated.
- Environmental Reinforcement. Later in Hitler's career, his psychologists figured out ways to heighten the strength of his hate propaganda, for example, by surrounding his audience with the color red; and his party published his propaganda in red books (Bytwork, 1998), Trump's red caps have a similar effect. Similarly, Trump uses rock music in his rallies to intensify emotions.
- Conformity Pressure to Accept False Facts. Psychologists have discovered much more about hate propaganda since WW2. Asch (1951) established that an individual surrounded by a group stating a lie will agree with the lie, even contrary to direct visible evidence.
- Wrongful Persecution due to Confirmation Bias. After a factual lie is accepted during intense emotion, both authorities and peers create confirmation bias, even if the result is unjustified physical persecution. Milgram (1961) established that subjects will obey an authority figure instructing them to administer increasingly strong shocks to a person complaining of a heart condition, even after he passes out. Zimbardo (1971) showed that peer groups given authority to hurt others will increase persecution over time, even without any instruction to do so.
Predicting Trump in <10 Minutes
Linguistic techniques have been around since the 1970s to assess Trump's use of Hitler's techniques in his tweets and rally speeches, since when computer technology has made it rather easy. Analyses can draw upon on the following basic methods for manipulating the masses as described by Hitler:
- Oversimplified polarization.
- Intense provocation.
- Apparent justification with disregard for balanced truth.
- Reductionist focus.
- Repetition of slogans.
- Scapegoating.
Correlation of scapegoating with Fallup oll data was rapidly
demonstrated on an Excel spreadsheet. Thisd analysis simply looks for
the word 'Clinton' in Trump's campaign speeches, which started long before
she was chosen as the Deocratic Presidential candidate.
Initially, the scapegoating
repetition was regular and interleaved with justification.
As Democrats fell in the polls, the scapegoating fell.
When the Democrats rose in the polls, scapegoating drastically
increased in frequency, earlier in Trump's speeches.
Then in October 2106, the FBI Director reported his opinion
on Clinton's handling of secure e-mails (Corney, 2016).
The Democrats suddenly fell 6 points in polls. The scapegoating stopped almost entirely.
LinkedIn reported that it only takes 4 minutes to read this article,
so you can do it yourself in <15 minutes total, as follows: A more detailed analysis could provide very specific predictions, and should also consider semantics.
Hate propaganda is criminal in many nations, for example, in Canada it is punishable
by up to two yearsz in prison, for which reason the DoJ still states
it should also be considered criminal in the USA (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1986): It has however remained a contentious issue due to free-speech rights. The USA has
not always considered it so debatable. During the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals,
the USA defined hate propaganda as:
"Asserting that groups are conspirators responsible for the degeneration
and collapse of society," punishable by up to life imprionment or death. That
definition is still in use as clause 3 of the full definition by the Intrnational Court:
"[1]Asserting that all members of a certain group deserve to be
harmed or killed; [2]Describing certain groups of people, particularly historically
equity-seeking groups, as subhuman; [3]Asserting that groups identifiable by race,
sexual orientation, religion etc. are conspirators responsible for the degeneration
and collapse of society." - Reported by Quuens University (Alberta, Canada).
Trump's allegations of a 'conspiracy' against hime have long been noted
(e.g., Liptak, 2020) and recently recoomenced shortly after his declaration of intent
to run for Presidency again (e.g., Thacker, 2023).
Emotive contradiction of false facts increases polarization to Trump's
benefit (a result often noted in news media). Trump then simply changes the
victim or invents another lie. Thus, Trump's hate propaganda should instead be recognized for what it is,
after which, it is also easy to ignore.
Ernest L. Meyer sat Philosophy, Psychology, and Politics (PPP) at Oxford University,
specializing in philosophy of science and linguistics. His father, Dr. Karl E. Meyer,
was on the New York Times editorial board and senior writer, foreign affairs.
Ernest is now retired. That concluces my final post. Due to health reasons, I will not be further
maintaining this server. Wioth thanks for all the support from all of you
through the years.
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The Crime
Ending Trump's Hate Propaganda
References
About the Author, and Good Bye