【Article/Observer Network Columnist Zi Si】
As mentioned in the previous article, the "Empire of Lies" systematically and mass-sponsored rumors in international affairs, and its internal mechanism is a trinity system composed of the "echo wall" of the media alliance, the "conveyor belt" of news agencies and public relations companies, and the "trampoline" of the Western public. Countless examples have proved that through this system, any lie can be easily manufactured.
In particular, whenever the Western Bloc is ready to strike at its strategic opponents, the Trinity system of the "Empire of Lies" automatically generates a "preparation process", aiming at the target like a real artillery and firing "shells" composed of lies in batches. The main function of these "lie shells" is to smear various charges on the opponent country, so that subsequent sanctions, including military strikes, seem reasonable, legitimate, and obtain "justice" and "honor".
There is a historical story like this:
The "Russian threat" theory began to catch on in the early 19th century, against the backdrop of Russia's violent territorial expansion in the 18th century and Russia's military might in the war against Napoleon. For a time, in a shaken Europe, pamphlets, travel notes, and political treatises on related topics appeared in large numbers, the most confusing of which was the so-called Testament of Peter the Great.
Peter the Great (infographic/Wikipedia)
According to the Testament, published by the French in 1812, Peter the Great's goal was to expand in both the Baltic and Black Sea directions at the same time, to drive the Turks out of the European continent, to "conquer the Eastern Mediterranean" and control the trade routes to the East, to create civil unrest in Europe, and to become the master of the European continent.
The document proved forged by poles, Hungarians, and Ukrainians in the 18th century, but a fixed stereotype about Russia was formed as expected: Russia was barbaric and aggressive, and at the same time cunning and deceitful, joining forces with other "invisible forces" against the West and infiltrating civilized society.
The Testament of Peter the Great has been reprinted several times since its publication and has been widely cited as decisive evidence of Russia's expansionist foreign policy. Every time Russia participated in the outbreak of a European war - 1854, 1878, 1914, 1941, etc., this "Testament" will be mentioned, until the Cold War, the "Testament" was used to illustrate the Soviet Union's aggressive ambitions. Before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, it was also cited by the American media and the British House of Commons to explain Moscow's expansionist behavior. （Orlando Figes，2010）
A document that has long been proven to be forgery has always played a special role, and its effect has remained undiminished for 200 years. This shows that it is an indispensable element in certain political activities, especially in the preparation of public opinion in connection with the war. In March, the Will was brought up again, with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, rebutting British Foreign Minister Liz Tras' statement about Russia's possible attacks on the Baltic States and Moldova, saying that it was a model of British culture, politics and diplomacy, following "the same route" as when he fabricated Peter the Great's false will.
Russia, Britain, and the United States are old rivals and know their respective strategies and tactics. What "the same route" means, both sides know.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov (Source:Russian Satellite News Agency)
An ancient rule about the "enemy"
There seems to be an unwritten rule in the relationship between lies and war: war needs to have enemies, enemies need to be manufactured, manufacturing needs good materials; since war must be won, the enemy must be overthrown, so the standard of materials must be easy to use, easy to convince, and authenticity is not important.
An officer during the Boer War in South Africa in 1901 said: "I believe that no matter how hateful and low-level lies may be in peacetime, they are not so shameful in times of war." How sinful it is in peacetime is easy to forgive in times of war. (Frans-Johan Pretorius, 2012) Means that victory in war is an overriding goal, and the legitimacy of this goal is sufficient to give legitimacy to any means.
The popularity of this rule is not an invention of modern people, and its antiquity is beyond people's imagination, because the emergence of this rule is ultimately derived from human nature.
Psychologists have discovered that inventing and creating enemies is an eternal mental activity of human beings. First of all, man distinguishes the self from the other through reflection, and while making this distinction, he unconsciously defines himself as good and others as bad under the influence of moral concepts. And as the ego interacts with others increases, man will continue to "project" many of the bad things found in the ego onto the other in order to protect himself spiritually, with the result: the more he sees himself, the better he looks, and the worse he sees the other.
This is true of the individual, so is the group, and the knowledge of the other that exists among different races, nations, nations, and societies is the same psychological basis. One of the most famous examples is the 19th-century concept of the "Orient", which, as Discovered by Edward Said, was invented by European colonialists as a negative image of everything in the West, concentrating all the characteristics of the self-image that Westerners are unwilling or afraid to classify into their cherished self-image. （Edward Said，1978）
After the image of "them" as a group is created, the "projection" activity will be further intensified, and more and more negative images that "we" are unwilling or dare not classify into the self-image are "projected" onto "them", and after a certain extent, under the influence of fear, a certain part of the "they" is successfully created into an "enemy" who threatens "us". In short, the image of the enemy is actually the opposite image of oneself. （Marja Vuorinen，2012）
This is a new knowledge in modern psychology, in order to re-examine the "Russian threat" theory of the early 19th century, that is, to understand that the general image of russia as a country that is barbaric and strong in nature, likes aggression and expansion, is cunning and good at deception, and intends to conquer the whole world, is actually the projection of the exact same or even worse part of the image of Britain and France in Russia, "them", that is, a psychological process of inventing and creating an "enemy" in the mind of Britain and France and other countries under the influence of fear.
Of course, not only was the image of the enemy of Russia created in this way, but since England, France, and later the United States had fought almost all of them as defined "them" in history, they must have all accompanied the mental process of creating the image of the enemy. And these different enemy images are invariably a reflection of their own different negative images.
"Preparation Process" for Applying Rules
Before the First World War, Britain, sensing the dangers of the balance of power between the Empire and Europe, had long ago decided to declare war on Germany.
It was supposed to be a pre-emptive war based on realities such as imperial interests, commercial trade, and food supplies, but the German attack on Belgium gave Britain a perfect excuse, as one historian put it, "a war on the market suddenly became a war on morality."
The propaganda machine that creates the enemy is at work, and the media article writes: "Fighting desperately for the sake of this little nation [belgium], for its freedom, England will set out from land and sea ... She will uphold the honor of her Divine Word, and there is no nobler cause for which anyone can sacrifice. ”
Politicians say it is a struggle between "the spirits of good and evil for the soul of man", "I believe that no country enters a great war ... With a clearer conscience and a firmer conviction,...... Not for aggression, not even for the sake of defending one's own self-interest, but... In order to uphold the principles that are essential to world civilization. ”
Posters on the streets of London convey the message that Britain represents civilized, democratic Athens, while Germany represents authoritarian, militarized Sparta. （David Welch，2012）
British media reported in 1914: "Britain declares war on Germany"
Do these words evoke something that reminds you of something? Yes, this is what Lavrov pointed out that the British have always been "the same line".
One need only briefly trace the criminal history of British colonialism to easily discover the numerous crimes it has committed, and to see the negative images of despotism, belligerence, greed, barbarism, etc., which are in opposition to what freedom, democracy, sacred honor, and civilized principles it boasts. In order to create an enemy and start a war, it easily "projected" all these negative images onto the enemy.
When the image of evil is firmly fixed on the enemy, the indisputable enemy instantly becomes a "non-people", and the elimination of this "inhuman" will appear reasonable, legitimate, and just and honorable. A pre-emptive war of aggression was transformed into a "just" war for peace, and all kinds of extreme means automatically gained legitimacy. A "witch hunt" operation ensued, and full criminals became "heroes". And because of the monopoly of international public opinion by the English-speaking media, the image of the enemy created and the war discourse that has been reversed will circulate freely in various countries in the world and become popular for a while.
After World War II, Britain's "same line" was completely inherited by the United States, and before each war of aggression, the process of creating the image of the enemy and reversing the merits would be repeated exactly the same. The rules for creating the image of the enemy are still the same old rules, except that the American version of the "Empire of Lies" is more powerful, and the means of using this ancient rule are more elaborate. A tube of laundry detergent, a piece of disinformation, or even a piece of nonsense with politicians closing their eyes can easily start this "preparation process."
Public cooperation with the "preparation process"
In the modern history of the United States and Britain, the "preparation process" has been repeated many times and has been carried out unabashedly and publicly. This is precisely the reason why President Putin of Russia, on the first day of announcing the "special military operation" against Ukraine, in his speech, went through all kinds of deception and lying in the process of the Western bloc planning this war and called the entire Western bloc led by the United States an "empire of lies."
But why is it that such a clichéd trick, such an undisguised process of rumor-mongering, is still as successful as it wishes? When people hear Western politicians describe the Russian-Ukrainian conflict created by the long-term "arch fire" of the West as an evil manifestation of Russia, and the direct and indirect participation of the West in the war as a defense of freedom and civilization, and once again play the trick of creating the illusion of "moral war", why is there still a large proportion of the public, especially the positive response of the Western public?
Part of the reason has been mentioned in the previous article, the "conveyor belt" and "echo wall" of the "Empire of Lies", a special combination, has long been preaching its own professionalism, neutrality, objectivity and impartiality in the highest profile, but with the greatest intensity and density to the people to deliver the most absurd "deceptive news", many people have lost the minimum independent thinking and critical ability.
In addition, there are two other factors that exist in Western society that will play a special role in the "preparation process" of the "Empire of Lies".
The first factor is called "mass imperialist fanaticism," a common phenomenon in the old imperialist countries of the West.
Since the imperialist policies implemented by the country in history have brought great material benefits and spiritual satisfaction to the people, and the military revolution has greatly led to the technological revolution and the socio-cultural revolution at the same time, the people are not disgusted or tired of the war of foreign conquest in their country, but on the contrary, they will expect and be excited about the fresh changes that the war may bring.
Not only that, in the heyday of imperialism, after the baptism of military victories and waves, the values of the people were also rebuilt again and again, and the "soldier heroes" of the empire were regarded as the bearers of the so-called "mission of civilization" and became the moral standards generally recognized by men in Western society in the 19th century. In this kind of social culture, supporting foreign wars and actively cooperating with the government's war mobilization have naturally become the mainstream of social culture.
The second factor is called "The Engineering of Consent," an operational technique known in Western societies as "public relations science, designed to make people as a whole change their views on certain things through systematic propaganda, from rejection to acceptance, from disagreement to consent.
As mentioned in the previous article, in Western society, a large part of the "news materials" provided to the media alliance Echo Wall every day come from various public relations companies. A large part of the information products output by these public relations companies are carefully crafted according to the operational techniques in the "project on consent" or "Crystallizing Public Opinion", and all of them have built-in various elements that affect the psychological processes of the people and change their concepts through "clever manipulation of symbols and trends".
Of course, as Edward Berners, who is revered by Americans as the "father of public relations," discovered in the early days of his career, the technology was quickly used by certain political forces as an effective tool for war mobilization. Since a few beautiful slogans can make half of the adult Population of American women enjoy smoking cigarettes, or a few entertainment star events can change the bad impression of American voters about the cold and introverted President Coolidge, it is certainly not difficult to guide public opinion to support a war.
In fact, Berners learned in 1933 that Joseph Goebbels, germany's Nazi propaganda minister, was also cleverly using symbols to turn Jews into scapegoats, hitler into the embodiment of justice, and manipulate the media to prepare for war, following the techniques he taught in his book Public Opinion.
All of the above can be regarded as "standard" elements in the "preparation process" of today's "Empire of Lies". This "preparation process" is applied today in the war with country A, and tomorrow it will be applied in the war with country B, which is determined by the existence of the "empire of lies" itself. Revealing the way and the basic elements of this process is carried out in advance will allow people to prepare cognitively before the "lie shell" hits. (To be continued)
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