What is a demagogue? According to Merriam-Webster “a demagogue is a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises to gain power.” The art of inflaming peoples’ passions has been practiced since democracy was invented. One of the first known demagogues was the Athenian Kleon in ancient Greece. Modern-time practitioners include Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump.
Adolf Hitler was a demagogue who incited the public by employing a number of tricks that are still used today. www.walled-in-berlin.com
An orator puts to use a number of tricks to incite his/her audience. Adolf Hitler was a master in this art. By the time he came to power in 1933 he knew how to rouse the public’s emotions, prejudices and ignorances. Below are five of the many methods Hitler employed to achieve his goal. Many of the same tactics are still used by current politicians. Next time you catch some demagoguery, pay close attention to see if you recognize the ploys.
Rule 1 – A Demagogue Tells People What They Want to Hear
Following World War I, Germany was a defeated nation. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles the victors had deeply humiliated the country. The Weimar Republic and ist political system were broken. The economy lay in shambles. The chances for recovery in the foreseeable future were zero. Along came Adolf Hitler. He promised to “Make Germany Great Again.” That’s what people wanted to hear and believe. He played to their desires and fears.
Rule 2 – A Manipulator Communicates Directly With his Audience
In 1933, the Volksempfaenger (People’s Receiver) was invented. At the time, it was a brand-new way of communicating. The Nazis immediately recognized the radio’s propaganda potential and held the purchase price down to the equivalent of two weeks average salary. Everyone could afford one. Of course, the Nazis did not mention that the set’s sensitivity was so limited that it could receive only the Nazi propaganda channel. Hitler then used the new media platform to establish and maintain a direct and unfiltered line of communication with the public. Back then, the newly invented radio was the equivalent of today’s social media, such as Twitter and Facebook. The one-channel radio allowed Adolf Hitler to bypass the standard news media and disseminate half-truths, outright lies, innuendos and racist and religious bigotry.
Rule 3 – A Demagogue Delegitimizes the Mainstream Press
Simultaneously, Hitler began to delegitimize the mainstream press. He regularly accused his opponents of spreading false information. It was Adolf Hitler who coined the word Luegenpresse (press of lies) to vilify the mainstream press. Today we call it “fake news.”
Rule 4 – An Agitator Tries to Demonize his Opponents
Hitler demonized his political opponents by calling them vicious names, such as parasites, criminals, cockroaches and scum. He blamed Jews and other racial and religious scapegoats for all of Germany’s ills, banned non-Aryan migration into Germany and embraced mass detention and deportations.
Rule 5 – A Demagogue Uses Coercion Rather than Cooperation
Adolf Hitler rejected international cooperation in favor of military and economic coercion and did not pay any attention to expert advice. Instead, he kept his own counsel. At the end of the war, when his plans for Germania fell apart, he ordered Germany’s destruction. Then he took the cowardly way out by committing suicide while the German people paid the price for Hitler’s ill-conceived ideas for the next 45 years.
These are just five of the many tricks a demagogue employs to mislead the public to gain power. He feeds the populace a steady diet of what it wants to hear and the people fail to demand the evidence behind the allegations and promises. British politician, Geoffrey Van Orden recently called this type of behavior on the part of the public “falling into the trap of an echo chamber of self-delusion.”
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
