#077: Red Herrings

“The demagogue doesn’t mind temporary verbal attacks on himself— even slander can delight him— because these attacks keep him in the headlines and in the public eye and may help increase people’s fear of him. Better to be hated and feared than forgotten!”

“The demagogue grows fat on prolonged and confused discussion of his behaviour; it serves to paralyze the people’s minds and to obscure completely the real issues behind his red herrings. If this continues long enough, people become fed up, they give in, they want to sleep, they are willing to let the big “hero” take over. And the sequel can be totalitarianism. As a matter of fact, Nazism and Fascism both gambled on the fear of Communism as a means of seizing power for themselves.”*

---------------------------/
*Meerloo, Dr. Joost A. M.. The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing (Kindle Locations 2330-2335). Hauraki Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)

Joost Abraham Maurits Meerloo (March 14, 1903 – November 17, 1976) was a Dutch/American Doctor of Medicine and psychoanalyst. He authored Rape of the Mind, an analysis of brainwashing techniques and thought control in totalitarian states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joost_Meerloo