The Covid-19 contagion rumbles on and so too do the government propaganda machine. Having visited North Korea and experienced their unique and dystopian propaganda methods I ask myself ‘Will the UK resemble North Korea’.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Although uncertain who to attribute this quotation, the viciousness of its imagery is savage. Famously, the myriad dystopian regimes of the twentieth century were remarkable at perfecting propaganda tactics which were aptly absorbed into their oppressive repertoire.
Propaganda was perpetually manifested to deter dissent and control a populace. Constantly barraged with posters, radio messages, newspapers and leaflets, populations – it was hoped – would succumb to the collective vision of the Nazi or Communist dogmas. So efficient and successful did these tactics prove they quickly became the default method of any self-respecting dictator.
North Korea; the Last Bastion of 20th Century Propaganda Techniques
There is one country where propaganda still manifests in society, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). This hermit kingdom relies on its vast propaganda network to subdue and quell its populace. The adopted tactics are uniquely twentieth century; state controlled newspapers and radio broadcasts, and a reliance on a cult of personality cemented in an abundance of physical expressions of its leaders.
Under lit artworks depicting the Kim Dynasty pepper the country, as do enormous statues dedicated to the ‘glorious’ leaders. Billboards featuring the Kim’s are interspersed throughout the land and newspapers drip-feed government news stories. Television is firmly controlled and portrays the celebrated leaders as divine and deific.
Combined, these methods of control feel incongruous and twisted. A sea of perpetual overt messaging seeks to percolate a notion that the Kim Dynasty is almighty and consecrated. The results are effective! North Koreans are terrified of the Dynasty and will rarely criticise its authority.
I hope you’re enjoying this article. If you are why not read this piece, Body Language: Inside North Korea & the Kim Dynasty (Part 2) HERE
But the UK Doesn’t Resemble North Korea!
I guess this description doesn’t answer my question, will the UK resemble North Korea. Well, let’s reverse to March 2020. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) began discussions on adopting a message that would induce sufficient fear in the UK public to enforce coercion of its Covid-19 tactics. The journalist Peter Hitchens retains the following quotation pinned to the top of his Twitter feed:
“A substantial number of people still do not feel sufficiently personally threatened…. The perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging.” (1)
Before I proceed I urge you to re-read the quotation at the top of my article because to successfully dampen dissent the populace needs to be subjected to oppression, and the quote cites a very simple method to induce the desired result, lying!
In my judgement the SAGE committee through their rumbustious and callous rejection of civil privilege have deliberately sought to oppress the UK public with mendacious and deceitful advice which was dispensed to government ministers.
Their insensitive handling of the Covid pandemic has illuminated the fragility of our values of liberalism and freedom. Sadly our government and its political opposition have connived to suppress the British public in accordance with SAGE advice.
But the UK is Still Not Like North Korea
I believe I have successfully highlighted my personal concern for the future of our liberties. After all, liberty and freedom is fragile and apt to crumble swiftly if not fervently protected. Will the UK Resemble North Korea? In short, yes and no! Our civic privileges and rights are in a (possible) irreversible process of being trampled upon, but the dystopia we’re descending into will represent a technocratic approach to oppression, not the twentieth century one characterised in North Korea. This is of course represented in the approach to the propaganda campaign of the UK government. North Korea seeks to unite its populace via a fusion of communist dogma, Confucianism and Juche while the UK government seeks to terrorise its citizens.
Nonetheless, our liberties are brittle and they do appear to have been pilfered from us with little opposition. In fact a failure to protect our civil rights represents (in my judgement at least) nihilism and self-flagellation, a calamitous journey into totalitarianism. Benjamin Franklin neatly pondered:
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” (2)
But, the British public are broadly in agreement with the excessive implementation of rules deliberately designed to curb and dampen the tenuous freedoms so courageously won across centuries past. The majority of Englishmen, Welshmen, Scots and Irishmen are content to surrender their liberty in exchange for temporary safety in a climate of Covid anxiety which has been deliberately crafted and manufactured to plunge the populace into deep panic. As a nation we appear to be defeated and conquered. But how do we exit this collective anxiety? Or is the prudent question, can we exit this collective anxiety? More prudent still, do we want to exit our collective anxiety? My personal observation suggests we are comfortable in our current trend; we neither wish the restoration of our rights, nor understand why they are important.
Inaction is as Evil as Action
Inaction represents cowardice; spinelessness our forebears would feel shameful of. As J. S. Mill once wrote,
“A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.” (3)
As the UK government – backed by the political opposition – perpetually extends Covid emergency laws it is once again to Mill I seek solace:
“The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.” (4)
But permeating through society is a climate of fear that stifles opposition opinion. If you challenge Covid orthodoxy you’ll face ridicule, threats and cancellation. In a sinister twist some of this abuse is from the scientific community:
“… abuse has come from within academic or professional circles, with one professor saying debate was becoming impossible because “we are not talking to each other properly. We are being thrown into confrontational positions.” Many leading experts have withdrawn from the debate after having reputations smeared, jobs lost and even families threatened raising questions about pandemic policy.” (5)
Former Supreme Court Judge Lord Sumption told a podcast recently that politicians and scientists had been:
“subjected to an extraordinarily unpleasant campaign of personal abuse.” (6)
While:
“Sir Desmond Swayne, Conservative MP for New Forest West said: “Because of the stance I have taken over my lockdown scepticism I have received a large amount of correspondence from very eminent scientists and clinicians disagreeing with the conclusions that SAGE and the chief medical officer have come to. What I find very worrying is that with few exceptions they say ‘please keep my details confidential.’ (7)
Fear Depression & Crisis
Broadcasters maintain they are forced to eliminate alternative Covid coverage of the pandemic due to Ofcom rules which prohibit critical reporting of restrictions. Worryingly the UK government doesn’t conceal the reasons behind this; they seek to control behaviour to ensure compliance of the rules.
Gagging the media is intended to prevent general debate on whether SAGE advice and government response is proportionate and reasonable. Experts in any branch of science who are critical of government restrictions on public behaviour have been subjected to curbs on their own freedom of speech.
Timeforrecovery.org has reported the UK is in the grip of a mental health pandemic due to anxiety and loneliness intentionally stoked by the government. And the tactics adopted to craft this climate; fear. In their own words:
“Fear is being deliberately created to control behaviour. This crosses a barrier into seriously unethical practice by the Government’s behavioural scientists.” (8)
Campaigns run by Recovery featuring a hard-hitting poster declaring, ‘end the campaign of fear, millions now have mental health problems’ has been banned by media companies who refuse to carry the message.
“JC Decaux, the world’s leading outdoor media company, refused to run the posters on the grounds the Code of Advertising Practice bans political advertising, This is completely untrue. Trafford Council – the owner of the sites near the BBC that Recovery booked – also banned it as ‘political’ and refused further explanation. The intention was to place posters near leading broadcasters including the BBC and Sky. Recovery has been prevented by the ban.” (9)
North Korea; a UK Possibility or Probability?
Will the UK Resemble North Korea? The objective of my article was to determine if there is any validity in this statement. The answer is complex and in reality remains unknown. Nonetheless, as the possibility of totalitarianism looms, it’s alarming to even consider such a significant question.
The UK government’s mixture of half-truths and outright lies are alarming, but the larger menace is when the scientific and medical experts disseminate them and simultaneously inhibit any criticism of their conclusions. Consequently, this unhealthy approach permeates society and the general populace begin mimicking the scientific orthodoxy and making smears of anyone opposed to the ‘Church of Covid’!
This societal condition in which a proportion of the population is ostracised by not only the government but also scientific experts, the media and fellow citizens for a failure to comply with draconian limitations on freedom, could provide a blueprint to further permanent limits of privilege in the future.
Once government apparatus has seized control they seldom relinquish that power. I ask you this question: are you aware of any government historically which has willingly surrendered its power on receipt of acquiring it? The likely answer is no!
Power is intoxicating and cannot be easily abandoned. Take for example this experiment from Stanford University:
“In the summer of 1971, Dr. Zimbardo took healthy Stanford students, gave them roles as either guards or inmates, and placed them in a makeshift prison in the basement of Stanford University. In just days, the prisoners demonstrated symptoms of depression and extreme stress and the guards had become sadistic. The experiment was stopped early.” (10)
Rarely is the transition from democracy to totalitarianism swift, instead a slow descent is the usual progression. Is the UK in the grip of a slide to tyranny that cannot be stopped? Will this land of ‘Hope and Glory’, the UK, Resemble North Korea? As you ponder this quandary I’ll leave you with some words from one of England’s finest authors, George Orwell:
“The fallacy is to believe that under a dictatorial government you can be free inside.” (11)
For centuries we’ve fought to acquire and then sustain our rights, privileges and freedoms. Surely they are crucial for our future?
References:
1. https://twitter.com/ClarkeMicah/status/1294600499174477824. See also: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/887467/25-options-for-increasing-adherence-to-social-distancing-measures-22032020.pdf
2. Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the life & writings of Benjamin Franklin, extracted from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2014/07/04/20-quotes-on-liberty-and-freedom-in-honor-of-independence-day/
3. John Stuart Mill, G. W. Smith (1998). “John Stuart Mill’s Social and Political Thought: Freedom”, p.110
4. John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, John Troyer (2003). “The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill”, p.163, Hackett Publishing
6. ibid
7. ibid
8. https://timeforrecovery.org/fear/
9. https://www.thinkscotland.org/todays-thinking/articles.html?read_full=14518
10. https://hbr.org/2012/06/can-we-reverse-the-stanford-pr
11. https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2018/nov/12-essential-george-owell-quotes-about-freedom-liberty.html