Failure of Mind Control – The New Labour error.

The imminent death of the Labour Party in Wales and demise of Gordon Brown’s career is due to a lemming-like lack of understanding of human psychology and history. To put it crudely, they have failed to properly use the well known tools of mind control at their disposal. Even though these days we have an essentially professional (and well paid) political class, they have not done their homework. They need retraining and this can only now be done in opposition.

People really resent having to think about or worry about ‘political matters’ when they have other things to contend with like bringing up a family, fighting a war or earning a living. After all, we elect and pay people handsomely to deal with this for us. This resentment surfaces in the form of a hardening of negative opinion even in the face of positive news. Thus, no matter what good things Gordon Brown or New Labour accomplish now (and there are many), it will be twisted to reflect people’s skeptical attitude -sometimes based on a very simplistic view of the world such as the price of diesel. The Glasgow East by election has also shown that people, regardless of economic circumstance, vote in a psychologically predictable way. It is not the issues or the economy stupid… it is the psychological perceptions of the politicians themselves and a gambling bet on if they can handle the issues.

People are politically manipulated through the use of well known mind control techniques such as the Opinion Triangle, the Bandwagon Effect, and exploitation of the Herd Mentality syndrome.

The Opinion Triangle (triangulation) involves suggesting a given premise and then using the media to spread the message. An opinion poll is then taken to measure the statement’s impact, and if positive, a new press release is issued re-affirming the original premise. You can then create a self fulfilling prophecy: “Gordon Brown will lose the election because he’s trailing badly in the polls – and he’s trailing badly in the polls because the media keep reporting that he’s going to lose the election.”

The Bandwagon Effect refers to the public’s subconscious tendency to “say what you want them to say”, especially after planting the suggestion they would be in the minority to do otherwise.

In one form or another, all these techniques are and have been used deliberately for decades with the complicity of governments, civil servants, pollsters and the established Media. American politics is dominated by Karl Rovian figures that stalk the American political ecology. In the UK, we have the Mandelson wannabes. But this is maybe what holds a modern Western civilisation together. Without it, we trust no-one and it gives rise to chaotic and unpredictable fluctuations in public opinion and behaviour. We want our mind controllers to be competent and consistent.

For the sake of argument and to illustrate the principles involved I have only quoted below from a single rather ancient textbook called ‘Rape Of  The Mind – the Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing’ by Dr. Joost A. M. Meerloo. In this book, various strategies for successful mind control are discussed. Of course, this book has been superseded by much more sophisticated treatises but the principles remain the same – after all people’s mentality has not changed that much. Some of these strategies appear to be being used by Gordon Brown and New Labour. Whether this is deliberate or not remains to be seen. If deliberate it is certainly not being implemented competently.

Some mind control strategies:

• gaining rapport with the masses ( I feel your pain)
• isolation of the enemy
• being unpredictable (constantly shifting on positions, dithering )
• creating and maintaining confusion
• repetition of the lie while withholding the truth (It is the right thing to do… There are weapons of mass destruction… there is global warming)
• rewarding acceptance and penalizing opposition (use of media poodles)
• ostracizing those who won’t go along
• creating boredom (multiple policy reviews)
• damage the opponents morale (political attack dogs)
• diminishing the opportunity for dissent (limited or controlled access)
• remain focused on sameness (constant repetition of the same mantra- “the economy is in safe hands”)
• minimizing social discourse (constrain the political bloggers)

Most of these oversimplified tenets have probably been gleaned from attempts to understand the Hitlers, Neros and Stalins of history. No-one is suggesting that Gordon Brown is or should adopt dictatorship strategies, or that the country needs another Tony Blair, nevertheless his replacement will need to find his Karl Rove and his Alastair Campbell equivalent pretty darn quick.

Whoever assumes power in Westminster would do well to heed the lessons of history but do any of them ever bother?