A recent article in the Guardian highlights the work of Sefton Delmer in countering Nazi propaganda during WWII.
The Man Who Tricked Nazi Germany
While the article is worth reading, here is the recipe.
- Undermine the MAGA monopoly over peoples strongest most violent urges by creating stories to turn the propaganda back on the propagandists.
- People your stories with MAGA hierarchy and spread over them a slime of strong public criticism as foul as that which they had used.
- Push their propaganda one step further into the ridiculous.
- Engage people around their own personal interests.
- Understand your target audience’s world.
- Understand MAGA gripes and be useful to them.
- Make them feel part of a community that looks after their interests better than MAGA.
- Get them to make a series of autonomous conscious steps to engage.
- Encourage them to invent roles for themselves.
Delmer created a series of characters similar to Sargeant Schultz in Hogan’s Heroes to apply these principles.
The Guardian author goes on to say that there are many small initiatives that already pioneer this approach such as Hearken and vTaiwan.
It’s not too late.