Though the streets of Paris beckon, I’m holed up in a tiny flat. Today, I’ll finish the second chapter of a book on wartime propaganda and self-delusion and begin a third. Research for this book has led me to sources I have never read or heard of: I’m letting myself be bombarded by new ideas and perspectives. Such an opening of the mind is thrilling. I love it. So, sorting, categorizing and making sense of this stuff consumes entire days … and nights. That’s why I’m writing less frequently here.
But, well, I’m down to a half of loaf of bread, a handful of tea bags, some noodles and a few containers of yoghurt — the reality of an empty belly will soon force me to shower, find a shopping bag and head out into the streets. There, I’ll hunt for a new grocery store, just to break the monotony. The old one bores me.
Then, I’ll climb three steep flights of lumpy stairs to my flat, bolt myself inside, put on woolen socks and … write.
The topic — propaganda — is riveting. As I research, I have wee epiphanies … “Ohhh, that’s why so-and-so said …” or “That’s the logic behind their determination to ….” A larger picture is coming into view but it’s not clear and never will be. As with other weighty topics, I’ll never grok how propaganda works in people’s minds as there’s no right answer — this isn’t math. Having said that, there are definitely wrong answers!
Let me give an example of propaganda and self-delusion. Many in the West, particularly those in it’s islands of Leftism, genuinely believe that the Ukraine is winning the war: others, however, are equally convinced that Russia has the upper hand and her victory is inevitable. Both sides marshal facts to support their beliefs. Both see themselves as “evidence based.” But obviously, both cannot be true. Either Ukraine or Russia will win. Sure, after the war ends, hoards of bureaucrats will attempt to soften losses and lessen the glory of victory, but it won’t matter, or not much. Their idea that victory exists on a sliding scale with abject failure on one end and glorious domination on the other … is mostly untrue. In a few months, this will be clearer. One side will dominate and the other sue for peace. In-between will be desperate bureaucrats, determined to fudge this truth, to shield themselves from the consequences of their mistaken beliefs, to pretend that loss is victory.
In-between, that is, will be the propagandizers.
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Let me state upfront that I think Russia will win. In fact, I think Russia has already won. What’s being played out, now, on the battlefield are the actions of the deluded Left that has not yet been able to admit or understand loss.
I’m quite interested in how those on the losing side are thinking RIGHT NOW — before their faith is shattered, before facts deconstruct the arguments that bolstered their self-confidence. I’m far less interested in the war-qua-war than in the ideas, mindset, beliefs, emotions and presuppositions that made it’s losers vulnerable to propaganda. I really don’t care about guns and ammo, the different kinds of missiles, big picture strategy and that sort of thing — you know, the game board and the little men moving about it.
Here’s the question: what led this war’s losers to believe they were winning? How did propaganda effectively shape their minds? What was inside of them that rendered them particularly susceptible to lies? Is there such a thing as self-propagandizing? Willful delusion?
Of course, a few on the losing side have been putting on an act, aware all along that they were dealt a losing hand, but playing it anyway. Cynically, then, they must have propagandized others into believing something they knew to be untrue. I wonder how often this happens. In a way, I’d be relieved to learn that most people on the islands of the Left were actually sensible, not delusional even though the propaganda they employed to trick ordinary people is, frankly, despicable.
On the other side, among self-styled “Realists,” there is increasing concern about what the Left-controlled US White House and State Department will do when their failed objectives cannot be denied. Will the elitists who advise the White House reach toward that red button in rage or will they cower in denial? Will they try to change the subject, to obfuscate and deny? Will they try to blame others?
I’m curious if they’re even capable, at this point, of rethinking strongly held beliefs, particularly, if the war ends with Putin wanting only the Southern and Eastern parts of the Ukraine, thus leaving the Left with a small, devastated, land-locked state — not much of a consolation prize. Figuring out what to do with it would busy them for awhile, but I wonder if they are even capable of admitting that they had had seriously flawed presuppositions, all of which were self-serving … none “reality based.”
It seems that most of those who say Russia is fighting an “existential war” are unable to see themselves as fighting a similar existential war, albeit internally and individually. They don’t see themselves as men and women clinging to errant ideas they allowed to shape their sense of others, self or identity. They constructed and in many cases subsumed individual identities around the political battles they’re fighting. To change the way they look at the world would cut very close to the marrow of their identity. So, they go on. As the reality of what’s happening becomes more intellectually and emotionally dissonant, they are siloing with others of like mind, those in a similar existential situation.
In my opinion, this is beginning to happen now among neo-liberals in the EU, US State Department, academe, old media, and their ilk. They have molded out of mental clay a figure of the world and of themselves in it. As this figure is pinched and distorted, rather than smash the clay and start again, they only want to re-form what used to be, those old visions of self, society, power and others.
Perhaps they can’t help themselves. Behind the tenets of neo-liberals are basic or foundational beliefs many of which were formed in childhood, some propensities may even be written in one’s genes. We’re all like this. Underneath your political values are mental cinderblocks that were long-ago laid, stacked and grouted. Each of these cinderblocks were created in forgotten circumstances. I’m not trying to go Freud on you, but I do think that your subsequent political beliefs and ways you look at the world have been precariously assembled on this hidden foundation. When reality knocks off the structure you have built on that foundation, you will be left with a gaping hole surrounded by a thick, concrete wall.
It is on that thick wall of self that new beliefs could be constructed, if you’re strong enough to do it. After a hurricane, it’s quite possible to salvage stem walls and footings.
If you’re deeply invested in the political consequences of the Ukraine, that hurricane will be this war.
