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Dictionary big lie also Big Lie
n=2E
Repeated distortion of the truth on a grand scale, especially for
propaganda purposes:
Big Lie
The phrase Big Lie refers to a propaganda technique which entered mass
consciousness with Adolf Hitler's 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf. In
that book Hitler wrote that people came to believe that Germany lost
World War I in the field due to a propaganda technique used by Jews who
were influential in the German press. This technique, he believed,
consisted of telling a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe
anyone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously".
Later, Joseph Goebbels put forth a slightly different theory which has
come to be more commonly associated with the phrase big lie. In this
theory, the English are attributed with using a propaganda technique
wherein they had the mendacity to "lie big" and "stick to it".=B2
There is an uncited rumor to the effect that Goebbels also offered up
his version of the big lie technique without attributing it to either
Jewish or Allied propaganda. That uncited quote is the most wide-spread
attribution of the big lie, and it is usually given in a context where
the implication is that the propaganda technique was invented by
Goebbels, who was the propaganda minister for the Third Reich.=B3
The phrase was also used (on page 51) in a report prepared during the
war by the United States Office of Strategic Services in describing
Hitler's psychological profile [1]
His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit
a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your
enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame;
concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that
goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and
if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe
it. - OSS report page 51 [2]
Mein Kampf extract
Hitler wrote in his 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf (James Murphy
translation, page 134):
All this was inspired by the principle - which is quite true in itself
- that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility;
because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted
in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or
voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they
more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they
themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed
to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their
heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that
others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.
Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly
to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to
think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly
impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been
nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world
and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know
only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes. ...
For reference, the original German of this passage occurs in Book 1,
early in Chapter 10 [3], and is under the rubric #252: "Moralische
Entwaffnung des gef=E4hrlichen Ankl=E4gers". This is the quote from the
German:
Man ging dabei von dem sehr richtigen Grundsatze aus, da=DF in der
Gr=F6=DFe der L=FCge immer ein gewisser Faktor des Geglaubtwerdens liegt,
da die breite Masse eines Volkes im tiefsten Grunde ihres Herzens
leichter verdorben als bewu=DFt und absichtlich schlecht sein wird,
mithin bei der primitiven Einfalt ihres Gem=FCtes einer gro=DFen L=FCge
leichter zum Opfer f=E4llt als einer kleinen, da sie selber ja wohl
manchmal im kleinen l=FCgt, jedoch vor zu gro=DFen L=FCgen sich doch zu
sehr sch=E4men w=FCrde. Eine solche Unwahrheit wird ihr gar nicht in den
Kopf kommen, und sie wird an die M=F6glichkeit einer so ungeheuren
Frechheit der infamsten Verdrehung auch bei anderen nicht glauben
k=F6nnen, ja selbst bei Aufkl=E4rung dar=FCber noch lange zweifeln und
schwanken und wenigstens irgendeine Ursache doch noch als wahr
annehmen; daher denn auch von der frechsten L=FCgenvereine dieser Welt
nur zu genau kennen und deshalb auch niedertr=E4chtig zur Anwendung
bringen.
Churchill's Lie Factory extract
Goebbels wrote the following paragraph in an article dated 12 January
1941, 16 years after Hitler's first use of the phrase big lie, entitled
"Aus Churchills L=FCgenfabrik," translated "From Churchill's Lie
Factory." It was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel (Munich:
Zentralverlag der NSDAP., 1941), pp. 364-369. An excellent on-line
resource for Nazi propaganda is the German Propaganda Archive of Calvin
College [4]. The following speech excerpt is referenced from the GPA.
That is of course rather painful for those involved. One should not as
a rule reveal one's secrets, since one does not know if and when one
may need them again. The essential English leadership secret does not
depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably
stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one
lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies,
even at the risk of looking ridiculous. - Joseph Goebbels, 12 January
1941, Die Zeit ohne Beispiel
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