"American Thinker” Doesn't Think

The "American Thinker" doesn't think very much. A recent post titled “The Establishment Ensures That Gaslighting Paves the Way to Marxism” cites our quotation. Its souce is a site that quotes our site, which notes that the quotation is a fake. The “American Thinker” not only takes the quotation seriously, it ignores what the site it takes it from says.

“Propaganda in Focus” is Fooled

"Propaganda in Focus" is the project of a variety of scholars who are good at practicing what they claim to study, but its writers can be as gullible as anyone else. A recent post by Greg Simons titled “Nordstream Pipeline Sabotage: The Propaganda of Interpretation and (Mis)Representation” concludes using rather dubious reasoning that the United States was probably responsible. In the process of building the argument, Simons paraphrases the Goebbels quotation this blog follows:

“According to the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels, if one tells a big lie enough and keeps repeating it, gradually it becomes accepted by more and more as the truth. In this context, the truth is the enemy of the state and its intentions. In the contemporary context, the truth is the enemy of US geopolitical aims and ambitions.”

Although it is a paraphrase, the “enemy of the state” comes from the fabricated quotation this blog follows, indicating that Simons thinks it is genuine, even though the source he quotes from notes that Goebbels didn't actually say it. He also is a fan of Tucker Carlson.

Robert Malone is Fooled

Robert Malone, the notorious vaccine skeptic, has published a goofy article titled “Why Did so Many Fall for the Covid Narrative?” He manages two Goebbels misquotations. The first is the quotation this blog follows. He claims the world-wide COVID hoax is an example of Goebbels’s insights. He also cites Goebbels as saying something else, which again Goebbels did not say — it’s from the introduction to a book about Goebbels.

What does one say? I say it tells us something about Malone’s reliability, and it isn’t good.

Mark Twain on Fake Quotations

Mark Twain, who himself is regularly credited with things he did not say, could do it himself. The excellent Quote Investigator blog reports how he won an argument by inventing a quotation. As he said:

"It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive. There are people who think that honesty is always the best policy. This is a superstition; there are times when the appearance of it is worth six of it"

 I haven't done an update on the quotation for a while.  The last time I checked on 20 August 2019, Google reported 44,000 hits. A Google search today (11 May 2021) finds 96,000 hits.  Bing, which apparently doesn’t omit anything from search results, finds 1,860,000 pages, down from 3,500,000 in August 2019. As always, the search phrase is “truth is the greatest enemy of the state.”

At least my blog page and article debunking the quotation show up on the first page of Google results, and also on Bing, so those who are suspicious enough to check may find enough to make them dubious about the quotation. 

Alpha History Gets an “F”

 Alpha History is an Australian site that claims to be curated by credentialed academics.  Shall we say that they do not provide much evidence to put confidence in their “scholars.” Their post on Nazi propaganda quotations includes the quotation we are following, along with other fabricated quotations.  As usual, they fail to provide sources.  

According to the site:

“Alpha History is written, curated and compiled by qualified teachers and historians. Content on Alpha History is written specifically for students at middle school, high school and undergraduate levels.”

The site has since removed the dubious quotations.

The site also included a lot of copyrighted material from my German Propaganda Archive without credit, but has remedied that.

Astonishing News from Russia

 If you need evidence that the Russian press has not improved since Soviet days, an astonishing article titled “The Great Dog and Pony Show of 2020”  in the 11 November 2020 issue of Pravda will provide it. Allegedly by one Jim Jones, it is a mishmash of deep state nonsense, historical error (did you know that John F. Kennedy was a Republican or that the U.S. had a president named “Ronal Regan”?), and sheer incoherence.  Not surprisingly, it uses the fake Goebbels quotation this blog follows to support a supposed deep state Democratic conspiracy to deceive the world.

It really is an incredible piece, worth reading for amusement if nothing else.

Thomas Sowell Fails to Do His Homework

Thomas Sowell, in a recent interview with Fox, misquotes Goebbels as saying “people will believe any lie if it is repeated long enough and loud enough.” He does qualify his statement by saying that “Goebbels is supposed to have said” it.

As I have observed often before, although Goebbels believed lying to be a necessary tool of the propagandist, in public he always maintained that his propaganda was truthful.  Indeed, he preferred to tell the truth, although often selectively. 

Sowell’s quotation is also more a revised version of Hitler’s notorious claim about the “big lie” technique, although Hitler, too, was not claiming it to be his policy, but rather accusing the Jews of Vienna of the tactic.

Sowell is normally a careful scholar, so it is disappointing to find him citing Goebbels inaccurately.

Still another fabricated Goebels Quotation

A visitor to the site asks me if this quotation, allegedly by Goebbels, is genuine:

Let me control the media and I will turn any nation into a herd of pigs.

A Google search on 25 April 2020 finds 5,500 results.

It is almost certainly fabricated, and for the usual reasons.

1. No one I checked provides a source. The sites that cite it are often dubious (e.g., RT [formerly Russia Today] is a familiar source of dubious information). The RT citation is from 2014, making it one of the earliest I can find.
2. No reliable scholar cites it.  I checked Google Scholar and Google Books. There are a few Google Books citations, but none from a book that inspires any confidence.
3. Although I have not read everything Goebbels wrote, I have read a lot.  I have never encountered this quotation.
4. As I have observed before, Goebbels is unlikely to have said something like this.  A good propagandist —and he was that— is unlikely to make such a statement. 
5. “Media” is not a word Goebbels would have used.  “Die Presse” was the contemporary term.

In short, one cannot prove a negative, but it is highly unlikely that this is something Goebbels said or wrote. As usual, if you find someone who cites this, is is excellent evidence that he or she does not check sources.

Another Misattributed Goebbels Quotation

A visitor to my site asks about this quotation, allegedly by Goebbels, which is cited often on the Internet:

There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be “the man in the street.” Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology."

Goebbels didn’t say it.  It is instead taken from Hugh Trevor-Roper’s introduction to  Final Entries 1945: The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels (New York, Putnam’s, 1978), p. xx.  It is a reasonable summary of Goebbels’s views— but he never would have put it in that way. As I’ve observed before, in public he always maintained that propaganda had to be truthful.

Tracking Report #12

It’s time to see how the viral (but fake) Goebbels quotation is doing on the Internet.  As always, I search for the phrase “truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

On 20 August 2019, a Google search finds 44,000 hits for the phrase.  About 50 have been added in the past month.

Google however, doesn’t list all hits any longer.  Microsoft’s Bing still does.  It finds 3,500,000 hits.

A Google search for the phrase in German (“somit wird die Wahrheit durch die Ausbreitung der größte Feind des Staates”) finds 57 hits.  Bing, on the other hands, finds 11,900 results.

A small consolation is that our page debunking the quotation is the #1 hit on Google.  

NewsMax Goes for Fake Quotation

Marc Rudov has an article on NewsMax titled “Trump's Real 2020 Opponent Is the Accusation of Racism.” Rudov, who claims to be a “branding advisor to CEOs,” uses the quotation to support his argument that unless Trump can dispel the racist argument, he will lose the election.

This is an interesting use of the quotation.  For one thing, Trump has control of the state at this point (assuming one doesn't accept the “deep state” claims). Given the context, Trump would be the one destroying truth.... And one would hope that a consultant to CEOs would use reliable evidence.

As is so often the case, the quotation sounds so plausible that people don’t bother to check their facts.

The Heartland Institute

The Heartland Institute is a decidedly right-wing organization that claims to provide “somewhat reasonable thoughts on life and liberty.”  Today its website carries an essay by one Seton Motley, asserted to be:

One of America's leading authorities on technology and telecom policy, Motley is a writer, television and radio commentator, political and policy strategist, lecturer, debater, activist, and policy advisor to The Heartland Institute.

 Seton’s article is titled: One Year Later, The Left’s Net Neutrality Lies Look Even Dumber.” He asserts that an apparently monolithic “Left” lies about everything, and notes that its arguments for net neutrality are an example of Joseph Goebbels’s big lie strategy.  Entertainingly, he uses the Goebbels quotation this site tracks, supported by a link to a dubious quotation web site that I have dealt with elsewhere.

Seton seens to have no notion of reliable sources. If it’s on the Internet it must be true (but only if it agrees with his prejudices).

Sharyl Attkisson Uses Dubious Quotations

Sharyl Attkisson is an investigative journalist who “tries to give you information others don’t want you to have.”  Unfortunately, some of her information isn't accurate.

Her recent book The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote (Harper, 2017) includes a variety of quotations attributed to Goebbels, some of which are dubious.  Here is a section from the book, taken from amazon:

Let’s take a look at them.  

The first one is found on a variety of dubious Internet quotation sites (always check your quotations in a good published collection).   I can’t find anyone who provides a reliable source.

The second one is accurate, taken from the Lochner edition of Goebbels’s diaries (entry of 14 March 1943).  

The third is part of the fabricated quotation being followed on this page.  Enough said.

The fourth is probably accurate.  I can find a 1933 Time magazine citation, but I haven’t checked the actual issue to be sure. 

The fifth is consistent with what Goebbels said — however, it is not a quotation from him.  Instead, it is a summary of what he said taken from a classic article by Leonard Doob (“Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda,” Public Opinion Quarterly, 14 [1950],  p. 440). 

In short, of five quotations, two are accurate, two are dubious, and one is attributed to Goebbels (in quotation marks), but is actually a summary of his views. Additionally, only one of the quotations is actually from Goebbels’s diaries.

As best I can tell, Attkisson has depended on the Internet for her quotations, not bothering to check their accuracy.  I’m surprised, since the publisher is a good one, and good publishers usually make some effort at fact-checking.

Thanks to Gary N. Curtis, whose blog Fallacy Files brought this to my attention.

Andover High School Turmoil over Fake Goebbels Quotation

The New York Times of 16 June 2018 has an article about Andover High School in Massachusetts that was distressed to discover a Nazi quote in its yearbook.  The relevant passage:

The quote, which reads “Make the lie big, keep it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it,” is widely associated with Hitler and Goebbels’s use of propaganda to build the Nazi empire. The quote is not attributed in the yearbook, and appears in black text underneath the photo of the student, who has not been identified.

Now, the quotation is a reasonable summary of the principles of Nazi propaganda (or, indeed, of much advertising and political discourse), but it is not a direct quotation from either Hitler or Goebbels.  Part of it is based on Hitler’s widely misquoted discussion of the “big lie” in Mein Kampf.  Although Hitler was entirely willing to lie, he is accusing the “Jewish press” of Vienna of the tactic.  As I’ve noted elsewhere, it would be a poor sort of propagandist who publicly proclaimed that he lied.

There are lots of fabricated quotations out there (Lincoln, Churchill, etc.), but fake Nazi quotations are the pit bulls of political controversy.  As Godwin’s Law has it, they stop conversation.  The worst one could charge an enemy with in the past was being a tool of the Devil.  Since belief in him has diminished, the Nazis have taken his place.  During the Bush years, thousands of Internet posts proclaimed that he was following Goebbels’s principles, often using the quotation this blog follows. Then it was Obama’s turn to be the new Goebbels.  Now Trump…. Actually, after Singapore I think the better historical reference for Trump may be Neville Chamberlain (“Peace for our time”), but that’s another matter.

Speech on Fake News Uses Fake Quotation

Jen Senko put out a film in 2016 titled The Brainwashing of My Dad, describing the effect of Fox News, etc., on her father.  She gave a speech based on the film to the New York Society for Ethical Culture in 2017 — and cites the dubious Goebbels quotation.  So a speech on fake news uses a fake quotation.  If you’re curious, the reference is at about the 5-minute mark on this YouTube video.

Global Research Displays Shoddy Research

A conspiracy-type site GlobalResearch has a piece titled “Propaganda, Disinformation and Dirty Tricks: James Earl Ray Was Innocent of the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.” It uses the usual dubious argumentative style and cites the fabricated Goebbels quotation as evidence that the “Deep State” is involved in all sorts of dreadful things.  The conspiracy allegedly involved:

Deep State operatives such as the afore-mentioned highly secretive conspiratorial groups such as the CIA, the infamous J Edgar Hoover, Hoover’s equally infamous and very racist FBI at the time, the Pentagon, the US military’s sniper squads, the racist Memphis Police Department, the Mafia, assorted war-profiteers, the mainstream media, and many elected and non-elected officials that exist at every level of government.

I’m always surprised at that those who believe that such a massive conspiracy involving thousands of people could be concealed.  That many people could keep the secret?  Truly, the “Deep State” must have astonishing control over its participants.

As usual, a site that assumes anything it finds on the Internet must be true should be disregarded.

Austrian Site on Fake Quotations

There are a fair number of people engaged in the Sisyphean labor of discouraging dubious quotations.

Gerald Krieghofer has an Austrian site titled Zitatenrätsel that tracks them in the German-speaking world. He has a 6 December 2017 post that looks at dubious Goebbels quotations.

Article on Fake News Uses Fake Quotation

Peacock Panache, an site on the political left, has a post titled “Fake News and the Big Lie” on 1 November 2017.  It is less than enthused about Trump Administration statements and claims:

The study did find that Trump’s constant calling-out of specific media sources affected public perceptions of the accuracy of those sources. That shouldn’t surprise us. There is a famous Joseph Goebbels quote, describing the propaganda tactic known as “The Big Lie.”

It then cites the alleged quotation by Goebbels.
So we have an article assailing fake news that uses a fake quotation.  

"Reliable" Sites and the Dubious Goebbels Quotation

I’m particularly annoyed by sites that look reliable, but spread the dubious Goebbels quotation that  this blog is following.  That is almost always a sign that a site should be avoided.

One example is the Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team.  On the surface (but only on the surface) it looks to be a scholarly site, although it provides very little information on who is behind it.  However, its page on Joseph Goebbels is headed by the dubious quotation.  I’ve twice e-mailed them, but they haven't removed the material. On the same page, they reproduce a large section of one of my translations, with no credit.

In short, it’s not a site to be recommended.