Seeing through Big Lie technique

[Ilya Shambat]

There are many psychological ways to spread falsehood, and I have seen
many of them on display on these groups. The one that I see the most
here is known as The Big Lie.

The theory behind the Big Lie technique started with Hitler. He said
to the effect of, if you repeat a lie enough times, people believe it.
The most pernicious form of the Big Lie technique is stating
consistently the precise opposite of what is true. Call a genius an
idiot - call an altruist a narcissist - call someone who loves women a
misogynist - claim outdated technology to be progress and better
technologies to be stagnation - claim that Bush people were liberals
or that Reagan's war on drugs was caused by the Democrats - portray
the people who recognize scientific reality as fools and liars and the
people who consistently deny scientific reality, even as they benefit
from science daily, as honest, rational and responsible men.

The Big Lie technique works by sowing confusion. When something is
claimed aggressively that is the precise opposite of reality, then it
is harder to argue with than something that is simply different from
reality. What is under attack here is the person's mind. Like all
forms of deception, the Big Lie technique is best dealt with by
recognizing that what is being used is in fact a Big Lie and seeing
through it. The more people understand this, the less becomes the
effectiveness of the Big Lie technique.