First in 1930s Germany, then the USA, now in the UK.

Patriotic people, the vast majority of them decent, are being played like fiddles by powerful elites.

First, get newspapers to scapegoat minorities & foreigners, then move on to scapegoat the news itself - the "Lügenpresse".

The techniques deployed by Trump, Bannon, Farage, Johnson & #Cummings are incredibly similar to those used by Joseph Goebbels, Minister of #Propaganda, who was particularly adept at using new media for propaganda purposes - especially for manipulating "the will of the people".

The closest resemblance between techniques used by the Nazis & those used by Trump & Johnson, is in the use of simplistic slogans, repeated ad nauseam, which scapegoat & demonise "enemies of the people" - in particular, vulnerable minorities, foreigners & opposition politicians.

Both Left & Right have criticised the @BBC - rightly so in many cases - but without the realistic option of a more democratic alternative, even with its faults, it's infinitely preferable than the alternatives on offer.

Great #journalism is essential for a functioning democracy.

The role of Freud's nephew Edward Bernays in our current predicament is important: on behalf of US corporations & free-market #capitalism, he pioneered the techniques that inspired Goebbels. " #Propaganda" had become soiled during wartime, so he used the phrase "public relations".