Like with so much history that is shrouded by the mists of time, the detailed tales of the thousands of British men who refused to fight in the First World War make for fascinating reading. These conscientious objectors came from all walks of life – socialists, communists, pacifists, Quakers, Jehovah’s witnesses, Methodists, the Bloomsbury Set – and found a unity of purpose in their protest, allowing them – for a time being at least – to put aside quite substantial ideological differences.
Propaganda
What authority would scare and shame an already frightened population?
In the knowledge that people are already in a state of heightened anxiety, what government would choose to further frighten and shame them? When citizens have amended their lifestyles in order to function under difficult circumstances, what government would seek to actively disrupt these necessary and understandable adaptations?
The Smallpox vanishing Act
The primary beliefs of vaccinology are that it is possible to educate the immune system to protect against disease, that vaccines are safe and that smallpox was eradicated. It is quite possible to be very confident about the first points and still be able to question the evidence for the last one.
BIT Coining it – The private profiteering of state-sponsored propaganda
Once upon a time (2010 to be precise), somewhat unexpectedly in a Rose Garden in Westminster, a bromance blossomed. The honeymoon couple – call them Cameron and Clegg – fell out of love in short order, but the unhappy union limped on for a fixed term of five years and a day, during which time many a policy decision was made that was neither fish nor fowl, neither blue nor yellow.
Gove’s Ministry of Truth Reporting for Duty
For those paying attention to the rising tide of totalitarianism here in the UK, the latest from The Ministry of Truth, AKA HM Government should really make your blood run cold. Michael Gove has now overseen the redefining of extremism.
NUDGE DENIALISM: Why are the state’s psychological experts distancing themselves from behavioural science?
The state’s reliance on behavioural science strategies – ‘nudges’ – to facilitate the public’s compliance with covid restrictions has been widely documented. The many psychologists and behavioural scientists advising the government during the covid event (such as those in the SAGE subgroup, SPI-B, and the Behavioural Insight Team, BIT ) have, reasonably, been assumed to hold a significant degree of responsibility for using these methods of persuasion in communication campaigns
‘Controlled Spontaneity’: government plan for future psychological manipulation of its people
As we enter into a new year, HART continues to retain faith in ordinary people’s ability to resist – and ultimately reject – the march of authoritarianism, and to frustrate the ‘expert’ technocrats’ systematic attempts to influence our thoughts, speech, and behaviour.
State of the nation: in a bit of a state?
Welcome to 2024. Even in the depths of the great coronapanic debacle of early 2020, one might have assumed – all things being equal, of course – that by now society would have veered back on course, the majority of right-thinking folk having realised the folly of the great misadventure.
The Covid Inquiry: Further insights into the murky world of Behavioural Science
Although the ongoing Covid-19 Inquiry increasingly resembles an expensive pantomime designed to support the dominant lockdown-and-jab pandemic narrative, scrutiny of the extensive witness transcripts can be informative as to the actions of key actors. Such is the case with the behavioural scientists, in particular those operating within the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) – a subgroup of SAGE that advised the Government on its Covid-19 communications strategy.
Censorship & Force are back in vogue
Four items have arisen this week as far apart as Canada, Brazil and England. A conspiracy theorist might ask, “Who is pulling the strings?”
Interpreting BBC Dialect(ic)s
The BBC – the UK’s state broadcaster – has a little-known motto that still adorns the organisation’s coat of arms: “Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation”. There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that this phrase was inspired by a quotation from the Old Testament: “Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Micah 4:3).
Pick of the week
A selection of articles that we feel you will find worth the time.
Five questions for the government’s behavioural scientists
As proposed in a previous HART article, state-funded behavioural scientists – via their application of often-covert ‘nudge’ techniques – fulfil a crucial role in imposing the will of a global elite upon ordinary people. Whether it is confining us to our homes, encouraging the ingestion of insects, imposing digital IDs or restricting our opportunities to travel, the nudgers promote the compliance of the masses by a variety of means, including their stealthy harnessing of fear, shaming and peer pressure.
Why are we so afraid of 1918?
Everytime someone tries to whip up a frenzy about a new bug the 1918 influenza pandemic will be referenced. People will say there were a huge number of deaths including of the young and therefore you must be terrified. But what if this whole story was not what it seems?
How do we halt the march of health & climate fascism?
Imagine living in a world devoid of individual freedoms and basic human rights, where each person’s behaviour, speech and (even) thoughts are determined by the state. A world characterised by ubiquitous surveillance and ensuing censorship of any action or utterance that deviates from the regime’s version of the ‘greater good’, where martial law can be imposed at the whim of unelected bureaucrats under the pretence of keeping us all ‘safe’.
How behavioural scientists are enabling the ‘elite’ to rule the world
It is increasingly apparent that people’s day-to-day lives are being shaped by a global ‘elite’ that reside outside of our democratic systems. And our experiences over the last three years strongly suggest that these powerful actors are repeatedly deploying a three-stage process – an authoritarian template – to achieve their self-serving goals.
Atlantic Musings: A Very Heartfelt Mea Culpa
The Atlantic. What does this phrase conjure up in your mind? Splashing about in the sea in Cornwall? Worries about the direction of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation?
As of autumn 2022, add another: Professor Emily Oster’s now infamous “Let’s Forget About The Beastly Things We Did During Covid And Just Be Friends” article was, of course, published in The Atlantic.
The complex beliefs of the covid and climate cults
In order to fully believe in the covid cult there were numerous beliefs all of which had to be believed. Disbelieving any one of them would cause the whole house of cards to collapse.
