Goering’s Principle

Reichsmarschal Hermann Goering

Days before he died, a high-ranking German officer, convicted as a war criminal by the Nuremberg court, laid bare a shocking principle of governance which is still in use by governments worldwide today.

Hermann Goering (in German ‘Göring‘) explained that any unscrupulous state leadership, anywhere in the world, can always secure popular support for a war or an oppressive measure.

The Nuremberg Diary

During the trials, a German-speaking American intelligence officer and psychologist, one Gustave Gilbert, was granted free access by the Allies to the Nazi prisoners held in the jail. Dr. Gilbert kept a journal of his observations of the proceedings and his conversations with the prisoners. He later published these as the book Nuremberg Diary.

On the evening of 18th April 1946 Dr Gilbert spoke to a dejected Reichsmarschal Herman Goering in his cell. Goering was Hitler’s deputy and head of the Luftwaffe during World War II.

The whole conversation is referenced HERE.  This is what Gilbert wrote:

‘Drag the people along’

‘We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

‘“Why, of course, the people don’t want war,” Goering shrugged. “Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship”.’

“There is one difference,” Gilbert protested, “In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.”

Goering’s Principle

“Oh, that is all well and good,” replied Goering, “but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country”.

This is Goering’s Principle. It is a profound insight into how governments work, or can work, when politicians forget they are there to serve the people. Even today, Goering’s Principle is being used by our leaders to paint a one-sided picture of the Russia-Ukraine conflict..

Goering’s Principle works well with the Two-Minute Hate of George Orwell’s classic novel ‘1984’. Up on the screen pop images of someone the Party has chosen to be hated. He is connected with Oceania’s enemy Eurasia. The assembled populace scream at the images on the screen.

And so today ‘Putin’ is demonised. Our politicians maintain, and the media repeat, that he is ‘unhinged’, ‘mad’, a ‘tyrant’, intent on war and empire-building, as if the West and NATO, despite Iraq, despite Libya, despite Syria, are peace-loving and non-aggressive.  Goering’s Principle does not rely on grace, humility, nuance or seeing both sides of the argument.

Application to Covid

Furthermore, Goering’s Principle does not only apply for dragging the people along to accept a war and to go and fight in it. Let us rephrase it in Covid terms:

‘All you have to do is tell the people they are being attacked by a deadly virus and denounce all who oppose lockdowns, restrictions, masks or vaccines for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country’.

As indeed it did across most of the world except for Africa and India where the lockdown policy came up against the lack of buckets of available money to pay people to sit at home idle. In the UK, Project Fear was dusted off from the coffers of the Remain campiagn in the Brexit referendum to scare us all rigid and browbeat us, as Goering predicted, into accepting measures we never should have done.

Chrstian Voice denounced lockdown as ungodly from day one. But the people, including Christians, believe their leaders. That is what Goering’s Principle relies on, that and the government having access to powerful propaganda arms: newspaper adverts, bus shelters, Twitter, Facebook and the mainstream media. Perhaps the new, upcoming youth-oriented social media platforms can provide an alternative, but it is scarcely enough against the power of the state and its media mouthpieces.

Propaganda continues

Even today, as the Covid and the hysteria retreat in England and dates are set in Scotland, the Welsh Government cannot let go. Here is its latest promoted tweet: ‘The more we keep on doing the right thing, the more we’ll protect each other. Wear a mask, get vaccinated, get tested and self-isolate to protect those around you and Disrupt the Transmission of COVID-19. Together, we’ll Keep Wales Safe.’ Linc Cymru tweeted it as well.

That’s not all. Let us now rephrase Goering’s Principle in NetZero terms:

‘All you have to do is tell the people they are being attacked by greenhouse gases and denounce all who oppose the NetZero agenda for lack of patriotism, lack of care for ‘the planet’ and exposing the country to danger from climate change.’

This too has been employed all over the developed world, nowhere as fanatically as in the UK. And as Goering said, it’s the poor who suffer from all these measures imposed by their leaders while those in power and their friends enrich themselves. It works the same way, as the Reichsmarschal said, in any and every country.

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