Goebbels Principles of Propaganda #12

PROPAGANDA MAY BE FACILITATED BY LEADERS WITH PRESTIGE

In fact, Goebbels’ felt that prestige was essential for a leader to have any propaganda value at all.

The reasoning behind this belief was people needed heroes. Any public behavior that undercut admiration hurt the propaganda messaging telling people to endure sacrifices. If people doubted their leaders, they would question whether what their leaders were doing was right. It didn’t help with the unquestioning obedience, either. A lack of respect for a leader or a government directly reduced the ability to direct people’s behavior.

Along with prestige, it was important not to admit when a leader made a mistake or was incompetent, for the same reasons. The goal of propaganda is to influence people’s opinions and actions. If the government gave an important responsibility to a bonehead, that hurt the prestige of the government as a whole. To preserve and build trust with the targets, such a mistake cannot be admitted, according t…