alt:
"Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was
ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter
how absurd, and did not particularly Object to
being deceived because it held every statement to
be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders
based their propaganda on the correct
psychological assumption that, under such
conditions, one could make people believe the
most fantastic statements one day, and trust that
if the next day they were given irrefutable proofof
their falsehood, they would take refuge in
cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders Who had
lied to them, they would protest that they had
known all along that the statement was a lie and
would admire the leaders for their superior
tactical cleverness.
- Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism"
