Slogans play a special role in any process of indoctrination and propaganda. A good investigation of how this works is by de Berg (2024) Trump and Hitler, A Comparative Study in Lying.

Slogans have a special poetic rhythm and simplify complex ideas into simplistic short phrases. Slogans usually resonate with a popular bias in a group or culture and, give the idea that some kind of ethical principle is espoused. Usually those engaged in propaganda and indoctrination have little expertise in ethics and certainly no idea of moral philosophy.

Those who hear slogans need skills in: hermeneutics, critical thinking, historiography or critical discourse analysis, in order to decipher the hidden ideology embedded in the slogan. Unfortunately, none of these skills are a part of any safety curriculum globally. In an industry where engineers can declare themselves ethicists and historians, it seems safety can be anything. In an industry where critical thinking is deemed anti-safety, there is little chance that any deconstruction of fraudulence will occur.

Slogans do not sit in some isolated objective sphere but rather hide an undeclared ethic. It is no surprise that the safety industry has no clearly articulated ethic. Similarly, the S2, SD, HOP, NV and RE group have no clearly articulated ethic.

Lack of a clearly defined ethic enables the declaration of slogans as ‘principles’, which they are not. In order to declare something a ‘principle’, one needs to explain from what ethic a principle emerges.

When one hides an ethic and declares a slogan a ‘principle’, usually agenda are hidden and a utilitarian ethic sits in the background. In this way, a club can be formed and people can be manipulated (usually for money). Behind every method is a methodology, whether it is articulated or not.

Those with an understanding of: hermeneutics, critical thinking, historiography or critical discourse analysis, easily expose hidden motive and founding ideologies. Such skills are invaluable in this age of mis-information and dis-information.

If you want to know more about such thinking, you can write here admin@spor.com.au and we can supply you with a reading list. A good start is by reading Ellul on Propaganda (https://ratical.org/ratville/AoS/Propaganda-JE-Vintage1973.pdf).

Ricoeur called these skills a ‘hermeneutic of suspicion’ (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268290685_Ricoeur%27s_Theory_of_Interpretation_A_Method_for_Understanding_Text_Course_Text). This approach provides skills in seeking out what is hidden in text.

In SPoR, we study this in our Linguistics, Culture and Mythology modules (https://cllr.com.au/elearning/).

Another good source to get started with hermeneutics, critical thinking, historiography or critical discourse analysis is Danesi (2020) The Art of the Lie, How the Manipulation of language Affects Our Minds.

Most involved in propaganda and indoctrination don’t know that is what they are doing. Many think they have pure motives for learning yet have no skills in an ethic of learning. Indoctrination and training are not learning. It’s easy in safety to be busy espousing traditional safety with a different brand.

Slogans never declare truth even though Slogans claim Truth. They do however, serve as boundary markers for in and out-groupness. In this way a slogan such as MAGA become a gateway to belonging. The same for the language of ‘zero’ in safety (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/). And we saw at the Zero Congress in Sydney in 2024 who the sponsors or zero are (https://safetyrisk.net/the-sponsors-of-zero-are/).

Zero denial then becomes a political boundary marker for who cannot belong. And, if you want to make a heap of money in safety, espousing zero is essential. When academics with no expertise in ethics declare zero a moral goal, you know what’s really going on (https://safetyrisk.net/zero-is-not-noble-moral-or-sense-able/).

Of course, when slogans begin to lose their power, what do you do? You invent another slogan! A sure sign that the creators have no expertise in ethics. You can view the endless creation of slogans used recently in the US elections here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._presidential_campaign_slogans Notice in this research just how much sloganeering has grown exponentially in recent years. Slogans are the go-to tool for misinformation and disinformation.

Slogans are not a substitute for an ethic and methodology in safety. Slogans may captivate a group and serve as a rally cry, but they are not a method nor an ethical principle.