Why deliver outcomes or practical methods when slogans will do? (https://safetyrisk.net/the-seduction-of-slogans-in-safety-2/ )
Ellul states: ‘Propaganda is a manipulation of psychological symbols having goals of which the listener is not conscious’. (Ellul, J., (1965) Propaganda, The Formation of Men’s Attitudes. Vintage, New York, – https://ratical.org/ratville/AoS/Propaganda-JE-Vintage1973.pdf).
In the risk and safety industry, there is no study of semiotics in order to even understand this quote.
Ellul wrote his critical book on Propaganda not long after World War 2 and the rise of the Nazis. Ellul served in the French Resistance and knew personally the tyranny of Nazi propaganda.
Ellul quotes Lasswell: ‘Propaganda is the expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individuals or groups with a view to influencing the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends and through psychological manipulations’
and Lemer, that:
‘propaganda is a means of altering power ratios in a group by modifying attitudes through manipulation of symbols’.
Ellul states that propaganda embraces the following:
‘Psychological action: The propagandist seeks to modify opinions by purely psychological means; most often he pursues a semi-educative objective and addresses himself to his fellow citizens.
Psychological warfare: Here the propagandist is dealing with a foreign adversary whose morale he seeks to destroy by psychological means so that the opponent begins to doubt the validity of his beliefs and actions.
Re-education and brainwashing: Complex methods of transforming an adversary into an ally which can be used only on prisoners.
Public and human relations: These must necessarily be included in propaganda. This statement may shock some readers, but we shall show that these activities are propaganda because they seek to adapt the individual to a society, to a living standard, to an
activity. They serve to make him conform, which is the aim of all propaganda.’
The primary tool of the propagandist is the slogan. Slogans are linguistic symbols most often empowered by metaphor.
Ellul documents what happens through the bombardment of slogans. Ellul states (p.312):
‘There is an endless repetition of formulas, explanations, and simple stimuli. Of course, in the beginning all this merely evokes the subject’s scorn and disbelief. After some time, however, erosion takes place; whether the subject likes it or not, he ends up knowing by heart certain formulas of the catechism repeated to him a thousand times; he ends up inhabited by these slogans, which still carry no conviction; he does not yield to some advertising slogan, for example, just because he knows it. But it must not be forgotten that the prisoner hears nothing else, and that the incessant repetition of these slogans also prevents any personal reflection or meditation. The noise of the slogan is present all the time. The result is an involuntary penetration
and a certain intellectual weakening, added to the impossibility of leading a private intellectual life.’
Understanding the power of symbols and their effect on the unconscious ought to be fundamental to any study of safety. The semiotic power of the many slogans of safety that spread untruth, misinformation and disinformation, is extensive.
The power of the slogan is the making of a simplistic idea that is not true, into a truth (even calling it a ‘principle’ eg. ‘all accidents are preventable’ – This is clearly false, in the face of fallibility, mortality and the reality of death. ‘Safety is a choice you make’ is clearly false, in the face of the complexity of how events unfold. This is why be purchase insurance, because we believe in accidents.
This is what Propaganda does, it re-writes reality into its own form of truth. For example, ‘blame fixes nothing’ is clearly false, in light of the legal system and how justice is established.
Slogans are a basic strategy for ‘brainwashing’, particularly to the uncritical mind. Most slogans are personalized to create a unified force for a primary group. The slogans then become political identifiers of who belongs and who does not. This in-groupness and out-groupness replaces the need for an ethic, methodology or method. The slogans become the rallying cry for the group so that any appeal for a method is devalued.
This is how the slogan of Zero is used in safety. There is no methodology or method in zero, even though Safety claims so (https://visionzero.global/why-vision-zero). This is why zero is made into a ‘mindset’ or ‘vision’ (which it isn’t).
One then can get sacked for not believing in zero or for questioning zero, because it is made a mantra for safety. In this way the slogan is politicized, as all slogans are. To question the slogan is to question the origin of the slogan and its intent. Then, all of the training in zero that follows is indoctrination, there is no substance or research base for any of the claims asserted about zero! Nor is any of the training or ‘guides’ in zero anything other than traditional safety! Checklists, systems, counting injury rates, hazards and controls. That’s the zero way!
You only have to view In the Blink of an Eye, to know Zero is a cult (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIhgJ93t0Jw).
Why deliver a method or methodology when a few expletives in a podcast seeking to establish credibility, will do. All this demonstrates is, the continuing struggle of Safety to be relevant in a world with which it is disconnected.
What is most important about propaganda and slogans is, making the safety sheep believe that they are doing something different, even though there is no method. In this way, everyone gathers around a brand, a podcast or a club meeting but nothing changes. There is no ethical or moral imperative for change. Indeed, there is no motivation for change other than the repetition of the slogan.
It seems that outcomes are not needed in safety, because a slogan will do!
brhttps://safetyrisk.net/why-deliver-outcomes-when-propaganda-will-do/
Prompt