I recently watched Goebbels and the Fuhrer and read Trump and Hitler, A Comparative Study of Lying and it resonated with so much with what circulates in the safety industry, that is simply propaganda. Why deliver outcomes or practical methods when slogans will do? … [Read more...] about Why Deliver Outcomes When Propaganda Will Do?
propaganda
Causal Patterning and Affirming False Belief in Safety
There are many mysterious forces and energies that drive human decision making. One of these energies is called ‘Allostasis’, the power, energy, motivation and drive for self-preservation. This is the energy and drive of sustaining life and the self. This stands in stark contrast to the nonsense … [Read more...] about Causal Patterning and Affirming False Belief in Safety
Zero Vision as Propaganda
Zero Vision as Propaganda Propaganda is the ideological manipulation of ideas to support and defend political interests. Ellul (1973, p. 61. ) states: ‘Propaganda is a set of methods employed by an organized group that wants to bring about the active or passive participation in its actions of a … [Read more...] about Zero Vision as Propaganda
The Best Options in Safety Are Not Always Efficient
The Best Options in Safety Are Not Always Efficient One of the great French Philosophers was Jacques Ellul (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul ; https://ellul.org/) a person well before his time. Ellul developed the idea that the quest for efficient outcome leaves damaging by-products and … [Read more...] about The Best Options in Safety Are Not Always Efficient
The Language of Priorities
The Language of Priorities I spoke to a Safety Manager in a construction company recently who comes from one of these ‘safety is our number one priority’ organisations. He told me the reality was that: ‘concrete is our number one priority’. All semiotics have a profound affect on the human … [Read more...] about The Language of Priorities
Fake Paperwork Ethics, Spin and The Freedom to Harm
Scandals and unethical conduct are quickly forgotten in an age of mis-information, noise and the 10 second news cycle. We saw this week two examples of corporate unethical conduct from organisations with all the codes of conduct in place but no ethical or moral being. PwC and BHP: PwC … [Read more...] about Fake Paperwork Ethics, Spin and The Freedom to Harm
AI and Safety, Brutalism on Steroids
There has been so much hype about AI recently and such little discernment about what is hidden in the language and discourse of so much ‘noise’ about the issue. So much of what Ellul described 70 years ago: The Technological Society Never Mind Where, So Long As It's Fast: Jacques Ellul and … [Read more...] about AI and Safety, Brutalism on Steroids
First in Best Dressed for Indoctrination
· One of the rules for believability and gullibility is to get in first. It is much harder to disprove a foundational belief even when that belief is not true. This is one of the primary ways in which propaganda and indoctrination work. · It’s also easy to anchor a belief if the information given … [Read more...] about First in Best Dressed for Indoctrination