Ernst Bloch, “Critique of Propaganda,” 1937, translated by Chrysa Katsogridaki, published by CrisisCritique:
Perhaps people want to be deceived, certainly not bored…
After a communist orator, who was addressing the employees, had presented his figures, statistics, and some final resolutions in the usual terminology, before a completely indifferent, indeed weary audience, the Nazi orator jumped to his feet, swept away the numbers with a wave of his arm, and exclaimed: “Your orator spoke of numbers, the same numbers you spend all day working with on the adding machine; I, however, speak to you of Germany’s happiness and greatness, and I speak on a higher authority.” Immediately, the circuit was closed; the audience accepted all the ensuing nonsense, listened to the promises, felt their anti-capitalist longing ignite, along with their private desires for revenge, and was carried away into the abyss. The Nazi played the piano of seduction with technical mastery, and only gradually did its effect diminish…
…even the truth, in its directly presented, let alone in its powerless and skeletal form, fails to penetrate… trickery can be a kind of theft, not in terms of its deceptive glare, but in terms of its brightness, its reflection in the puddle; for the lie has no light of its own. In short, truth itself demands, in its appropriate fullness and pedagogical mediation, that it not only exists and becomes, but also shines… Truth does not entice, certainly not, but it woos and affects; it does not dazzle, but it becomes ingrained over time; truth especially is full of form…
The Nazis spoke deceitfully, but they spoke to people; the socialists quite truthfully, but only about things; what matters now is to speak completely truthfully to people about their things.
they don’t tell you this but human bodies make really, really good fidget toys. especially someone else’s body, where you’ll find it makes really nice noises if you poke and prod it right.
