David Awbrey
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
It's just human nature.
During World War I, the British Office of Propaganda created a story to convince the British public of the brutality of the invading Germans killing Belgian nuns and somehow turning their bodies into bar soap.
Many British citizens believed this fantastic story. More about this later.
After World War I was over, the story began in Germany that the reason they lost was because of a stab in the back, especially by German Jews. In fact, German Jews fought hard for Germany and many German Jews were awarded the Iron Cross for bravery. Nevertheless, after the war ended, many former German military men didn't realize Germany was beaten and there was nothing that could be done to keep the Allied armies from entering Germany itself, so surrender was the only choice left.
After the war ended, the British public learned the story about the Belgian nuns was false and many in the British public said never again would they be misled by their government. More about this later.
Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels intently studied the extraordinarily successful British Office of Propaganda efforts during World War I and concluded people wouldn't believe a small lie but were likely to believe a big lie - it's just the nature of people to do so especially if they believe they been mistreated.
When World War II ended, the British government tried and tried to get the public to believe the mass killings of Jews and other populations. Remember, the British people had been fooled in World War I about the killing of Belgian nuns by the Germans.
Only the Japanese were honest about why they had lost the war, they called it the Victory Disease, Until the Battle of the Coral Sea, they were successful in naval battle after naval battle, thinking one naval battle would lead to another successful naval battle.
Fast forward to today in this country and we hear the charge, the Big Lie, an election stolen, believed by die-hard Trump supporters and some Republicans but not all Republicans, according to recent polls.
It's just the nature of people to believe in the Big Lie regardless of country or time.
But not all is lost. I remember another adage that goes, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."