The Heretics' Hour: World War I Lies

August 25, 2014

Propaganda poster combining photography and drawing to emphasize religious symbology that projects the German soldier as the persecutor and despoiler of Christian women. Enlarge

Continuing with the theme of the 100th Anniversary of World War I (1914-2014), Carolyn Yeager focuses on the transparancy of the accusations of barbarism and drunkenness on the part of the German soldier in Belgium. In the second hour, who is telling the most lies in the current Ukraine war is discussed. Highlights include:

• The theme of the Germans "descending from their past high culture to the level of barbarians" is repeatedly used by the Allies, thus the fire that destroyed much of the world-famous library at Louvain (Leuven) is played up;
• Most of the stories recounting atrocities are by nameless people, and were later rebuked as false by authorities;
• Gottlieb von Jagow, German minister of State, wrote that the fire broke out after explosion of a convoy of benzine, which was caused by shots fired during the battle with the illegal civilian shooters;
• Photograph fakery, both in the form of false captions and in the more sinister creation of fake scenes, events, etc. are much more common than people realize - some examples given;
• The suppression and/or ommision of parts of the content of diplomatic reports and/or telegram messages was common;
• Of the nations, Russia was the most extreme in lying, followed by France;
• The pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and the Putin govt. are using lies as a strategy, meaning they have no shame about it and don't really expect to be believed;
• Bill Finck writes an article in which he compares the situation in today's Russia with the United States in the 1950's, when the undermining of the White majority began.