The Power Of Lies: Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump, And Jack From Lord Of The Flies
People that have a lot of influence over others with a lower status than them are expected to be fair and honest, but this is not always the case. Truth has been diluted “by the manipulation of facts, and by exploitation of uncritical minds” by people of authority to instill hate and contempt in the hearts of the common folk. People such as Hitler, whose propaganda against Jews lead to one of the worst genocides in history, is an example of an influencing figure using his position to spread lies and hate. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Jack’s manipulation of the other boys on the island using fear and intimidation was a way to take them away from Ralph’s side. Trump’s conditioning of Americans to hate refugees and immigrants who are just searching for a better life is another reason that hate can be spread easily with no basis. Lastly, Trump’s views on the #MeToo movement show how he can cause victimhood to drastically shift from women to perpetuating men as the real victims.
Adolf Hitler had many horrible things to say about Jews that convinced Germans to hate them as he did. One of Hitler’s tactics was to implant the idea that Jews would steal away the German women, thus defiling the Aryan race: “The black-haired Jewish boy waits, with Satanic delight on his face, for the hour when he can corrupt the unsuspecting Aryan girl with his blood, and in seducing her, steal her from her people”. Germany was a predominantly Christian country during the 1930s and 1940s, so Hitler’s use of “Satanic” comparing Jews to the Devil, caused Germans to connect their fear and disgust of Satan with Jews. Hitler is also implying that the entire Jewish race is like this “boy”, in that they have evil intentions at all times, in every situation. When Hitler says that this “boy” will “corrupt the… girl”, he means that by “seducing” her, the girl will have been tainted, so she is not pure anymore, but instead, she has been deceived by Jews into leaving her own people and switching sides. The girl might believe that the relationship the boy is pursuing with her is because of a personal affinity, but Hitler is portraying that the Jewish boy is simply following a more sinister agenda by the Jewish people collectively to try and erase the Germans by destroying the next generation of the German race using the women. Hitler justifies his Final Solution by using God as his reason: “I believe I am acting today in the spirit of the Almighty Creator. By standing guard against the Jew, I am defending the work of the Lord”.
Hitler is telling the Germans that God himself was the one who decided to exterminate the Jews and that Hitler was given the responsibility of completing this divine task. Germany was going through a very harsh economic time, so many Germans would have believed anything as long as they believed it would give them a chance to bounce back. Hitler knew this and exploited this weakness by using their faith and hardships as a justification to further his agenda against Jews. Hitler also made it out to be that the Jews were an enemy that was attacking the German way of life, and they had to “guard against the Jew” by “defending the work of the Lord”. Collectively, Germans began to listen to Hitler and started harboring more hatred for Jews. Hitler, as a leader, held the power to manipulate the German population, and due to the hardships faced by Germans, Hitler easily bred hate for Jews in them.
In Lord of the Flies, Jack utilizes fear and intimidation to manipulate the other boys on the island into joining his group. Jack lies to the boys during one of the meetings to try and invoke a reaction from the boys where they will begin to hate Ralph and go over to Jack’s side: “Ralph thinks you’re cowards, running away from the boar and the beast”. Jack is trying to damage Ralph’s reputation here by tampering with the truth because he knows that he does not have as much power and respect as Ralph. All Jack wants is for the boys to respect him more than Ralph, and he will do anything to get the boys to hate Ralph, especially lie to them. Ralph never said any of those things, but Jack is twisting Ralph’s previous words to smear Ralph’s status. Jack also starts using the boys’ fear of the beast to his advantage. His ritual of offering the pig head to the beast is a way of appeasing the boys, making them look up to him and believe that he is the leader who saves them from the beast. As the boys are leaving the pig, Jack says, “This head is for the beast. It’s a gift”. The boys are still children whose minds have not fully developed, but Jack is one of the older boys who takes advantage of this fact. Jack leaving the head for “the beast” is a way of showing to the boys that “the beast” is, in fact, a real, material thing that is hunting them. So Jack leaving the head as a gift that will protect the boys from the beast reinforces the idea that Jack is their protector and not Ralph. This belief further takes the boys away from Ralph and brings them closer to Jack and his hate of Ralph.
President Trump has had a hate for refugees and immigrants ever since his campaign began. He has no problem with generalizing people, especially when talking about immigrants coming in from the Texas-Mexico border. During a White House discussion on sanctuary cities, Trump said, “You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals. In other words, Trump is degrading South American immigrants by comparing them to “animals” and telling Americans that immigrants are extremely bad people. This comment coming from the leader of the United States has a big impact on citizens, especially Trump supporters because the notion that immigrants “are animals” dehumanizes them to the point where Trump supporters believe they have the right to treat immigrants like animals. This is also the reason why there has been a surge of hate in America recently. There has been an increase of attacks on Spanish speaking immigrants by Conservatives where these immigrants have been threatened by deportation solely because they were speaking Spanish or because they were said to look like criminals. These people believe that because their President has made these remarks, he must be speaking the truth and it has become socially acceptable to abuse immigrants and treat them like they are “animals”. Trump also has no liking toward refugees, especially from the Middle East, and uses his platform to spread his dislike into the minds of his followers. When talking to Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, Trump said, “I hate taking these people. I guarantee you they are bad… They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work”. This idea that refugees are not going to work, but instead leech money from taxpayers has no standing. In fact, The Urban Institute crunched Census and refugee survey data, among other sources, to show that over time refugees integrate into nearly all aspects of American life. Therefore, Trump’s “guarantee” is nothing more than a sham. Trump’s tactic is to exploit his supporters’ lack of education on the topic of refugees, to gain support for his agenda with their growing hate.
Donald Trump’s views on the #MeToo movement show how he can cause victimhood to drastically shift from women to perpetuating men as the real victims. Trump believes that men accused of assault are more of a victim than women who have been sexually assaulted. When responding to a question about the accusations against Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, Trump said, “It is a very scary time for young men in America. . . this is a very difficult time. ” In other words, Trump is standing with the men accused of sexual assault instead of standing with the women who have been assaulted. Trump is telling Americans that being accused of sexual assault is worse than actually being assaulted by another person. As he is the president, many people will begin to follow suit and will start to think that all women are lying when they accuse a man of sexual assault. This will, in turn, lead to more hate and harassment of women just because these women came forward to have the people who assaulted them take accountability for their actions. The reason that women do not come forward is that of the hate that they receive, and now due to Trump’s words, that hate has now been amplified. Trevor Noah of The Daily Show also had some things to say about Trump regarding this issue. During an episode of Between The Scenes, he tells the audience, “Trump’s most powerful tool is that he knows how to wield victimhood. He knows how to offer victimhood to the people who have the least claim to it. ” Trevor is talking about how Trump has made all men seem to like the real victims of this movement. The man accused of groping a woman is a real victim, not the woman who was groped. Noah also said how Trump is using this tool as a way to convince men to fight together against a movement that is about holding only bad men accountable for their actions, not all men like Trump is saying. This tool that Trump is using is used in a way to get people to hate the women coming forward with stories of sexual assault, like Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who was mocked by the President of the United States in front of thousands of people. Donald Trump twists and manipulates the reality of this #MeToo movement to try and make the victims of sexual assault look like they are lying to ruin all men's lives, therefore causing more hate to be directed at these women.
Authoritative figures hold so much influence over others, and because of this influence, they can easily mold the ideas of their subordinates. The manipulation of facts, and. . . exploitation of uncritical minds” by people of authority has caused truth to be diluted from its purest form, instilling hatred and loathing in the hearts of average people. Hitler used his propaganda against Jews to cause one of the worst genocides in history. Jack from Lord of the Flies uses fear and intimidation to manipulate the boys into joining his side and leaving Ralph. Trump also uses his platform to incite hatred against immigrants, refugees, and the women coming forward with stories of sexual assault.
