One wonders how we arrived at a point where individuals hatred is so intense that damage (a damage which some have warned may prove fatal) to your own is acceptable collateral damage in order to inflict further pain on Rangers ?
It was in 1933 that Hitler set up his “Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda or Propagandaministerium” - Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under the command of Joseph Goebbels. Its remit and strategy were simple but effective - Propaganda for the masses had to be simple, and appeal to the emotions. To maintain its simplicity, it had to put over just a few main points, which then had to be repeated many times.
As Goebbels observed....
"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it."
You don't need to search too far to find evidence of such a strategy in practice, a quick look at some of the Scottish news outlets provides us with a wealth of evidence.
Some Rangers fans have pointed to some favourable articles in recent times and suggested there was perhaps a changing tide.
Ron Scott at The Sunday Post fired the first pro- Rangers salvo at the weekend. Here is a quick summary of the bullet points. All quotes are verbatim.
As the fans and clubs become hysterical about how the Light Blues should be punished, it's worth remembering the Ibrox club has done nothing unlawful.
The SFA then decided to impose severe sanctions on Rangers after awakening to the fact that Craig Whyte was not a fit and proper person to own the club.Yet the independent Ibrox board set up to look into Whyte while he was still negotiating with Murray decided themselves that [he] wasn't fit and proper to own the club.
They told the SFA that at least fifteen months ago,but the powers-that-be decided in their wisdom to take no action at that time.
It's all very well to bleat on about sporting integrity. But why risk the entire future of Scottish football especially when the facts clearly show Rangers have done nothing wrong.
It is especially wrong when the facts show there is absolutely no need for the authorities to treat Rangers the way they appear hell-bent on doing."
That last line is particularly important – facts. Facts do not play a significant role in the Goebbels strategy – the mantra it repeats, often, is designed to play on the emotions of the heart not the logic of the brain.
James Traynor expanded on Scott's view...
For months now there has been a savagery. The game has been ripping itself apart all in the name of fair play. Or was it sporting integrity?
Forgive me, the reasons for the crisis that threatens to destroy Scottish football have been lost somewhere in the lust to tear and shred one club. It's as though a century of hatred and probably jealousy have erupted.
And the handful of reasoned souls left in the game are fighting a losing battle to cap the flow.
So why is it Jim that those reasoned souls are fighting what you call a “losing battle” ?
The answer I'm afraid lies within your own profession. They don't rely on facts or reasoned argument – they rely on appealing to the heart. And when those hearts already possess a considerable blackness towards Rangers – it makes their jobs all the easier.
We know who they are - we have been incensed at their lies of the past few months. They are the journalists of “enlightenment” - those who are happy to repeat a mantra, irrespective of the lack of substance or fact, so long as it strikes a chord with the emotions of the heart.
What are the mantras ?
“Rangers have cheated”
“Rangers and their fans are showing no remorse”
“Rangers believe they are a special case and should be treated differently”.
“Sporting Integrity”
“Scottish football would be better off without Rangers”
Lets have a look at them in action. Step forward Michael Grant of the Sunday Herald.
Even now – liquidated and broken, with new voices piping up on their behalf – the message is unrepentant and challenging. You can't survive without Rangers. Sky will disappear without us. Keep us out and you'll die next. We've been punished enough. Craig Whyte did all of this, take it out on him. Vote us in . . . or else.
Have you ever heard any Rangers fan saying “Vote us in or else” ? I certainly haven't. The popular movement amongst our support appears to be a desire to go to Div 3 and work our way back up.
But the mantra continues....
Under Whyte they bought players and gave lucrative contracts they could afford only by not paying their taxes. They were in a league in which every club they played – and usually beat – did pay the revenue. Helped by Whyte's financial doping they got £2.6m for finishing second, almost a million more than Motherwell, who were third. No wonder it rankles other supporters.
This little piece is most worthy of investigation. What is it designed to do – suggest that Rangers under Whyte's tenure Rangers still managed to profit to the tune of £2.6 million ? If those were the facts and I supported another team I too would be angry.
But of course that little piece is extremely selective. It neglects to mention that our future by way of season ticket revenue was sold for £24 million. Our prized striker was sold for a fraction of his true worth. That the Whyte refers to sold our heritage, brought our club to it's knees. That a consequence of his actions is we now see a player exodus from our club which will probably see a loss to the club of anything up to £30 million.
On the subject of punishment he tries to suggest Rangers have got off lightly.
Murray overlooked the fact that so far there has not been a single SFA or SPL punishment which has materially affected Rangers at all, let alone been "extreme": they finished the season second, the same position they were in when 10 points were docked for going into administration. Their three-year European exclusion may feel like a punishment but actually it is merely a consequence of failing to meet Uefa entry criteria as a newco.
And remind me Mr Grant how did we arrive at the position that a newco had to apply for SPL membership ? That guy Whyte....the same one who only a few paragraphs ago you tried to suggest had brought some financial benefit to Rangers.
Of course presentation of the facts is not in the remit of the journalists of enlightenment – they simply have to repeat the mantra to give succour to those proscribing to the bloodfest which is Rangers.
Whilst I have only mentioned Grant there are plenty of others who qualify as journalist of enlightenment. You only need to read the columns of Gordon Waddell and our “old friend” Spiers. The latter is particularly amusing. Tweeting as “refreshing” this rising up of non Rangers fans his article however seems to struggle with contradiction.
Well, your average Scottish football fan has put the kybosh up all of this. As recent days and weeks have gone by, there has been a swelling contempt among fans of all clubs for what they viewed as a blind-eye approach to Rangers' sins in favour of a swift SPL return for the club and its money-generating hordes.
In the beginning, just about everyone in the media called this wrong. Most claimed that, come hell or high water, Rangers would be looked after in the SPL next season. I said it myself more than once – the SPL cannot allow Rangers to be temporarily deleted. We need the club.
So is that akin to the turkeys voting for Christmas then Graham ?
I would caution all Rangers fans to be wary in the days ahead as the journalists of enlightenment become particularly desperate. Their ship of “Sporting Integrity” has floundered and been shown to be nothing but a sham. The suspicions of many were confirmed in the Clyde Chairman's statement that the driving force behind all this was Sky TV money and not some utopian sporting ideal.
But don't expect any of the journalists of enlightenment to write about that in their columns. They are far too busy feeding the bloodlust to concern themselves with the ethics of it all.
Perhaps its fitting the closing remarks are left to one who has refused to board the bus of the enlightened...James Traynor..
"Is going out of business, struggling to emerge as a newco without fan support and being banned from playing in Europe for three years and being branded pariahs not punishment enough?
If the answer is still no then there is no justice."
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