Willi Münzenberg, who was in charge of Soviet operations to influence Western intellectuals, did a nice job.

The payload was a simple formulation. Stephen Koch, for his book on Munzenberg, “Double Lives,” interviewed Willi’s wife, Babette Gross, who survived the war to live into her 90s. Ms. Gross told Koch that Willi had carefully crafted the “payload” for his covert influence operations:

Reduced to its essence the message was: “You claim to be an independent-minded idealist. You don’t really understand politics, but you think the little guy is getting a lousy break. You believe in open-mindedness. You are shocked, frightened by what is going on right here in our own country. You’re frightened by the racism, by the oppression of the workingman. You believe in peace. You yearn for international understanding. You hate fascism. You think the capitalist system is corrupt.”

This subtly anti-American message created a mindset. The mindset created a superiority complex among those who adopted it. They were smarter, better, more feeling, more caring, more humane, more human, overall better people than the unwashed masses. As Stephen Koch explained, “The purpose … [was] to instill a reflexive loathing of the United States and its people as a prime tropism of left-wing enlightenment.”

The attitude of wise superiority to the American masses, disdain for the racist, sexist, homophobic, foreigner-hating, dead-white-male-worshipping ignoramuses spread quickly throughout the three domains of cultural transmission. First academia rejected traditional America, her people, her founders, and her foundations. The press was next, closely followed by Hollywood.

Read on.

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.