For the past few weeks, the CAQ’s advertising has been based on the words of deputies and a few unelected extras transformed into thurifers of Prime Minister Legault. In simplistic capsules, their messages consist of venerating the Prime Minister and singing his praises: he listens, he decides, he acts, etc.
The member for Blainville even made himself a prophet by announcing that the Prime Minister would become “untouchable”. Would François Legault be a god? Will this deputy ask us to believe in the savior of the nation without even knowing his ten commandments and his dogmas? This is how you foolishly cultivate the cult of personality.
Several tactics of these stagings correspond to the elementary niches of political propaganda. First, we appeal to people’s herd instinct to install a kind of conformism based on adherence to the image of the Prime Minister. This type of propaganda is forged by the infantilization of the population judged, consciously or not, incapable of analyzing ideas or political proposals; people are reduced to recognizing themselves in the personality of the leader, period. Let’s not look for the shadow of an idea or a position of the Prime Minister on crucial issues (climate change, health services, education, immigration, racism, relations with First Nations, etc.). No content, except the mirage.
Secondly, in their panegyric of the leader of the CAQ, the CAQ members contribute to crowning him almighty leader, which is reminiscent of the veneration that the members of the Union Nationale had for their “Leader”, Maurice Duplessis .
Third, a few key words are enough to convince: listen and act. This general message is molded in the direction of the agreed words of the Prime Minister who delights in repeating that he governs by relying on the opinions of the nation… because he listens to them. We use this theme ad nauseam ; in short, the deputies in the field listen and inform the chief about the desiderata of the nation. In turn, the chief listens to them and translates the will of the population into action; we recognize here the solemn eulogy of Minister Christian Dubé with regard to his leader.
In other words, we are talking about total convergence between the ideas and values of the nation and the prime minister. According to the devout deputies, the latter would embody the voice of the people. We recognize there the nationalism of identity in the caquiste color. This is why it is normal for power to be concentrated in his hands, we repeat in chorus, without saying so openly. Let us recall the strategy of the Prime Minister who, throughout the management of the pandemic, managed by decrees and left no room for debate with the opposition parties.
Fourth, in essence, political propaganda is an offensive strategy to present a set of simple ideas, in a monotonous refrain, to the general population; the objective is to forge it and bring it to adhere to the intrinsic value of a character, and this, without considering any of its true characteristics. The people should therefore take a leap of faith in the Prime Minister, we say mainly in the advertising capsules. No questions, please. He is the man for the job, perfect and virtuous. Kim Jong-un wouldn’t ask for so much…
On his own, François Legault would embody the nation. Will “One man, one nation” become the CAQ’s slogan? Conversely, with regard to adversaries, we will probably use, in a second stage of this propagandist strategy, images, situations, stories, symbols and remarks that arouse mistrust, disgust, even rejection. In both cases, we appeal to collective emotions. The construction of Donald Trump’s image has provided an incomparable illustration of the abuse of speech to discredit opponents and highlight Trump as a clown proclaimed as the mouthpiece of the “real world”.
In short, political propaganda, believes David Colon in Propaganda, mass manipulation in the contemporary world: “Crowds are less sensitive to reasoning than to excessive feelings, to exaggerations, to simplisms, to the violent affirmations of speakers who exert an influence on them by resorting to ‘image ideas’. The CAQ has fully understood this principle and it does not hesitate. In the end, access to power remains the ultimate goal and many people vote on the image presented to them…