The Empire on which the Black Sun Never Set: The Birth of International Fascism and Anglo-American Foreign Policy

Bertrand Russell discussed in his book The Impact of Science on Society (1951) that the subject which “ will be of most importance politically is mass psychology, ” that is, the lens in which an individual views ‘reality’ and ‘truth.’ Russell is very clear that such ‘convictions’ are not generated by the individual themselves but rather are to be shaped by the State. 

Of course, individuals are not encouraged to think about an absolute truth or reality. They are rather encouraged to think on a much smaller scale, on individual ‘facts.’ In this way, it is much easier to control and shape (and also limit) ‘problematic’ thinking such as the ponderance on cause and effect. 

Russell, in his Impact of Science on Society , goes on to talk about how one could program a society to think snow is black rather than white: 

“First, that the influence of home is obstructive. Second, that not much can be done unless indoctrination begins before the age of ten. Third, that verses set to music and repeatedly intoned are very effective. Fourth, that the opinion that snow is white must be held to show a morbid taste for eccentricity. But I anticipate. It is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black, and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark gray.” 

This is of course a program for the most ambitious reframing of ‘reality.’ However, as we see today, we do not need to start before the age of ten for other sorts of reframing to function, and nowhere does this seem to be more successful and effective with any age group than the West’s foreign policy. 

Snow is something that we see and experience regularly. It is much more difficult to ‘reframe’ something familiar. However, something that is ‘foreign’ has always been a rather blurred and undefined concept for millennia, and thus is a much easier candidate for the State