U a

Propaganda, the
Little Platoons and
the New Normal

Roger Oliver

Galatians 6:10, So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let

us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to
the family of faith.

According to Jacques Ellul, propaganda only works in a

mass/individualist society. The old organic structures must be
broken down and replaced by the sovereign individual, that is the
individual is asked to be the measure of all things. At the same
time, he makes himself part of a mass society, the burden of
judging everything for himself being too much to bear. As part of a
mass society, the “sovereign” individual inevitably makes himself
a slave to mass propaganda.¹

J. Budziszewski calls these organic structures the little platoons,

family, church, local businesses, clubs and local communities.²
The little platoons are organic and spontaneously organizing. God
created and ordained the family. It forms spontaneously. The
more complex a spontaneously organizing system, the more
design is implicated.

The little platoons are self-governing and largely self-suf cient if

left alone. The governing organizations above the little platoons
are arti cial, not organic, i.e. not natural, not spontaneously
forming and more contrived. The higher the governing
organization the more arti cial it is, the federal government for
example. The principle of subsidiarity posits that the higher
governing organizations should not do for the little platoons what
they can do for themselves, for example educating their children,
organizing their daily economic lives.

Ellul observes that when these little platoons, the organic

structures, are broken down and replaced by a mass/individualist
society, new groups tend to reform but as part of the mass
propaganda driven society. A condition for propaganda via the
reformed small group to work is a lack of contact between groups.
Strong family and church ties give a person the opportunity to
rethink mass propaganda and resist it. The family is a powerful
obstacle to the success of propaganda.

“This is why the Chinese Communists insisted on breaking up

traditional groups, such as the family…It is not necessary to
break up the family in the United States and the Western
societies…the family already is broken up. It no longer has the
power to envelop the individual; it is no longer the place where
the individual is formed and has his roots.”³
When today’s propagandists talk about a new normal the other
side of the coronavirus pandemic, they mean a new
mass/individualist social order that will replace what is left of the
family, the church, the local community. They are intent on
breaking up the naturally forming little platoons and reforming an
individualist/mass society they can control. One recently formed
security agency in the US government with the Orwellian mission
of implementing the new Arti cial Intelligence driven society
euphemistically refers to “legacy” systems that must be replaced.⁴
Legacy systems are those naturally forming human relations upon
which God’s social order is founded, starting with the family.

The National Security Commission on Arti cial Intelligence,

(NSCAI), created by the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act,
exists to beat the Chinese in the race to an AI driven society. Why
we should want to beat the Chinese to ful ll their dystopian
dreams is unclear to me. In a document obtained by the Freedom
of Information Act, the NSCAI euphemistically

calls the little platoons, legacy systems that must be eliminated to

implement the new AI driven society.

Such groups will reform, likely initially as willing instruments of

the mass propaganda society. Ellul observes of the modern family
and the church:

“It is curious to see how the few remaining organic groups, such as
the family and the church, try at all costs to live by propaganda:
families are protected by family associations; churches try to take
over the methods of psychological in uence. They are now the
very negation of the old organic groups.”⁵

But can dystopia last? If the little platoons form spontaneously,

will that even be possible to maintain? Can we endure such a
dystopian dream? No. It is not sustainable. Humans are not mere
animals or material beings. We are God’s image bearers. We have
to ask the age-old question in Psalm 2:1, Why do the nations
rebel? Why are the countries devising plots that will fail?

No matter how loud the protests, to deny that the present

situation is the judgment of God is to be whistling in the dark.
“Say it isn’t so, Joe.” Oh, but it is. We ought to be looking forward
to the other side of this judgment. This is not the rst time God
has meted out judgment on the world. From that history we know
that there is salvation in judgment, that God always takes his own
through the trial or calls them home. What we do not know is how
long or how dif cult the judgement will be. But if Christ must
reign until he puts all his enemies under his footstool, we also
know for sure there will be a new normal the other side of this and
it will be more Christian. The little platoons will once again rule as
vice-regents of God on the earth.

In the meantime, what to do? Strengthen your own little platoons,

family, church, local community. Read your Bible every day.
Greatest antidote to the poison propaganda pill. Patronize the
businesses of your neighbors. Challenge your local magistrates to
defend their neighbors, to stand up to tyranny. What other
practical things can you think of?

Obey the King of kings in the little, everyday details as He has

commanded us. We have no king but Jesus. Act like it.

James 1:27, Pure and unde led religion before God the Father
is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and
to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Matthew 25:37–40, Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord,

when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give
you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and
invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you
sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the king will answer them,
 ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of
these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’

Romans 13:8–10, Owe no one anything, except to love one

another, for the one who loves his neighbor has ful lled the
law. For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not
murder, do not steal, do not covet,” (and if there is any other
commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is
the ful llment of the law.

Matthew 22:36–40, “Teacher, which commandment in the law

is the greatest?” Jesus said to him, “Love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your

mind.’ This is the rst and greatest commandment. The second

is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the
prophets depend on these two commandments.”

There will be a new normal and it will be Christian. Perhaps not in

our lifetimes but it is inevitable. Let us look to this future, not
pine to return to the past. Christ is sovereign, resistance is futile.

¹ Jacques Ellul, Propaganda, The Formation of Men’s Attitudes,

Individualist Society and Mass Society, pp. 90-99
² J. Budziszewski, from a talk given at the Wilberforce Forum conference,
“Living Out Your Worldview at Street Level,” Minneapolis, Minn.,
September 28, 2002, adapted from What We Can’t Not Know, pp. 92-94.
³ Propaganda, p. 83
⁴ https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/top-news/techno-tyranny-
how-us-national-security-state-using-coronavirus-ful ll-orwellian-
vision/
⁵ Propaganda. p. 98

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