Master Manipulators Ran the Show

Master Manipulator (noun): A person who is skilled at influencing others to behave or think in a certain way for their own benefit or to achieve a particular goal. The media recently got hold of more than 100,000 leaked WhatsApp messages involving former British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, which reveal private conversations between several senior politicians and officials, providing a somewhat disturbing, albeit unsurprising look into the way the UK government operated at the height of the pandemic. It should be noted that Australia’s ABC has not touched this story. The last thing they published regarding Matt Hancock was back in November last year regarding his suspension over a reality TV show appearance. However, the BBC decided to run the story, “Matt Hancock: Leaked messages suggest plan to frighten public”.

MATT HANCOCK ARTICLE (BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64848106

In one exchange between Mr Hancock and media adviser Damon Poole in the run-up to Christmas 2020 – five days before the government scrapped plans to relax rules for many over Christmas – the former health secretary wrote “We frighten the pants off everyone with the new strain.” The adviser responds, “Yep, that's what will get proper behaviour change." The minister then asks: "When do we deploy the new variant." Mr Hancock announced the new variant to the public the following day.

In another exchange, the head of the Civil Service, Simon Case, suggested the "fear/guilt factor" was vital to the government's messaging. In a conversation from January 2021, when lockdown measures were in place, Mr Hancock is seen discussing possible changes with Mr Case. Mr Case warns against making small changes to the rules as looking "ridiculous". He talks about "ramping up messaging" adding the "fear/guilt factor" was "vital".

In a conversation with Mr Case from July 2020, he wrote: "We need to tell people that if they want to save the economy and protect the NHS then they need to follow the rules. And we may need to tighten the rules. You can now have 6 people from different households indoors. Do people really understand that and are they observing it?". The exchange came one month after the Prime Minister broke the rules himself. Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie, and the then-chancellor, Rishi Sunak, all received one fine each for attending a birthday party thrown in the ex-PM's honour in June 2020.

According to the Telegraph, these measures to force compliance with Covid rules were internally known as “Project Fear”.

One commenter on one of my posts wrote something I found quite telling, “Its kinda funny and kinda sad that almost all domestic violence victims I know didn't fall for it. Almost like we knew instantly what it feels like to be manipulated and demoralised. Which also made me think of the government as an abusive partner that I can't leave.”

Here in Australia, we were faced with daily press conferences by state premiers, chief health officers, and the like, telling us what we needed to be concerned about. For example, here in Queensland, Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard would tell us daily why we needed to worry in no uncertain terms. This is him from 5 April 2022. And of course, then he would follow up with the simple solution, provided to you, of course, by the Government. As I said, this was a daily occurrence bombarding our screens.

Whatever you think of ABC journalist Leigh Sales, I quite enjoyed this article where she comments on the nature of news and experts throughout the pandemic.

LEIGH SALES ARTICLE (ABC)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/backstory/2023-02-19/leigh-sales-australian-story-news-anxiety-730-floor-manager/101973774

She said, “I think we need to reconsider the nature of "news" and I don't have any easy answers for this. But I think the traditional model of the news is contributing to the mental health crisis in this country. The nature of news is that it emphasises the aberration or the rare occurrence over the most likely outcome. So, for example, 200 helicopters fly safely on any given day and the one that crashes makes the news. That was fine back in the days when people saw one TV news bulletin per day or there was one daily newspaper, but now with social media and 24/7 news, you might see 25 references per day to that helicopter, complete with detailed images. I know from research I did for my book, Any Ordinary Day, that to the human brain, that feels like 25 helicopters crashed, not one. I believe that the news is making people fear things they don't need to be fearful of. It gives people a skewed sense of what is actually dangerous in life.”

I think that’s a really good commentary.

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