Propaganda is a powerful tool in the suppression of truth. But truth will out eventually. Hitler, Stalin and Mao are the obvious fans of propaganda. But the newspapers and television have their own political favourites, Fox for rabid Republicans, the Daily Mail for little Englanders and Conservative voters and the Guardian for right on liberal socialists.
We the receivers of news have to be vigilant for the deception. Our daily experiences should inform our distrust of news that seems dodgy. Statistics produced by governments are rife with deceptions. Taking people out of unemployment statistics if they are on zero hours contracts and are not even making enough to live on, just one example. The more dictatorial the government, the bigger the lies.
Poetry has the power to hold up a mirror and make us think about stuff we rarely consider: how we are living our lives and what it is like to experience the emotions of others. Ther pain of living under an authoritarian regime can be explosively described in a condensed way by those used to describing our world with brevity.
James Simmons, a poet in the Belfast Group, was stopped and questioned by police during the Troubles when he described the contents of his car as revolutionary. He was referring to the poetry of Heaney, Langley, himself and others within the Belfast Group. As editor of the Honest Ulsterman, Simmons brought modern literature and poetry from local writers to a readership numbed by the daily dose of violence on their streets.
Writers can give us pause and make us question the status quo. A dangerous thorn in the side of dictatorial government or a weather vane for those open to new thinking.
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